Where the West begins

[ssiguy]

To anyone in Southern Ontario going to Barrie means you are "going north" even though it's still south of 99% of the country's land mass.

As an Ontarian, I never heard the term "Eastern Canada" as there waas no such thing. There was the Atlantic, Quebec, The West, and Ontario. This was a not-so-subtle way of saying there were 3 parts to Canada.........Ontario, Quebec, and the hinterlands.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Docere

...which were the original "Canada", represent the traditional power centers and are still home to the majority of the population.

Here, we've got a totally unambiguous label for that place: "The Quebec-Windsor Corridor".

It doesn't get called "Central Canada" (ever, to my knowledge).

[lio45]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

In Atlantic Canada we talk about central Canada all the time, mostly because it isn't the west, but it is most certainly different than us (i.e. - prosperous and influential).

From a Maritime point of view it actually makes lots of sense to use that term.

Funny how it really varies. Here, for regions, we use, in no particular order of importance, and liberally translated, "Western Canada", "Eastern Canada" (includes us), "Anglo Canada" (excludes us and includes the West), "The Maritimes", and "Ontario".

You could also say "BC" or "The Prairies" if you wanted to be more specific than just say "out west".

Two things you absolutely never hear: "Central Canada" and "Atlantic Canada".

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by kirjtc2

Out here....under no circumstances is Ontario ever, ever, ever considered "eastern Canada".

Nothing pisses off a Maritimer more than some national media type talking about how things are going "out east" when they mean Toronto, as if we don't even exist out here. I've even heard Toronto called the "east coast", which is just insulting.

Is Quebec the east?....maybe.

It's the same for Manitoba being called the west to a Vancouverite. That's absurd, I can barely accept Alberta as "the west" when it's on the other side of a giant mountain range from the coast. If North America was colonized from the west, we'd be calling AB central Canada.

Toronto is next to relatively tiny New York, and New York is quintessential east coast.

Every time this discussion comes up I have to refer to google maps. Seems like people always forget how gigantic "the west" is.

[wave46]

You guys could argue about whether water is wet.

Definitive answer:

Longitudinal Centre Of Canada

Everything west of that is 'Western Canada'. Everything east of that is 'Eastern Canada'. For the purposes of expediency, using the MB/ON border as a well known point which is relatively close (~130km) works.

Yes, there is an element of where you live to this - if you live in Ontario, 'out west' means you're headed to MB, SK, AB or BC. Not Windsor or Thunder Bay. 'Out east' means NB, NS, PEI or NFLD, not Quebec.

If you live on Vancouver Island, I don't imagine people saying 'I'm headed out east' when they refer to travelling to Alberta, even though it is technically correct.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by wave46

If you live on Vancouver Island, I don't imagine people saying 'I'm headed out east' when they refer to travelling to Alberta, even though it is technically correct.

Only because not many people are actually from BC yet. This will change in time of course.

[eternallyme]

When I think of "Central Canada" I think of the vast separating Shield, mostly in northern Ontario but also perhaps western Quebec and far eastern Manitoba. I know that definition is rarely used, but the vast Shield truly divides the country in two...

[shappy]

Ontario is a big province. Interesting to note the distance from the western longitudinal border to the eastern is equivalent to the distance spanning Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta to about Banff. Lots of land from the head of the whale to the tail...

[kel]

Rank Name Total area km2
1 Nunavut 2,093,190
2 Quebec 1,542,056
3 Northwest. Territories 1,346,106
4 Ontario 1,076,395
5 British Columbia 944,735
6 Alberta 661,848
7 Saskatchewan 651,036
8 Manitoba 647,797
9 Yukon 482,443

[trueviking]

The west starts at Portage and Main. It's where the Trans Canada makes a hard turn.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

When I think of "Central Canada" I think of the vast separating Shield, mostly in northern Ontario but also perhaps western Quebec and far eastern Manitoba. I know that definition is rarely used, but the vast Shield truly divides the country in two...

I would say the Rocky Mountains are a smidge more of an obvious divide than the Shield. Psychologically it's difficult not to feel completely disconnected on this side.

[hipster duck]

Canada is a federation of very autonomous provinces. Obviously, Quebec is the most autonomous based on size and culture/language, and then Ontario is next based on size, but, ironically, isolation.

Ontario is the least isolated province from other North Americans, but it is the most isolated from other English Canadians. Southern Ontario is 13 million people who exist along a busy highway with roughly Montreal to the "east" and Detroit to "the west". To get to the rest of Canada either means passing through French Quebec or taking a long slog north through the Canadian shield.

The cardinal east-west direction of all of Canada doesn't really come into the picture.

Anyway, growing up in Ontario I never heard the term "Central Canada". I remember I moved to Edmonton for a summer job in 2nd year university, and my boss (who had gone to the same university in Ontario, but was from Alberta) used the term and that was when I remember hearing it for the first time.

[Calgarian]

To me, Western Canada is Alberta and BC, Central Canada is Manitoba and the western half of Ontario (to about Sudbury), and Eastern Canada is everything east.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

To me, Western Canada is Alberta and BC, Central Canada is Manitoba and the western half of Ontario (to about Sudbury), and Eastern Canada is everything east.

And then there was Saskatchewan ...

[someone123]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Ontario is the least isolated province from other North Americans, but it is the most isolated from other English Canadians.

Really? The ferry from Newfoundland takes forever, and flights there are pricier than flights out of Toronto. Atlantic Canada is much less populated than Ontario and it has Quebec on one side and an ocean on the other. You could say that NB is less isolated from other English Canadians because it's next to PEI and NS but that's just a technicality. Atlantic Canada is isolated as a region.

BC is also similar to Ontario. Seattle isn't far but it takes a long time to drive to a substantial town in Alberta. The BC interior is lightly developed and difficult to travel through.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

And then there was Saskatchewan ...

haha, I made a Trudeau. Saskatchewan is definitely Western Canada.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Canada is a federation of very autonomous provinces. Obviously, Quebec is the most autonomous based on size and culture/language, and then Ontario is next based on size, but, ironically, isolation.

Ontario is the least isolated province from other North Americans, but it is the most isolated from other English Canadians. Southern Ontario is 13 million people who exist along a busy highway with roughly Montreal to the "east" and Detroit to "the west". To get to the rest of Canada either means passing through French Quebec or taking a long slog north through the Canadian shield.

The cardinal east-west direction of all of Canada doesn't really come into the picture.

Anyway, growing up in Ontario I never heard the term "Central Canada". I remember I moved to Edmonton for a summer job in 2nd year university, and my boss (who had gone to the same university in Ontario, but was from Alberta) used the term and that was when I remember hearing it for the first time.

I can see the logic in this illustration, even if others don't agree.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Pinion

I would say the Rocky Mountains are a smidge more of an obvious divide than the Shield. Psychologically it's difficult not to feel completely disconnected on this side.

There is a difference for sure between east and west of the mountains, but it's not on the scale of for example the Alps when going from French-German Switzerland to Italian Switzerland and Italy.

That's actually a really cool transition in a very short distance. Not only because of language and culture but also architecture, plants, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Quite neat in fact.

I've never been there but obviously there is a huge difference on either side of the Himalayas as well.

I think that the mountains in BC-Alberta might have had a bigger contrast on either side had they been primarily settled before the era of modern transportation links.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

haha, I made a Trudeau. Saskatchewan is definitely Western Canada.

I would say that rural Manitoba, where I live, is definitely the west. Winnipeg is much more central Canada.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by someone123

Really? The ferry from Newfoundland takes forever, and flights there are pricier than flights out of Toronto. Atlantic Canada is much less populated than Ontario and it has Quebec on one side and an ocean on the other. You could say that NB is less isolated from other English Canadians because it's next to PEI and NS but that's just a technicality. Atlantic Canada is isolated as a region.

BC is also similar to Ontario. Seattle isn't far but it takes a long time to drive to a substantial town in Alberta. The BC interior is lightly developed and difficult to travel through.

Okay, Newfoundland is more isolated from everyone. Fair point.

I suppose it is a technicality to say that Atlantic Canadian provinces aren't isolated because they aren't isolated from one another. I was thinking along provincial boundary lines when I said that; as in, Nova Scotians are fully aware of New Brunswick and PEI, while Ontarians are only easily connected to the United States and Quebec. Treated as a region, rather than as provinces, Atlantic Canada is more isolated from the rest of English Canada for sure.

But BC is definitely more integrated with other provinces than [Southern] Ontario is. The interior of BC doesn't feel like some out-of-sight appendage to me in Vancouver the same way Northern Ontario does to Southerners. I visited the interior within 2 years of moving here; I still have never been north of Sudbury in Ontario, and few people I know from Southern Ontario (regardless of whether they were from Windsor or Ottawa or Toronto) have either. There are also relatively populous regions of the interior that aren't associated with decline, like the Okanagan, that people willingly move to from Vancouver. Finally, much of the interior of BC seems to belong as much to Albertans as it does to Coastal British Columbians, and the drive from Vancouver to Calgary may take you through stretches of the Rockies where you can't find a gas station for 150 km, but you don't feel like you're on the road to nowhere. You know that there is another city of a million + on the other side of the mountains, and, judging by the license plates, that's where a lot of the traffic is trying to get to.

I think Ontario is isolated in the same way that California or Texas is isolated. It's a very large province that's big enough that it can turn inward and still feel like a legit country. Its only psychological Canadian neighbour is the only province that feels even more autonomous than Ontario, and is separated by language and culture, so that reinforces Ontario's autonomy a bit more. This might sound extremely arrogant and stereotypical, but, growing up in Ontario we really felt that we were the de facto English Canadians. There were 13 million of us and we didn't have to leave our province to do anything. We all went to different universities and colleges, but they were dotted around the province, not around the country. We learned that Canada was a country of two languages and cultures, and we could see that implicitly because Quebec was right there. We assumed we were the other half.