For the past six years Stony Plain podcaster Craig Baird has devoted time to developing his flagship podcast, Canadian History Ehx. Since 2019 he’s posted about 600 episodes.
A former reporter, Baird’s curiosity about Canada’s history has limitless opportunities to explore our heritage. So far he’s tapped into a bottomless well of material ranging from The Mohawk Steelworkers, the Big Maple Leaf Coin Heist and The Once-Village of Canuck to The Nursing Sisters, bantamweight boxer George Dixon, and Mr. Dressup.
“Everything in my podcast I find interesting and I hope others find it interesting. And it’s more than just the big events. Even in small towns, I find fascinating stories to share,” said Baird.
He went on to explain that Canadian history is often presented in ways lacking interest.
“It’s often overshadowed by other countries. But if you go through bound books and find random stories, you find that history is interesting and people have enjoyed each other,” Baird said.
Coupling a natural inquisitiveness to strong investigative and reporting skills, it was only logical the content creator's next step was to write a book about one of the biggest projects in Canadian history.
Canada’s Main Street: The Epic Story of the Trans-Canada Highway was released May 2025. It is about the country’s first major transportation network that connected Canada from Victoria, British Columbia to St. John’s, Newfoundland. It spans 7,821 km.
Baird was inspired by Pierre Berton’s twin volumes, The National Dream and The Last Spike about the Canadian Pacific Railway’s legacy to Canadians. The transcontinental railway not only united Canada geographically. It united a nation in spirit.
Books were written and television specials produced about the CPR legacy. But the Trans-Canada Highway has been by-and-large ignored. Baird pitched the idea and received a green light.
“I started by looking at two men who tried to drive across Canada in 1912. It took them 55 days. At one point they were put on a barge. They even drove on railway tracks in the dark hoping a train wouldn’t be coming down the track,” said Baird.
By 1949 an act of Parliament kicked off the ambitious plan of building a modern, two-lane coast-to-coast highway. While the federal government provided money, each province was responsible for building its section.
The CPR Railway took eight years to build. The Trans-Canada Highway wasn’t completed until the mid-60s. Offshoots were later added across the country, including the Yellowhead Highway, which opened in 1970.
Despite the estimated $1.6 billion dollar price tag for its initial construction into the 1960s, the highway became vital to Canada’s economic interests. In addition to providing a corridor for transportation and travel, it spotlighted special national events such as Terry Fox’s great Marathon of Hope.
Baird will be doing a reading and book signing of Canada’s Main Street at Bailey Books on Saturday, June 14 at 2 p.m. To connect with Baird on social media visit canadaehx.com.
