Quote:
Originally Posted by lrt's friend
The lumber boom occurred during the same period as it became capital. The lumber boom lasted from around 1860 to 1920. This is before the great expansion of the federal presence that really got going in World War II. I think you overestimate the federal presence during the early post-Confederation period.
Also, without the federal presence the city would have been forced to diversify and modernize. I have no doubt that the city would have been much smaller but Canadian cities tended not to shrink during a post boom period. They tended to stagnate.
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Another interesting question under a scenario where Ottawa is not the capital, is whether the population would be more evenly distributed between the Ontario and Quebec sides of the Ottawa River, or even if the Quebec side would have more population.
In the early decades of this era's settlement, for a fairly long time there was more population on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, but this changed around the middle of the 1800s.