Definitely. Most people here don't really seem to know New Brunswick exists. They might go to PEI as tourists. But Nova Scotia in general, and Halifax in particular, is universally well-known. In fact, the farther west you go on the island (of Newfoundland), the more Halifax replaces St. John's as "going to town". People in, say, Port aux Basques, or Stephenville, or even Corner Brook, are surprisingly likely to have been to Halifax several times in their lives but never to St. John's.
Halifax is the Atlantic Canada capital, so to speak. Now, it's important - not just for bitchiness, but genuinely for accuracy, to note that while this includes much of Newfoundland, it doesn't really include St. John's. We're truly isolated, simply too far away, and doing our own thing. But Halifax is the natural place to think of when wanting to move to "the city", or go to university, or even take a shopping trip, in many western parts of the island.
And I'm not saying we're equal on the other side. Halifax's influence is Edmundston NB to probably Deer Lake NL. Ours only goes as far as Gander. But, despite we're smaller, and all of that, it's still genuinely, actually separate.
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Note to self: "The plural of anecdote is not evidence."
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