What's a major city in Canada that you can't believe you've never visited??

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by Razor

Aside from a few U.S and Cdn. major cities, I've never been anywhere outside of Ontario, so I'll just list the Cdn metros I've been to, which isn't much. Belonging to this site, I should do a walk of shame! And I have relatives and friends in both Calgary and Vancouver, who I can and should visit.

I have you beaten. As Canada goes, I have never been outside Ontario. Other than to and from the cottage, I'm not at all a traveller, for various reasons. I haven't been to Europe since I was a kid, and the States, which used to be a holiday-time destination, is out of the question for the foreseeable future, if not for good.
Having confessed with chagrin to my not being well-travelled, I am a staunch Canadian, not an Ontario or Toronto chauvinist, and I wish nothing but the best for every corner of this country, though I don't wear my patriotism on my sleeve.

[Djeffery]

Other than the little specs of BC I mentioned in the remote thread, I've never been west of Windsor Ontario in the country. I would say of all the cities in the east that I have been to, not having been to Quebec City yet surprises me. Other than that one trip to the east coast where we missed the cutoff and ended up crossing the bridge accidentally, but that was just long enough to get turned around and head back across lol.

I spent a day touring around PEI the year the bridge opened but I don't really count the half hour in Charlottetown as much of a visit, but now my daughter lives there for work so I hope to get down there this summer and spend some time. Only been to the western half of Newfoundland, so count St John's as a miss as well. Will hit that on a cruise ship in September 2027 coming across from Europe.

Oh and I haven't really spent any time in Brampton other than stuck in traffic lol

[Blitz]

Of the top 20 metros the only ones I haven't been to are Sherbrooke and Victoria. I've sailed past Victoria on the Alaska ferry though.

[Metro-One]

For me it's Winnipeg, Ottawa, and every city Quebec City and east.

A plan one day is to land Ottawa, and then have a road trip across all of Eastern Canada.

[Loco101]

The largest city in Canada that I haven't been to is Prince George BC. I almost did go there on a trip in 2021 but gave up because the forest fire smoke was so bad along the way.

The only other cities I haven't been to in Canada that are larger than Timmins ON where I live are Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie in Alberta.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by Loco101

The largest city in Canada that I haven't been to is Prince George BC. I almost did go there on a trip in 2021 but gave up because the forest fire smoke was so bad along the way.

The only other cities I haven't been to in Canada that are larger than Timmins ON where I live are Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie in Alberta.

I've been to a ton of places in Canada too but that is some serious Canadian travel chops, congrats!

[Denscity]

Quebec City and Charlottetown

[svlt]

Halifax.

I've been to all the other major ones 400k+ pop and up and even Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Iqaluit. Even St. John's and Moncton out in the Atlantic. But oddly Halifax has been the odd duck that has eluded me even though after visiting quite a few for work and pleasure it should've made it.

[niwell]

I suppose it depends on what we are counting as a major city so I'll ignore population and go more with importance. Been to most of them in the country and the largest miss in Ontario is Sarnia, but I'm fine skipping that.

More or less in terms of descending desire for me:

-Quebec City
-Victoria
-Saint John
-Charlottetown (drove to the outskirts but haven't spent time)
-Saskatoon
-Regina

I'm also going to give an honourable mention to Vancouver, as while I have been several times the last was almost 25 years ago now when I was a teenager. Would like to go back as an adult when I can actually appreciate things.

Second honourable mention to Winnipeg as I only drove through, had lunch and then killed some time on a work trip back from Kenora.

[drew]

Everything east of Montreal except Halifax.

[Truenorth00]

There are 13 international airports in Canada that the government considers important enough to designate:

(1) As of the date of publication of this AC the following airports have been designated as “International”:

(a) CYYC - YYC Calgary International
(b) CYEG - Edmonton International
(c) CYFC - Fredericton International
(d) CYQX - Gander International
(e) CYHZ - Halifax / Stanfield International
(f) CYQM - Moncton / Greater Moncton Romeo Leblanc International
(g) CYUL - Montreal / Pierre Elliott Trudeau International
(h) CYOW - Ottawa / Macdonald-Cartier International
(i) CYQB - Québec / Jean Lesage International
(j) CYYT - St. John’s International
(k) CYYZ - Toronto / Lester B. Pearson International
(l) CYVR - Vancouver International
(m) CYWG - Winnipeg / James Armstrong Richardson International.

https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/ref...-302-032#toc55

From that list, only Gander is there for logistics reasons. Every other city is there because it has sufficient cross-border and transoceanic traffic to consider important enough to have staff on site or on call 24/7. So these are the 12 cities I would consider important in Canada.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

So these are the 12 cities I would consider important in Canada.

This list looks like it was written right after the Second World War for trans-Atlantic flights with stopovers. There are 5 cities in Atlantic Canada and 4 in Western Canada, which has four times the population.

I'd also consider Victoria, Saskatoon and Regina (as well as a bunch of cities in Ontario like London, KW, Hamilton and Windsor) to be more important than Fredericton.

[FrAnKs]

Vancouver
Victoria
Calgary
Edmonton
Winnipeg
St. John’s

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

There are 13 international airports in Canada that the government considers important enough to designate:



https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/ref...-302-032#toc55

From that list, only Gander is there for logistics reasons. Every other city is there because it has sufficient cross-border and transoceanic traffic to consider important enough to have staff on site or on call 24/7. So these are the 12 cities I would consider important in Canada.

The Moncton Airport actively sought international airport status in an attempt to get international flights. I think Dominic had something to do with this being granted. He probably liked the idea of an international airport being named after his daddy.

Now, mind you, YQM does have seven international destinations in four different countries (Caribbean and Mexico), so the international designation is quasi legitimate.

I have no idea why YFC (Fredericton) has an international designation. It is considerably less busy than YQM. I suspect civic leaders up there had hurt feeling when Moncton was designated (Fredericton is after all the capital).

[O-tacular]

Winnipeg!

[1ajs]

it was quebec city till 2 weeks ago

[biguc]

I haven't been to Sherbrooke but I can absolutely believe it.

[zoomer]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

There are 13 international airports in Canada that the government considers important enough to designate:

I assume this is tongue in cheek, but you never know sometimes on SSP!

But just in case I wouldn't rely on Advisory Circular (AC) No. 302-032 published by the Civil Aviation Standards Office in 2023 in which they request airports to submit "the required information prior to July 1, 2024" to maintain and be able to use "INTL" or "International" in their name and products as a particularly good measure for an important city in Canada.

You'll notice many aiports today, including Victoria International Airport have the magical word International in their name and we are now in 2026 according to the date thing at the top of my computer screen..

[Jaws]

Sherbrooke and St. John’s for me.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by zoomer

I assume this is tongue in cheek, but you never know sometimes on SSP!

But just in case I wouldn't rely on Advisory Circular (AC) No. 302-032 published by the Civil Aviation Standards Office in 2023 in which they request airports to submit "the required information prior to July 1, 2024" to maintain and be able to use "INTL" or "International" in their name and products as a particularly good measure for an important city in Canada.

You'll notice many airports today, including Victoria International Airport have the magical word International in their name and we are now in 2026 according to the date thing at the top of my computer screen..

There's are many airports not included in this list which have International in their name. In addition to Victoria, there's Kelowna, Abbotsford, Whitehorse, Iqaluit, Fort McMurray, London, Hamilton, Waterloo, Thunder Bay etc.