Hi,
As a kid growing up in eastern Ontario, well within Ottawa's sphere of influence I had always thought that Hawkesburry as well was within this same sphere. I however now know some people that commute to metro Montreal from Hawkesburry so it may well be within Montreal's sphere of influence.
This got me thinking, it would be very interesting to see where the borders for each city's influence are located. A similar study was done in the US where they asked people of various location what was the most significant, culturally economically... city in their vicinity and they mapped out the results:
Do you know if a similar map can be viewed for Canada?
I suspect that Toronto may in fact have a very small sphere while Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton's are likely huge. Ottawa is likely squeezed between Montreal and Toronto (or Kingston?) with a small sphere.
Perhaps this is representative:
or this: