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  #1  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 9:59 PM
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Canadian cities American counterparts

I thought I would start a debate here on what you think the American equivilant of Canadian major cites are here are mine.

Winnipeg = St.Louis both are midwestern gateways to our respective west's and we grow at steady rates.

Montreal= Boston both are similar in size and history and rich in culture.

Calgary= Dallas both are sterotypical oil rich cocky boom towns.

Edmonton= Houston both are just as big as their rival city's but just don't seem to get as much attention.

Vancouver= San Fran both were home to hippie movements and counter culture and are very progressive cities

Toronto= Atlanta many will disagree here but Toronto never has the character or history of New York it's much more similar to Atlanta in size and in being rather bland corporate cities.

Hamilton = Pittsburgh too easy both are our steel cities and have yellow and black iconic football teams.
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  #2  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 10:09 PM
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American and Canadian cities are pretty different in general. Both fit under the North American (you could include Australia and New Zealand in this) style of cities, but they are still both different and distinct. Calgary is usually considered one of the more "Americanized" cities in Canada, but it looks very Canadian to me. No city in the U.S. could come up with the density of suburbs, commercial job density, LRT ridershop, or slab apartments with just 1.2 million people. I can see the small connection between Boston and Montreal (some similar architecture, university towns, historically significant, vibrant) but they're still obviously different. Vancouver and San Francisco? Nah, they somewhat comparable politically (both very left leaning) but they look nothing alike. Architecture is completely different, geography/climate, and the Bay Area sprawls out way more (for it's size, if Vancouver were San Francisco's size, I doubt it would sprawl as much). Edmonton to Houston? Minneapolis or Denver make more sense (even though they're still quite different). Houston is far, far sprawlier and far more conservative. And maybe it's just me, but I hear more about Houston than Dallas, making it get more attention, unlike Edmonton. Toronto to Atlanta? Are you kidding me? Toronto's skyline is far more massive, Toronto itself has much more historical architecture, played a bigger role in it's respective country's history, more liberal, different climate, etc. Toronto is Canada's top tier immigration, business, and media centre. Atlanta is not to the U.S.
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  #3  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 10:26 PM
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As far as the Maritimes are concerned:

Halifax - Boston
Saint John - Portland (Me)
Moncton - Bangor (Me)
Fredericton - Augusta (Me)

Regarding a couple of your other comparisons:

Montreal I have most commonly heard being compared to NYC
Toronto is Canada's Chicago ( this is a no brainer)
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  #4  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 10:33 PM
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^Toronto is Canada's answer to New York. Both are their country's respective top tier city. #1 for business, tourism, transit connections, entertainment/media, population, immigration, etc. In terms of actual size and look, it is more comparable to Chicago.
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Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 10:33 PM
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haha.... Toronto to Atlanta.

Altanta to Calgary if your being serious guy. for me Calgary is the Canadian version of Dallas.

And Edmonton is our Houston.

Hamilton is our philedelphia.

Vancouver is our Seattle.

Windsor is our detroit.

Niagara Falls is the Canadian Las Vegas.

Obviously we need more cities here....
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  #6  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 10:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thurmas View Post
Toronto= Atlanta many will disagree here but Toronto never has the character or history of New York it's much more similar to Atlanta in size and in being rather bland corporate cities.
D'ohoho
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  #7  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 10:52 PM
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Toronto is not like New York, Toronto has had zero important historical moments,it doesn't have an urban character like New Yorkers do and it tries far to hard to be similar to American cities instead of just being itself which is a successful but bland economic major centre.Bland can be good Toronto is very stable and wealthy and realatively safe but what I am trying to say as a city Toronto doesn't have the history or character of a New York, Chicago or even Montreal.
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  #8  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:07 PM
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I don't get the whole "Toronto is bland" thing. Whenever I'm walking around the downtown area neighbourhoods, I'm too distracted by all the interesting sights, sounds and smells to notice the supposed blandness.

Toronto is obviously Canada's New York. It is more similar to Chicago in terms of size, layout and geography, but everything else about the city's role and status within Canada mirrors NYC .
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  #9  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:08 PM
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Thunder Bay is definitely the Santa Fe of Canada.
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  #10  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:10 PM
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Yellowknife is the New York of the Northwest Territories...
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  #11  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thurmas View Post
Toronto is not like New York, Toronto has had zero important historical moments,it doesn't have an urban character like New Yorkers do and it tries far to hard to be similar to American cities instead of just being itself which is a successful but bland economic major centre.Bland can be good Toronto is very stable and wealthy and realatively safe but what I am trying to say as a city Toronto doesn't have the history or character of a New York, Chicago or even Montreal.
Considering you draw upon such important characteristics of cities such as the colour of their football teams to compare them, surely the city's status as the country's biggest city and economic centre, cultural centre, most diverse, having the most skyscrapers, etc, etc. would be enough to make it the equivalent of "Canada's New York"? If you want to compare any country's collection of cities to America's, the biggest will pretty much always be the NYC-equivalent. Similarly, if you were to ever compare a country's cities to Canada's, their largest would be..."_____'s Toronto". Frankly the whole exercise is tiring and pointless (always seems to come up here every few months...), but that part at least should be pretty clear.

And Atlanta, really? Aside from neither being close to their countries equivalent, the built form, architecture, demographics, culture, history, topography, infrastructure, and climate are about as far from each other as possible.

I'll otherwise just ignore the "blah blah Toronto is bland" stuff. Seem too deep rooted a Canadianism to ever bother attempting to change (despite its inherent irony).
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  #12  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:25 PM
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Sorry Torontians, but you cannot compare any Canadian city to New York.

Architecture:
Toronto is a good mix between Chicago (old architecture) and Vancouver.
Culture:
I will compare Toronto to Boston or Washington
Economy:
I will give you this one, hub city.
Transport:
You cannot compare TTC to MTA. Toronto is somewhere between Philadephia and Chicago.

Overall, I will say Toronto is more similar to Chicago with a more vibrant downtown.
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  #13  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:28 PM
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Why do the Americans make all those movies in Toronto, if it were not for the fact that at ground level Toronto looks like New York..?
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  #14  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:28 PM
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Quote:
Yellowknife is the New York of the Northwest Territories...
Haha. Funny because it's true.

Halifax is Canada's Boston...it is culturally and physically similar. Even has the commons and public gardens and too many other similarities to mention.

Montreal?? may be Canada's New Orleans but certainly not Boston. The two cities are totally different.

Comparing Toronto to Atlanta is very close to "trolling". The two cities have almost nothing in common. Nada. Toronto is not at all bland. It is ethnically teeming and is the financial and cultural centre of the country. Where on earth is Thurmas coming from??
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  #15  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilippeMtl View Post
Sorry Torontians, but you cannot compare any Canadian city to New York.
You can't really compare any Canadian city to Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, and so on either, in any actual realistic sense. I think the point of the exercise however, is to find the American equivalents of Canadian cities, rather than what is actually the most similar.
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  #16  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lawsond View Post
Haha. Funny because it's true.

Halifax is Canada's Boston...it is culturally and physically similar. Even has the commons and public gardens and too many other similarities to mention.

Montreal?? may be Canada's New Orleans but certainly not Boston. The two cities are totally different.

Comparing Toronto to Atlanta is very close to "trolling". The two cities have almost nothing in common. Nada. Toronto is not at all bland. It is ethnically teeming and is the financial and cultural centre of the country. Where on earth is Thurmas coming from??
Comparing Montreal to New Orleans and Halifax to Boston IS trolling...
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  #17  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:40 PM
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I think he meant Montreal and New Orleans have a french culture.

Not trolling by a longshot.

Halifax seems a logical choice to compare to Boston, seeing that they are both atlantic seaboard cities. And Halifax is our only reasonable representation in this respect.
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  #18  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by caltrane74 View Post
I think he meant Montreal and New Orleans have a french culture.

Not trolling by a longshot.
A french culture? big deal. Toronto and Phoenix are similar cause they both speak english...

And Halifax to Boston? Seriously, Halifax to Portland,Me seems a more logical comparaison.
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  #19  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilippeMtl View Post
Sorry Torontians, but you cannot compare any Canadian city to New York.

Architecture:
Toronto is a good mix between Chicago (old architecture) and Vancouver.
Culture:
I will compare Toronto to Boston or Washington
Economy:
I will give you this one, hub city.
Transport:
You cannot compare TTC to MTA. Toronto is somewhere between Philadephia and Chicago.

Overall, I will say Toronto is more similar to Chicago with a more vibrant downtown.
I should clarify...when I said transit connections and Toronto a few posts back I was meaning the connections to other cities (Pearson and JFK are their country's respective largest airports, Toronto has great rail access to other cities via VIA, Amtrak, GO) which other cities in Canada don't have to the same extent.
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  #20  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2011, 11:48 PM
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I saw Portland, Maine mentioned for St. John's before.

San Fransisco's geography is very similar to St. John's and I've seen comparisons made about both cities. Both are foggy, hilly, on the ocean and have many historic buildings. I believe SF use to have a lot of problems with constructing high-rises as well.
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