[someone123]

Same as how Detroit looks a bit bigger than Toronto on satellite maps but has a smaller population.

It's interesting how the Prairies are a bit more developed in Canada, with Alberta in particular having nothing really comparable south of the border. Winnipeg is I guess the northern version of Minneapolis but they don't really have a Saskatoon or Regina either. Part of what's going on there is oil and maybe another part is the aridity of the plains that are farther south (which includes part of southern AB and SK).

The Maritimes are the opposite, being a lot less developed than New England. One common line of reasoning is that the Maritimes don't have a lot of farmland like say Ontario but I think they have about as much as New England which has a lot more people, even if you subtract out the Boston area (PEI has about 1.5x the farmland of Massachusetts). The same type of land or resources tend to be much more developed on the US side of the border in that region even when somewhat far away from a major city.