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Originally Posted by Razor
Totally agree with this..A city may be overlooked, but it can also benefit economically by being part of a greater region. Location, Location..Another Cdn city that comes to mind in that regard is Hamilton..It may be overlooked, but it also has that economic draw from Buffalo, and Toronto adding to it's local economy..Ditto for Kitchener/Waterloo..I can imagine that there are a lot of other cases, like Milwaukee, and cities in either Ohio and Texas in the U.S that get a good spin off from being close to a large metro. Heck, even remove Vancouver altogether, and I bet Seattle would feel it in some ways.
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Hamilton's proximity to Toronto is both a blessing and a curse. It gives the city access to way more amenities and opportunities than would otherwise befit an 800,000 metropolitan area. Like, even just having Pearson nearby is way more than similarly sized Quebec City or Winnipeg could imagine. It benefits from proximity to concerts and major sports as well as the jobs, universities, cultural spots, shopping, etc.
But on the flip side, one could argue that Hamilton is more reliant on Toronto and has less within its own boundaries than Winnipeg has, which is probably far more self-reliant, as it is the big city in its region. Hamilton could get overlooked for new investment because "oh, there's Toronto right there" but Winnipeg doesn't have that and will more likely get, say, a new thing (like a retailer or new flights).
The proximity also means Hamilton is extremely overlooked. Like it's probably the most forgotten (or even just unknown) large-ish Canadian city. Quebec City is well known because it is distinct enough from Montreal, has the iconic Carnaval, Old Quebec, Chateau Frontenac, and is the provincial capital. Winnipeg is the only sizable city between Edmonton and Toronto and is as well known as much larger centres like Calgary. Sort of similar to how Halifax is more known than larger London, Ontario or Kitchener-Waterloo.
Kitchener I'd say slightly stands out more than Hamilton (and more than London, ON) as it's slightly further from Toronto and forged an identity around RIM and other tech. Waterloo is also a well regarded university (as is McMaster for Hamilton, but it's often considered Toronto-adjacent in Western Canada).
London frankly just needs a name change. I think that's the largest thing holding back it being known. It's further away from Toronto to have its own orbit, is sizable, even has a skyline (unlike Kitchener), a strong university (Western), but when anyone referring to it, even within Ontario, needs to add the ", Ontario" after saying it to avoid confusion with the more obvious London, there's a problem with name/identity. But otherwise London feels like more of a complete city, like a smaller Winnipeg or a larger Saskatoon/Regina, probably because it isn't as new nor a string of smaller cities like Kitchener-Waterloo.