Winnipeg's sphere of influence

[balletomane]

I started a thread in the Canada section about cross-border cultural regions between Canada and the United States which got me wondering how far Winnipeg's influence reaches. Does it cross into Saskatchewan and into the US, and how far north and east does it reach until it becomes irrelevant due to the sparse population (i.e. smaller, remote communities are in their own bubble)?

[Chrisforpm]

I would say it depends on what type of influence you are talking about. Political - all of Manitoba. Sports - I'd say NW Ontario to the east and maybe Regina to the west if we are talking the Winnipeg Jets. You might even get northern Minnesota and North Dakotans in there as well.

If you talk retail - I'd say pretty close to the sports influence above. Except, these people are dependent on Winnipeg while Grand Forks is dependant on Winnipeggers.

[balletomane]

Not so much political influence as that is defined mostly by arbitrarily drawn borders. I was thinking economic, historical and cultural (if Winnipeg has a cultural sphere of influence).
I was thinking Canad Inns locations could be representative of Winnipeg's economic sphere, but there are none east of the city.

[BigG]

Not sure if it is still done today, but Winnipeg was used as a test market for many products in the past. Due to its' unique size and location - "a large city in the middle of nowhere" with the closest major city hundreds of miles to the East, West and South made it a perfect market to determine the success of a new or improved product.

When it comes to trade, Winnipeg was huge over a hundred years ago due to rail. Almost everything had to go through Winnipeg. Hence, it was the third largest city in Canada at that time. The completion of the Panama Canal killed that.

We as Winnipeggers may be oblivious of it, but Winnipeg has become, in recent years, a city in the consciousness of many across the oceans as a ''world class city" in which they would love to emigrate to. Due to the large influx of immigrants to our province, family and friends left behind hear firsthand from relatives how great it is to make a life in this city. Word of mouth is a big factor in projecting the image of our city and how it is perceived.

[bomberjet]

Winnipeg and Manitoba reaches world wide. Especially in farming. Manitoba crops are shipped round the world. Manufacturing as well. All the tractors that get shipped to Russia for example.

Winnipeg is also tied to the north quite heavily. Places in Nunavut rely on shipments coming from Manitoba, health services in Winnipeg, search and rescue, etc.

Winnipeg is also tied to places throughout the USA in the shipping world. Winnipeg and Chicago are regional hubs for CN. Traffic to/from Chicago can be quite heavy. Same goes for eastern and western Canada, shipping is huge here of course.

Culturally I think Winnipeg's reach is on the national level. First Nations for example. Winnipeg also has a good music scene that produces well known talent.

So I'd say our 'sphere of influence' is quite far reaching.

[esquire]

This is a few years old, but it's a good rundown of global cities:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2012t.html

The list breaks down global cities into categories of alpha/beta/gamma. Then on the right there are sufficiency cities that are not global cities as such, but are big and developed enough to stand on their own to some extent. Winnipeg is in that category, and that sounds about right... Winnipeg is a city of major importance regionally, perhaps secondary importance nationally, and is a bit of a footnote globally, i.e. people know we're here, but Winnipeg is obviously not a city on the global radar the way that places like Moscow, Paris or Shanghai are.

Of course, you could always drill down into specific sub-categories where Winnipeg (or any city) has a massive sphere of influence... when it comes to the worlds of Inuit art, human rights museums or cities with extreme climates, we're world class baby.

[balletomane]

When I think of Winnipeg's sphere of influence, it stretches from the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border until about Dryden (ironically this is the same area disputed by Manitoba and Ontario in the 1880's the ended up in Ontario's favour). On a north-south axis it would basically include all of Northern Manitoba and a bit into the northern fringes of North Dakota and Minnesota).

Even though Winnipeg would have significant influence in the Territories, the same could be said for any other major prairie city. I think Ottawa also has a major role in the north, I believe constitutionally the territories are meant to be governed directly by Ottawa.

[windypeg]

The "cultural" sphere is an interesting one to look at. We're the biggest concert stop between Calgary and Toronto so people from all over MB and SK, northern ontario and even North Dakota and Minnesota come here to see their favourite artists. We've also gotten some favourable coverage lately in international publications (National Geographic, Vogue). At the risk of riling up rrsklyar I would say the CMHR has put us on the map internationally, at least in certain circles. Thermea is a big destination too. Some of the smug ex-Manitobans-turned-Vancouverites I know seem jealous that Winnipeg has something as cool as Thermea

[balletomane]

Originally Posted by windypeg

The "cultural" sphere is an interesting one to look at. We're the biggest concert stop between Calgary and Toronto so people from all over MB and SK, northern ontario and even North Dakota and Minnesota come here to see their favourite artists. We've also gotten some favourable coverage lately in international publications (National Geographic, Vogue). At the risk of riling up rrsklyar I would say the CMHR has put us on the map internationally, at least in certain circles. Thermea is a big destination too. Some of the smug ex-Manitobans-turned-Vancouverites I know seem jealous that Winnipeg has something as cool as Thermea

I mean no disrespect to the cultural scene of either Calgary or Edmonton, but couldn't one consider Winnipeg's cultural sphere to extend all the way to the Rockies? At one time, Winnipeg was the hub of all of Western and Northern Canada (excluding BC), and even though times have changed, especially with both Calgary and Edmonton have exploded past Winnipeg in population, I'm sure Winnipeg's influence at that time has played a role in the cultural development of all Canadian prairie cities.

[esquire]

^ Maybe long ago, these days not that much. Edmonton's role in its region is broadly similar to ours. Same with Calgary, although I suppose that it has a much more prominent national role. I'm not sure what either would really be looking to Winnipeg for.

[balletomane]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Maybe long ago, these days not that much. Edmonton's role in its region is broadly similar to ours. Same with Calgary, although I suppose that it has a much more prominent national role. I'm not sure what either would really be looking to Winnipeg for.

Yes, I suppose you are correct, maybe if Calgary and Edmonton were Saskatoon and Regina sized the thought of Winnipeg's cultural sphere extending to the Rockies wouldn't be as far fetched.

I see our sphere of influence essentially being in three concentric zones around Winnipeg.
A 100 km radius (people may commute to Winnipeg and visit once a week for shopping, etc.),
A 200 km radius (people might go to the city for a weekend shopping trip, visit Assiniboine Park, CMHR, etc)
A 300 km radius (not as much interaction between the "average person", but the transportation of goods to and from Winnipeg would be significant)

[CoryB]

If you asked people about which city with a population over 500,000 they most identified with you would likely find that as you moved west when you got around Brandon people would start to be more evenly split between Winnipeg and Regina. As you keep moving west Regina gains in importance. In terms of that east-west influence Winnipeg and Regina definitely push on each other's sphere of influence.

In terms of health and other services you need in person Winnipeg has a reach to Churchill and further in the north.

Going south I think Winnipeg would have influence until around Morris then start to fall off. Winnipeg is definitely of importance to Grand Forks but the border between the countries is more a one way filter that lets Canadian's out but keeps Americans in regarding their influence.

Heading east NW Ontario seemingly more identifies with Winnipeg than the distant people off in Toronto.

At least that it the perception I have based on talking to people from other areas/media coverage.

[balletomane]

Maybe in the 2030's when Winnipeg reaches that magical 1,000,000 mark our influence will push further south. Its too bad that Emerson wasn't a Grand Forks sized city as that would make that 2 hour "void" between Winnipeg and Grand Forks a bit more connected.
Didn't Emerson have a peak population of about 10,000 in the 1880's and declined soon after?

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by CoryB

If you asked people about which city with a population over 500,000 they most identified with you would likely find that as you moved west when you got around Brandon people would start to be more evenly split between Winnipeg and Regina. As you keep moving west Regina gains in importance. In terms of that east-west influence Winnipeg and Regina definitely push on each other's sphere of influence.

I guess those people wouldn't know that Regina doesn't come close to 500k people...

[balletomane]

Originally Posted by jmt18325

I guess those people wouldn't know that Regina doesn't come close to 500k people...

By 2050? Then maybe Regina would have its own sphere of influence pushing a bit into Western Manitoba.

[James Gablan]

I think there is an influence multiplier that combined with a cities population produces its total influence.

I believe Canadian cities can be group by the size of their multiplier

large multiplier cities being: Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Waterloo, Ottawa,

Meduim multiplier cities being: Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax

low multiplier cities being: Victoria, London, Quebec

[BigG]

Can you elaborate on influence multiplier? And the logic behind the three groups of cities?