The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! - Page 225

isaidso · #**4481** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 2:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by travis3000

I prefer the feel of Montreal. I feel as if I'm not in Canada. It's exotic, an old-world feel.

What a weird thing to say considering that Canada largely grew out of Quebec and places further east. I've always viewed Montreal as the quintessential Canadian city. Toronto, by comparison, is the least Canadian city I've ever been to in that in veers more widely from Canadian norms than any other.

When tourists inquire what Canada is like I always tell them that Toronto is great destination but you're not going to get a sense of Canada by going there. 54% of Torontonians weren't even born in Canada. You need to go to Halifax, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Regina... places like that.

I live in Toronto but often feel an urge to head back to the Maritimes or go to the Prairies because Toronto feels like a watered down version of Canada. The international quality of Toronto is wonderful but I miss aspects of Canada living in Toronto. Toronto increasingly has more in common with London, New York, and other global cities than the rest of Canada. Same goes for New York and London. If you want to immerse yourself in US or UK culture those are the last places you should go. You go to the old established cities and towns like Cincinnati, Portland, Kansas City in the US or Liverpool, Aberdeen, Bristol in the UK.

Trans Canada · #**4482** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 5:45 AM**

High res available at source websites

Dan Barnes, http://www.danbarnesphotography.ca/Aerials/9

Dan Barnes, http://www.stockaerialphotos.com/-/galle...99b7cd2ab-calgary-city-skyline-at-sunset

Dan Barnes, http://www.danbarnesphotography.ca/Aerials/7

(during 2010 Olympics)
Dan Barnes, http://www.danbarnesphotography.ca/Cityscapes/2

caltrane74 · #**4483** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 11:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaidso

What a weird thing to say considering that Canada largely grew out of Quebec and places further east. I've always viewed Montreal as the quintessential Canadian city. Toronto, by comparison, is the least Canadian city I've ever been to in that in veers more widely from Canadian norms than any other.

When tourists inquire what Canada is like I always tell them that Toronto is great destination but you're not going to get a sense of Canada by going there. 54% of Torontonians weren't even born in Canada. You need to go to Halifax, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Regina... places like that.

I live in Toronto but often feel an urge to head back to the Maritimes or go to the Prairies because Toronto feels like a watered down version of Canada. The international quality of Toronto is wonderful but I miss aspects of Canada living in Toronto. Toronto increasingly has more in common with London, New York, and other global cities than the rest of Canada. Same goes for New York and London. If you want to immerse yourself in US or UK culture those are the last places you should go. You go to the old established cities and towns like Cincinnati, Portland, Kansas City in the US or Liverpool, Aberdeen, Bristol in the UK.

Toronto is like Singapore. People come from all over the world to make their fortune here, its layout is closer to an American city. Singapore and Hong Kong are a pretty poor representation of Malaysia or China.

bikegypsy · #**4484** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 12:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Toronto is like Singapore. People come from all over the world to make their fortune here, its layout is closer to an American city. Singapore and Hong Kong are a pretty poor representation of Malaysia or China.

Singapore's a terrible example as it's a city state and has nothing to do with Malaysia besides being an immediate neighbour. Singapore is Singapore. Toronto is like any other large North American city in the likes of LA, Chicago, the Bay Area and New York for the reasons you have provided.

bikegypsy · #**4485** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 12:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaidso

What a weird thing to say considering that Canada largely grew out of Quebec and places further east. I've always viewed Montreal as the quintessential Canadian city. Toronto, by comparison, is the least Canadian city I've ever been to in that in veers more widely from Canadian norms than any other.

When tourists inquire what Canada is like I always tell them that Toronto is great destination but you're not going to get a sense of Canada by going there. 54% of Torontonians weren't even born in Canada. You need to go to Halifax, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Regina... places like that.

I live in Toronto but often feel an urge to head back to the Maritimes or go to the Prairies because Toronto feels like a watered down version of Canada. The international quality of Toronto is wonderful but I miss aspects of Canada living in Toronto. Toronto increasingly has more in common with London, New York, and other global cities than the rest of Canada. Same goes for New York and London. If you want to immerse yourself in US or UK culture those are the last places you should go. You go to the old established cities and towns like Cincinnati, Portland, Kansas City in the US or Liverpool, Aberdeen, Bristol in the UK.

I don't see Montreal as being the quintessential Canadian city... Far from it. It's predominantly French in terms of language usage and its ethnic profile is far too diverse. It also has a very unique feel which makes one feel he or she is no longer in Canada. Ottawa would fit the language ratio of the country but is also too cosmopolitan.

I also don't see Toronto as being a watered down Canada... Cities like this -- and in this group we can also include Montreal and Vancouver -- are their own beast. They behave on a different dynamic. The strange thing is that half the Canadian population lives in the country's 6 biggest cities, where we find Canada's wealthiest and most educated as well as the largest ethnic diversity. Which means that the canadianest city doesn't really exist in my opinion.

bikegypsy · #**4486** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 12:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

and here's another skyline view, from the west...

https://www.facebook.com/Calgaryism?fref=ts

This is a remarquable Calgary image.

Beedok · #**4487** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 1:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

I don't see Montreal as being the quintessential Canadian city... Far from it. It's predominantly French in terms of language usage and its ethnic profile is far too diverse. It also has a very unique feel which makes one feel he or she is no longer in Canada. Ottawa would fit the language ratio of the country but is also too cosmopolitan.

I also don't see Toronto as being a watered down Canada... Cities like this -- and in this group we can also include Montreal and Vancouver -- are their own beast. They behave on a different dynamic. The strange thing is that half the Canadian population lives in the country's 6 biggest cities, where we find Canada's wealthiest and most educated as well as the largest ethnic diversity. Which means that the canadianest city doesn't really exist in my opinion.

That just means that it's the rural areas that aren't quintessentially Canadian because they're not diverse and cosmopolitan enough. Canada is an urban cosmopolitan nation.

PhilippeMtl · #**4488** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 2:52 PM**

source for all pics: https://urbabillard.wordpress.com/2015/0...nnes-de-la-ville-dans-son-manteau-blanc/

Acajack · #**4489** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 2:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaidso

What a weird thing to say considering that Canada largely grew out of Quebec and places further east. I've always viewed Montreal as the quintessential Canadian city..

You're certainly correct in the historical context. I've long said this about Montreal (one of my favourite statements about Canada in fact), but I can't help but notice it's a bit outdated. (And so am I suppose.)

Both Montreal and Canada in general have evolved a lot since the era where Montreal's Canadian quitessence was a given. They certainly have things in common still today but I can't help but notice that most attempts to make Montreal more like "Canada" or to make "Canada" more like Montreal these days are generally met with resistance if not outright hostility.

Montreal and Canada aren't really talking much these days. At least not on the scale and in the way a country's quintessential city and the rest of the country would normally interact.

There may not be a quintessential Canadian city out there anyway, but if I had to pick one in 2015 I'd probably pick Ottawa.

WhipperSnapper · #**4490** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 3:17 PM**

Country is far too large with too much space in between the urban centres to make mass generalizations. Every city is distinctly different usually representing their greater urban regions in makeup. If there is a city that can be identified as quintessentially Canadian it certainly would not be one that shares space with US Centres. Maybe Yellowknife. Edmonton is up there too.

Acajack · #**4491** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 3:22 PM**

Love the night shots of Calgary BTW guys. It seems like we don't see many of those.

Razor · #**4492** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 3:31 PM**

^ I agree with Bike Gypsy..I don't have the percentages, but Ottawa/Gatineau has both a major Anglo and Francophone presence, as well as a strong multi-generation rural component on both sides of the river. This is the base.

Mix this with solid, albeit not mind blowing, foreign immigration numbers/ inter provincial transplants, and Ottawa would be a great example of a quintessential Canadian city. There are other cities that could be called that too, but Ottawa has that strong Francophone and rural presence which to me are both important to the criteria. Winnipeg also comes to mind.

Acajack · #**4493** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 3:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

I don't have the percentages, but Ottawa/Gatineau has both a major Anglo and Francophone presence, as well as a strong multi-generation rural component on both sides of the river. This is the base.

Mix this with solid, albeit not mind blowing, foreign immigration numbers/ inter provincial transplants, and ya you could call Ottawa the quisissential Canadian city. There are other cities that could be called that too, but Ottawa has that strong Francophone and rural presence which to me are both important to the criteria. Winnipeg also comes to mind.

Off the top of my head the Ottawa-Gatineau metro area is very roughly 35% francophone.

Ottawa-Gatineau also has anglophones and francophones living what you might call their "natural state". You literally have tens of thousands of people within the same metro who live their everyday lives largely as if they were in Kitchener or Trois-Rivières, and decent-sized chunks of the metro actually reflect this reality.

Plus additional personal Canadian realities (and the ensuing effects on certain areas of the metro) where you have a good number of francophones outside Quebec and also Anglo-Quebecers, that are living in minority settings and spending part of their everyday reality functioning in the other language.

lio45 · #**4494** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 4:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

You're certainly correct in the historical context.

And yet incorrect in the actual context.

Just because some place is the cradle of something doesn't mean that it's still representative of that thing nowadays.

A more extreme example than Mtl but with the same logic: Quebec City was the capital of both Canada and New France for a long time, and biggest city of the colony too... but it's certainly not the most typically "Canadian" city in the country nowadays, even though it's where Canada was born and there was an era when being "typically Quebec City" used to be the same thing as being typically Canadian.

The definition of Canadian has changed since, so what used to be quintessentially Canadian is not any more. It's just that simple.

scrapin · #**4495** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 4:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delirium

a couple more from vancouver

Photo by PhotoDG https://www.flickr.com/photos/photodg/16514907346/sizes/l

Photo by J.Rai https://www.flickr.com/photos/jrai/16355144230/sizes/h/

Awesome.

Razor · #**4496** Posted **Feb 16, 2015, 6:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lio45

And yet incorrect in the actual context.

Just because some place is the cradle of something doesn't mean that it's still representative of that thing nowadays.

A more extreme example than Mtl but with the same logic: Quebec City was the capital of both Canada and New France for a long time, and biggest city of the colony too... but it's certainly not the most typically "Canadian" city in the country nowadays, even though it's where Canada was born and there was an era when being "typically Quebec City" used to be the same thing as being typically Canadian.

The definition of Canadian has changed since, so what used to be quintessentially Canadian is not any more. It's just that simple.

My own train of thought was that Ottawa was born out of elements of both New France and New Britain or whatever you call it..QC meets Toronto (not literally though). As well,it has that foundation of first generation of Italian, Scottish, and Irish immigrants that came over..First nations peoples such as the Algonquin are strongly rooted around the valley as well...You are right though..What made up a city then, doesn't necessarily define what is quintessential now..Makes for a good debate though.