Quote:
Originally Posted by saffronleaf
I think we can generally agree that Canada has 9 major metropolitan areas right now. They may not all be major on a global scale, but at least within the Canadian context. They are:
1. Toronto
2. Montreal
3. Vancouver
4. Calgary
5. Edmonton
6. Ottawa
7. Winnipeg
8. Quebec
9. Hamilton (although I think over time Toronto, Hamilton and Oshawa will form a large metropolitan region)
What are Canada's next major metropolitan areas? You could look at this question however you please. One way to look at it may be to see which batch of metropolitan areas are likely to hit ~750K people next.
My picks (not ranked; from West to East):
1. Victoria
2. Saskatoon
3. London
4. Waterloo Region
5. Niagara Region
6. Oshawa (although I think it will be part of the greater metropolitan region of Toronto by the time it gets big enough)
7. Halifax
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Back to the original topic at hand...
I agree with ranks 1-8 (Including QC; after all, they weren't snickered and laughed at when they convinced taxpayers to fund an arena to attract an NHL team, and said NHL groups did give them an audience to present themselves... no other city in Canada that doesn't have a team could manage that outside of another team in the GTHA).
This is from a west coaster's perspective, but I don't feel Hamilton is distinct from Toronto. It's like how we don't feel Abbotsford is not Greater Vancouver... there is too much influence and pull from the major city that these cities have already lost their identities as separate cities (but do of course retain their own individual subcultures, stereotypes and charms of their area). Hence the acronym GTHA. KW is also questionable as it is often enveloped in the "Golden Horseshoe" geographic area and may also fail to escape Toronto in independence and mindshare.
London and Windsor are sufficiently far away that I would call them independent cities, but Windsor lives in the shadow of Detroit and London
to someone on the west coast just doesn't seem very prominent or distinct, or less so than Saskatoon/Regina.
For me, the next two obvious major areas beyond 1-8 are:
1. Halifax - disputably has already made it. Mentioned in GaWC's Global Cities in the same breath as Winnipeg and QC, anchor of the Atlantic, impending CFL team.
2. Saskatoon - all the reasons stated in this thread already
Then on the fringes:
3. Regina - I've been convinced Saskatoon will become the major player of the province, but like Calgary and Edmonton, they aren't far off from each other
4. Victoria - It's the capital of BC and provincial government functions out of there. Definitely no longer retirees only; bubbling tech sector and commercial infrastructure. Probably Canada's "best" climate for a city mid size and up, if you average out people's preferences.
5. London - Again an Eastern Canadian would probably see this as more prominent, but to me it's not much more than the third biggest truly "independent" city after Toronto and Ottawa in the province
6. Kelowna - The whole region has a geographic identity that can comprise as much as 400,000 people, and Kelowna's skyline is being completely reinvented over the next 5 years
7. St. John's - Slow growth and isolation doesn't completely detract from the fact that the city is located in an interesting and important geographic area in the Atlantic
8. Moncton - Don't know much about it, but it's been referred to as the major hub in the Atlantic after Halifax