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  #101  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 5:16 AM
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Originally Posted by rousseau View Post
A comedian on a stage in Toronto isn't going to do a quick one-liner about Brantford. If he's reaching for the target of an off-hand snarky remark it's going to be about Hamilton.
Oshawa would work as well. But yeah, Brantford not so much.


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Originally Posted by TownGuy View Post
What's funny about Oshawa is it could've been another Oakville if it centred itself closer to Lake Ontario. All the burbs in the eastern GTA wasted their waterfront location. There's a pair of nuclear plants, some factories and some sprawl. Whitby and Ajax have decent enough waterfront but nothing is around them. Odd that not one city developed a lakefront downtown.
Pickering village, downtown Whitby and Oshawa all have Kingston Rd passing through their downtowns. So does Cobourg, no? Historically this was the main east/west route as you probably know. Their waterfronts are pretty shitty though.
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  #102  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 5:50 AM
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Originally Posted by SaskOttaLoo View Post
That is a shame, since NFLD is up there as my next Canadian vacation spot! Would there have been another viable path that the highway could have taken that would have avoided that?
If the highway followed the coastline then it would take 10-20 times longer to cross the island!

Many of the highways that branch off of the Trans-Canada are what you want to drive but you need time for them. The Trans-Canada makes sense for a quick way across.
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  #103  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 6:20 AM
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Originally Posted by O-tacular View Post
What about Smithers?
I think you'd get a blank stare if you asked anybody what they thought about Smithers. Again, I don't know what people outside the Lower Mainland think, but I'd guess many people here wouldn't have even heard of it. I'm into this stuff and even I don't know the first thing about it. Prince George is big enough where at least a fair bit of people would have a faint idea about it, and a quite a few people know people that live there too.

If I haven't made it clear, Vancouver's just as ignorant of what happens outside its little sphere as much as we all accuse Toronto of being. I've heard the rest of BC thinks the same of Vancouver as we all do of Toronto, and I can't really blame them. When you have Surrey right there to bash, no one really has any reason to look much farther.
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  #104  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 1:07 PM
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Originally Posted by rousseau View Post
Which obviously means that Canada doesn't actually have a Cleveland, as it doesn't pass the litmus test. There's nowhere in the States where people wouldn't understand an easy potshot at the "Mistake by the Lake," but you'll just get blank stares if you make a crack about Winnipeg when you're in Ontario or Quebec (and I imagine the Maritimes, as well).
I'll have to disagree. Everyone (OK, pretty much everyone) in the country knows of Winnipeg, however vaguely. If just for the cold and the Jets and no other reason.

When there was the polar vortex (i.e. a cold front) a few winters ago, who was compared to the temperature on the surface of Mars? That's right, Winnipeg.

If you make a 'this place is boring' joke, you can always end it with the punchline 'at least we're not in Winnipeg'. If you subbed in Laval or Hamilton, people would look at you blankly.

For less humorous reasons, Winnipeg was dubbed Canada's most racist city by Macleans and there was a fairly recent group of articles about how Manitoba's Child Services can't keep up with their cases, both of which centered on Winnipeg.

So, yeah, Winnipeg fills the Rodney Dangerfield shtick nicely. It doesn't get a lot of respect.
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  #105  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 1:15 PM
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Winnipeg and Hamilton can fight it out for first place (if they want to)!
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  #106  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 5:39 PM
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Originally Posted by GlassCity View Post
I think you'd get a blank stare if you asked anybody what they thought about Smithers. Again, I don't know what people outside the Lower Mainland think, but I'd guess many people here wouldn't have even heard of it. I'm into this stuff and even I don't know the first thing about it. Prince George is big enough where at least a fair bit of people would have a faint idea about it, and a quite a few people know people that live there too.

If I haven't made it clear, Vancouver's just as ignorant of what happens outside its little sphere as much as we all accuse Toronto of being. I've heard the rest of BC thinks the same of Vancouver as we all do of Toronto, and I can't really blame them. When you have Surrey right there to bash, no one really has any reason to look much farther.
Smithers doesn't strike me as the type of town that anyone really thinks about all that much. I've never heard anyone talk negatively about it, and it's actually quite a nice small town

True, many Vancouverites do seem like they're in their own little world when it comes to the rest of the province.
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  #107  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 7:27 PM
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Winnipeg seems to be the obvious answer at the national level.

Does it have a national profile? Yes.

Is it often on the receiving jokes about its location and weather? Yes.

Does it deserve more respect than it gets? Definitely.
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  #108  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 8:07 PM
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Originally Posted by hipster duck View Post
At a national level, I'd say Winnipeg too.

At a provincial level? Well, in order to get 'no respect', the place would have to actually be kind of respectable. In Vancouver, people I know are always making fun of Merritt, but that's not undeserved. New Westminster gets respect among Vancouverites who are interested in planning/urbanism, but it generally doesn't get any respect from the general population despite the fact that it has good bones.
Lol Merritt?

I love that Merritt exists as a place time forgot... like one of those lost villages between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Deserted but still inhabited.

But that Vancouverites would stoop to make fun of an easy target like Merritt is like slapping a baby... not sure what they're trying to prove
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Originally Posted by esquire View Post
I'm not going to argue with everyone saying Winnipeg. I find that the people who respect it least tend to be the people who have either never been or have barely been (e.g. visited for 2 days back in 1989 or whatever). When I run into someone from Toronto or Vancouver while I'm abroad, I pretty well expect some feeble joke about snow or mosquitoes to come out of their mouths.
The problem with Winnipeg is that you have to dig to find the good stuff... there are awesome neighbourhoods and great restaurants, and a diverse cultural and arts scene, but Winnipeggers themselves don't know how good they have it. Get home, crack a bud, Sportscentre, goodnight! Through some sleddin' in if it's winter.
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Originally Posted by 240glt View Post
I dunno.. Surrey takes its share of hits to the face. PG's a rough & tumble northern city, but I don't know if it's the butt of everyone's jokes as much as Surrey is
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  #109  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 8:23 PM
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Originally Posted by GlassCity View Post
I think you'd get a blank stare if you asked anybody what they thought about Smithers. Again, I don't know what people outside the Lower Mainland think, but I'd guess many people here wouldn't have even heard of it. I'm into this stuff and even I don't know the first thing about it. Prince George is big enough where at least a fair bit of people would have a faint idea about it, and a quite a few people know people that live there too.

If I haven't made it clear, Vancouver's just as ignorant of what happens outside its little sphere as much as we all accuse Toronto of being. I've heard the rest of BC thinks the same of Vancouver as we all do of Toronto, and I can't really blame them. When you have Surrey right there to bash, no one really has any reason to look much farther.
It was a joke. My friend growing up complained about having family reunions there. We made many Simpsons related jokes about it.
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  #110  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 8:24 PM
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Originally Posted by north 42 View Post
Winnipeg and Hamilton can fight it out for first place (if they want to)!
Don't forget Edmonton!
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  #111  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 8:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Docere View Post
Winnipeg seems to be the obvious answer at the national level.

Does it have a national profile? Yes.

Is it often on the receiving jokes about its location and weather? Yes.

Does it deserve more respect than it gets? Definitely.
I know this isn't a life or death issue, but seriously, it really, really isn't. It has a national profile insomuch as, yes, people outside of the west know of it, and probably lots of them know that it's a really cold place, but that's it.

That doesn't make it Cleveland. Canada doesn't have a Cleveland, a go-to target of easy, hackneyed jokes. The closest thing Canada has to reliable, well-known things is the easy put-downs of Toronto and the right wing western/prairie fixation on Quebec.

In fact, it's sad to say, but Cleveland itself is more the Cleveland of Canada than any place in Canada.
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  #112  
Old Posted Aug 21, 2017, 10:18 PM
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I thought everyone knew about Winnipeg's deathly existence and murder rate?
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  #113  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2018, 6:14 PM
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Reading SSP these days, I'd say Regina, Thunder Bay and London.
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  #114  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2018, 6:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Wolf13 View Post
I love that Merritt exists as a place time forgot... like one of those lost villages between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Deserted but still inhabited.
Recently, some Merritt town councillors were interviewed by the CBC. The controversy was that some kids in the town proposed a rainbow-painted crosswalk of the type that became popular around 2012.

The "pro" lady talked about how she did not condone such lifestyles but might be okay with it if it made people happy. The "anti" guy talked about how they couldn't possibly do it because what if the Lions club wanted to paint another crosswalk brown, etc.

It felt like they were playing a recording from 1995.
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  #115  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2018, 6:29 PM
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Is there a Smitty's in Smithers?



Inquiring minds want to know.
Home of the world's worst breakfasts.
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  #116  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2018, 6:37 PM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Is there a Smitty's in Smithers?



Inquiring minds want to know.
Home of the world's worst breakfasts.
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  #117  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2018, 6:38 PM
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These days the undeniable answer on this forum to the question which city is the Rodney Dangerfield of Canada has to be Okotoks. No other city gets less respect. And that's including Laval.
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  #118  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2018, 9:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Docere View Post
Reading SSP these days, I'd say Regina, Thunder Bay and London.
Regina and Thunder Bay I can see but London?

I admit my bias being an ex-Londoner but London suffers more from being less well known but that is quite different from getting no respect. London has a very good reputation as being an attractive, historic, academic, safe, and liveable place although it also has a reputation of being quite WASPY and a little dull.
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  #119  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2018, 12:49 AM
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Originally Posted by rousseau View Post
Not meaning to be pedantic here, but I think this thread bears out the general idea that Winnipeg doesn't really have much of a profile at all outside of the west, as everyone declaring Winnipeg to be, in effect, "Canada's Cleveland" is from the west.

Which obviously means that Canada doesn't actually have a Cleveland, as it doesn't pass the litmus test. There's nowhere in the States where people wouldn't understand an easy potshot at the "Mistake by the Lake," but you'll just get blank stares if you make a crack about Winnipeg when you're in Ontario or Quebec (and I imagine the Maritimes, as well).

I think you have to go regional and/or provincial for this. The only one I know of for sure is that Hamilton is Ontario's go-to punching bag. Brantford, Welland and others mentioned in this thread don't have the province-wide profile that would make them targets. A comedian on a stage in Toronto isn't going to do a quick one-liner about Brantford. If he's reaching for the target of an off-hand snarky remark it's going to be about Hamilton.
Rousseau you are not giving Winnipeg any respect at not getting any respect.
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  #120  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2018, 3:39 AM
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I would go to say that from what I know about the cities of Canada you would have to give that some degree towards size. If you are going for larger size cities I would say Molson Exports home of London Ontario.

It gets very little love and is always over shadowed by cities like Halifax or Kitchener. I actually think it has pretty good bones. Nothing in Kitchener or St Catharines compares, I think Halifax has some pretty good bones but is it much better than London? Then the city is also bigger than Halifax population wise, yet you see Halifax pictures like a dime a dozen.

Small cities of course Saint John as it used to be one of the largest cities in the country and has a great history. It just seems to be dying a slow death!

I would also place Thunder Bay in the same category but not as bad.
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