In Quebec, it’s (almost) everyone in the swimming pool
If you’re a fan of American movie star Burt Lancaster, some scenes will instantly come to mind. The torrid beach make-out scene in From Here to Eternity, his mesmerizing turn as the incarcerated ornithologist in Birdman of Alcatraz, or near the end of his career and life, as the mythical doctor in Field of Dreams.
But another Lancaster role gets in the head come summertime. In The Swimmer Burt plays a rather robust middleaged, enigmatic ad man - a prototype of Mad Men’s Don Draper, perhaps? - who, on a sparkling summer day hops from backyard pool to backyard pool in his upscale Connecticut neighbourhood, interacting with an assortment of characters, all the while “swimming my way home.”
It’s a weird, metaphorical, 60s-style reality-warping film, into which you can read whatever meaning. Then there are the pools, metaphorical or not, and the backyard swimming pool culture that seems particularly suited to suburban North America. And, it may or may not come as a surprise, Quebec is one corner of the continent that is very fond indeed of the cement pond - thank you, Beverly Hillbillies.
Recent statistics show Quebecers are by far the craziest for backyard swimming pools in the country, including considerably warmer and more affluent Ontario. There are well more than 300,000 residential pools in Quebec, about three-quarters of which are the relatively low-cost, easily-installed above ground type.
With one in every 26 homes equipped with a pool, Quebec has more per capita than California at 31, or just about any state except Florida, where the percentage is one for every 19 homes.
Quebec City has had more new pools installed annually in recent years than in the great metropolis of Toronto. In Montreal, pool-mania is truly insane. An average of 3,500 pools have been added annually on the island over the last 10 years.
The tab for an average above-ground pool is about $3,500, according to industry stats. That figure can rise rapidly with the addition of heaters, accessories and surrounding landscaping. Hybrid pools, partially sunk into the ground, are an emerging trend because they offer more options for depth and design than the typical circular or oval aboveground unit.
Inground pools are gaining in popularity despite their prohibitive costs, which begins in the $20,000 neighbourhood. Of course, the bigger the pool, the greater is the maintenance cost, but hey, summer is terribly short in these parts.
Theories abound as to why Quebecers are wild for la piscine. One explanation out there is that an ad campaign by one company for above-ground pools back in the 1990s was extremely successful in selling the affordability and attraction of having a mini-florida in your own backyard. The idea caught on and stuck, with the “Keeping up with the Jones” factor spurring growth.
The Florida connection is not to be underestimated, with Quebecers being among the most numerous and faithful “snowbirds,” embracing the sun-worshipping lifestyle of the Sunshine State. For a measly couple of grand, many Quebecers can replicate the Florida experience in the comfort of their own backyard.
It’s not just in the pervasiveness of residential pools that Quebec leads the pack. Quebec City has 36 outdoor pools, plus dozens of water parks and wading pools, for an average of one pool for about 15,000 residents. Montreal has 74 outdoor pools, or one for every 23,000 citizens. This does not include public pools in each city’s adjoining suburbs.
The sweltering Big Smoke (Toronto), by comparison, has all of 58 public outdoor pools to cool folks down, or one for every 46,500 people.
In our neighbourhood, we have a choice of the unheated, but refreshing pool in front of the Musée Nationale des Beaux Arts on the Plains of Abraham, or, a short bike or hike away, panoramic pools on the St. Charles River (Marina Saint Roch), the St. Lawrence River (Parc Notre Dame de la Garde), and with a view overlooking the city (Parc Saint Sacrement).
With so many pools dotted from one end of the city to the other, one is tempted to attempt the Quebec City version of Burt Lancaster’s marathon hop, and swim your way home.
(Some information in this column was found in a Globe & Mail story by Les Perreaux in July, 2012).