What Small Canadian Cities Do You Want To See As Bigger Centres

[Razor]

Totally hypothetical and slightly tongue in cheek.

Much like I mentioned about Halifax in another thread, I kind of wondered why a port city like Thunder Bay never got bigger...This is one city that would look great as a large metro area of over 300'000 people overlooking Lake Superior..I think Western Ontario needs a metro, and Thunder-Bay would be it.

North Bay

Very pretty lil city in Northern Ontario..
Not sure what it would resemble as a large metro though, but I would love to see this type of city get big.


Your thoughts?


As a side bar come 2031 I can really see a city like Calgary really taking off, and perhaps hit the 1.5- 1.7 million mark pending no oil busts and if Calgary continues to diversify.
I can see Toronto's metro hitting the population of what Chicago is now at about 8 million, and both Montreal and Ottawa maintaining steady growth...
If hi- tech mounts a major comeback in Ottawa, I can see Ottawa almost rivaling Calgary's growth, but I doubt that it will happen.


Anyways, just some random thoughts.

[caltrane74]

Hamilton is gonna get bigger, just because of Ontario land use policy in the GTA.

[Symz]

I would like to see Windsor as a bigger Canadian city. We're the most southerly mid sized city in Ontario and far enough away from Toronto. I don't see that happening anytime soon though.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

St. John's, Halifax, Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Chicoutimi/Saguenay, Gatineau, Ottawa, London, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, North Bay, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Red Deer, Kelowna, Prince Rupert, Prince George, Victoria, Yellowknife, Iqaluit.

[MolsonExport]

Moose Factory.

[Joshy]

Grise Ford

[Razor]

Windsor would be interesting to see as a large city. Having been there, I can see it being quite vibrant.....Not sure what it would look or be like though..The obvious answer is a blue-collar type city...Haha@Moose factory....Careful..If they discoverd oil in James bay, and if the shipping routes changed, could happen....Doubtful though.
Yikes at Sudbury getting big!....Jk Sudbury.

[someone123]

The problem is that North American small towns with strong economies today invariably turn into sprawling messes and don't seem to gain much in the process. If Thunder Bay became a boom town for example there's nothing to guarantee that 200,000 new people wouldn't just be living in bungalows and shopping at Wal-Mart. It would not be the same as if Thunder Bay has just grown more starting in the late 1800s and ended up with terra cotta office blocks, Olmstead parks, etc.

The best parts of Halifax date to about 1860 or earlier. It has a strong downtown core because it used to be a medium-sized city and had the resources to build up some great infrastructure back when almost everything was pedestrian-oriented. Most of the successful newer infill is pretty much just building on those old areas. It's a bit depressing but I don't think there's a single good part of the city with streets laid out after 1900 or so.

Many of the small Western towns don't have any parts that are great for pedestrians and have old downtowns that are only a few blocks. They don't have a lot to work with.

[vid]

Geography-wise, Thunder Bay would have been a really cool metropolis. Sort of like Winnipeg, but on a lake, and surrounded by mountains.

[BretttheRiderFan]

I remember as a school project last year I took the growth rate stats from 2001-2006 for the top 100 CMAs and CAs and calculated populations of metropolitan areas in 2061

It's still on my desktop, just give me a minute.

This is based on 2001-2006 growth rates, obviously these cities probably won't be at the same growth rates for 50 years but cool nonetheless


1. Toronto- 13,449,302
2. Montreal- 6,449,887
3. Calgary- 4,316,707
4. Vancouver- 4,240,109
5. Edmonton- 3,057,819
6. Ottawa- 2,216,589
7. Barrie- 1,227,893
8. Kitchener, Ontario- 1,155,005
9. Hamilton, Ontario-1,137,576
10. Quebec City- 1,127,398
11. Oshawa- 1,102,333
12. Winnipeg- 928,226
13. London, Ontario- 789,435
14. Red Deer, Alberta- 746,219
15. Grande Prairie, Alberta- 655,031
16. St. Catharines- 620,906
17. Victoria, British Columbia- 615,634
18. Halifax Regional Municipality- 562,561
19. Windsor, Ontario- 554,174
20. Wood Buffalo, Alberta- 542,862
21. Kelowna- 455,627
22. Abbotsford, British Columbia- 367,384
23. Sherbrooke- 364,200
24. Saskatoon- 342,970
25. Guelph- 303,450
26. St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador- 301,423
27. Moncton- 254,532
28. Lethbridge- 243,911
29. Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec- 247,378
30. Kingston, Ontario- 228,656
31. Medicine Hat- 227,442
32. Brantford- 225,015
33. Regina, Saskatchewan- 220,618
34. Chilliwack, British Columbia- 215,354
35. Nanaimo- 211,428
36. Peterborough, Ontario- 202,310
37. Trois-Rivières- 194,235
38. Greater Sudbury- 190,702
39. Kawartha Lakes- 169,985
40. Drummondville- 169,890
41. Granby, Quebec- 166,714
42. Belleville, Ontario- 151,988
43. Fredericton- 151,853
44. Kamloops- 149,462
45. Thunder Bay- 133,576
46. Courtenay, British Columbia- 125,331
47. Vernon, British Columbia- 123,407
48. Joliette, Quebec- 121,420
49. Saguenay, Quebec- 119,669
50. Saint John, New Brunswick- 119,202
51. Chatham–Kent, Ontario- 118,790
52. Lloydminster- 101,252

EDIT: I only put the metros with growth rates that put them at 100,000 by 2061

[UPP]

Interesting stats. I know that from 2001- 2006 growth in Regina was nearly nil. Since 2006 its been the opposite and now Regina probably has as many people as your 2061 prediction.

Crazy to think what would happen if current small towns like Red Deer continued to grow at its current pace.

[BretttheRiderFan]

Originally Posted by UPP

Interesting stats. I know that from 2001- 2006 growth in Regina was nearly nil. Since 2006 its been the opposite and now Regina probably has as many people as your 2061 prediction.

Crazy to think what would happen if current small towns like Red Deer continued to grow at its current pace.

Yeah, I'll have to adjust the stats once the 2011 census stats are updated. It made me LOL to think that here in GP we could have upwards of 600,000 by 2061...and I thought Calgary had ugly sprawl...

[Razor]

wow interesting stats..Thanks

I think that Quebec city will be an awesome city if it grew to 1.2 - 1.5 million.
Barrie would be interesting..At over a million, would it be a sprawling mess, or would they plan it differently?..I think if it got to that point Toronto would swallow it up as part of it's metro.

I think that the cities are now set..I can't see a city coming out of the woodwork except for maybe Wood Buffalo/Fort Mac.I do see some existing small to mid cities like London or Windsor getting quite large though..
I can see a city like London kinda being like an Ottawa..Both are consevative University towns, and from what I seen of london, it has lots of parks and greenery which it would hopefully maintain like Ottawa did.

Kingston would be interesting to see as a large city..I think it would maintain it's historic look , but modern..Kingston would look good as a large centre on the lake.

And Yay to more CFL teams in the future!

[mylesmalley]

I'd love to see the east coast develop a couple cities into the mid-size range. Halifax will have a half million in the not too distant future. Moncton and St Johns at 250k would be great for the economy of the region.

Also, it'd be neat to see something up north like Alaska's Anchorage. I'm not sure which community would be most practical though. I suppose Whitehorse, Yellowknife or Churchill MB.

[PoscStudent]

St. John's, obviously!

Hopefully now that city council has allowed the development of some office buildings we'll see more companies moving here and other companies expanding their operations, which will help attract people to the city.

[Blitz]

I don't want to see London get any bigger until they build a damn freeway!

[thefourthtower]

i believe Reginas population has reached 220,000 already way way off on that stat.

[Ayreonaut]

I'd like to see Kelowna and Nanaimo grow up a bit, especially the former. If Kelowna got to half a million with good planning, I'd love it.

It would also be cool to see St. John's fill the Avalon (not sure what would do it though...maybe 20 million).

[Joshy]

Next to Winnipeg, my three favorite cities in Canada are Kamloops, Lethbridge and Brandon. I would love to see all three of these cities "grow up" into mature, thriving metropolises.

[MonctonRad]

Moncton with about 250k people would be just about ideal in my opinion.

The 2010 StatsCan estimate has us pushing 140k at present.