It's an admittedly odd long weekend.

First, because it's not actually a long weekend at all. Many of us have to work on Monday.

And second, because you won't necessarily see a flood of OPP cars on the way to cottage country. The force that patrols the province's major highways is taking a different route this year because they think you may be doing the same thing.

They've decided to concentrate a lot of their personnel on the road to Niagara-on-the-Lake and the QEW, the first time in about a decade the entire concentration hasn't been on the 400.

Why the change? Cops have noticed an increase in traffic there and expect it to last all the way through Tuesday for those who are taking all four days off.

"Each holiday weekend has its own unique characteristics, and Canada Day, it's unique because we've got traffic going out of Toronto to cottage areas down across the U.S., along the QEW," Sgt. Cam Woolley explains. "Also a lot of folks headed into Toronto and that goes on all weekend. Pride weekend in Toronto. We have other festivals going on, Friendship Festival here in Fort Erie and very busy not just on the QEW, which also has a lot of construction if you're headed this way, but also in the area of roads."

Cops will be watching for all the usual suspects: drinking or aggressive drivers, people not wearing seat belts and cars that aren't road worthy.

And it's not just those hitting the highways that will be scrutinized. A special emphasis will also be put on the water. "This year has been tragic," Woolley laments. "Three times as many people killed so far to date on the water as last year and that's something we want to stop right now."

And in this case, what you don't know really can hurt you. "With that terrible winter we had, we've got high water levels now. There's a lot of submerged stuff in the lake people could hit. And it's sort of like a seat belt in a car. If you're not wearing your life jacket, something bad happens. You don't have a chance."

And it appears not heeding that advice has cost two people their lives before the holiday has even begun. On Friday, a father and son both perished near Huntsville, after they embarked on a fishing trip around 2pm.



When the 25-year-old son fell overboard from a canoe, his 50-year-old father went into the water after him. Both drowned before help could arrive.



Police and rescue crews recovered the bodies on Friday night. It happened at a private pond up north, part of a campsite. Authorities say the pair was 30 metres from shore. There's no word on why the younger man fell into the water.

The OPP hopes to prevent any more similar tragedies, and will have two planes in the air and will be out on ATVs, cruisers, motorcycles and boats covering you coming and going.

The blitz will continue until late Tuesday night.