Most Canadian / Least Canadian

[someone123]

Originally Posted by lio45

Also, anyone who puts Montreal and Quebec City in different categories here, to me makes no sense (it would be like putting Vancouver and Victoria at opposite ends of the spectrum, when in reality, IMO, they have to be near each other - which, in my ranking, they are).

I agree.

But I feel the same way about people who say St. John's is distinct while Halifax is very Canadian. In the Canadian scheme of things, the two are similar compared to any city from another region. Cape Breton and Newfoundland are even closer, with little discernible difference for Canadians from outside the region. Most of you guys would not be able to tell the difference between a rural NS and NL accent, and many people living in Halifax are from NL. Many NL cancon celebrities got their start in Halifax. Many St. John's street scenes can be approximated in Halifax while you'd struggle to do that in Toronto.

I think of Ottawa and Montreal as the traditional "core" of historical Canada with places like Kingston and Fredericton being on the periphery of that.

I don't really think of Saint John or Moncton as being traditionally Canadian although the Loyalists in Saint John have more overlap with Ontario and the United States. Saint John is a strange place, politically distinct from most of the Maritimes.

[MonkeyRonin]

My conceptualisation of Canada is pretty..."Laurentian", so Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, and Ottawa are basically quintessential urban Canada to me.

Vancouver is a kind of idealized version of Canada-as-a-brand viewed through the foreign gaze. Calgary too.

Newfoundland is the most non-traditional-Canada for me. I see it as more part of the pan-Atlantic Island world than the Canada I know, so St. John's for least Canadian I guess?

There aren't really any right or wrong answers here.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by someone123

I agree.

But I feel the same way about people who say St. John's is distinct while Halifax is very Canadian. In the Canadian scheme of things, the two are similar compared to any city from another region. Cape Breton and Newfoundland are even closer, with little discernible difference for Canadians from outside the region. Most of you guys would not be able to tell the difference between a rural NS and NL accent, and many people living in Halifax are from NL. Many NL cancon celebrities got their start in Halifax. Many St. John's street scenes can be approximated in Halifax while you'd struggle to do that in Toronto.

I think of Ottawa and Montreal as the traditional "core" of historical Canada with places like Kingston and Fredericton being on the periphery of that.

I don't really think of Saint John or Moncton as being traditionally Canadian although the Loyalists in Saint John have more overlap with Ontario and the United States. Saint John is a strange place, politically distinct from most of the Maritimes.

It depends on the criteria you are using, it's hard to say that St. John's is typically Canadian because it used to be another country, although at times I have described it as more Canadian than Vancouver, because it places more buzz on things like Walmart, Costco, Tim Hortons, the latest opening of a new Canadian chain etc., while that doesn't seem to be as important in Vancouver. I do see Halifax as more Canadian because I think that's how people there identify. It was Canada's Ellis island. The Bluenose, a Canadian symbol, was on our nickel for years.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Architype

I do see Halifax as more Canadian because I think that's how people there identify. It was Canada's Ellis island. The Bluenose, a Canadian symbol, was on our nickel for years.

NS has been a Canadian province since the beginning so NS symbols have been included in Canadiana. Yet would you say that the Bluenose could have equally been from Ontario or Quebec? Or Newfoundland? If you were to plot a line between, say, Toronto and St. John's, Halifax would fall much closer to St. John's than Toronto.

At the broadest cultural level, all 4 Atlantic provinces belong to the Atlantic world but have limited historical continental connections. The old "neighbours" of this area are Western Europe, Canada, the US Eastern Seaboard, and the Caribbean, connected by waterways.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

My conceptualisation of Canada is pretty..."Laurentian", so Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, and Ottawa are basically quintessential urban Canada to me.

Vancouver is a kind of idealized version of Canada-as-a-brand viewed through the foreign gaze. Calgary too.

Newfoundland is the most non-traditional-Canada for me. I see it as more part of the pan-Atlantic Island world than the Canada I know, so St. John's for least Canadian I guess?

There aren't really any right or wrong answers here.

Oh yeah it’s not meant to be a right or wrong type of discussion, just interesting to see how opinions vary.

To expand upon my choices, when a city feels less Canadian or is more “exotic” to me is when I can easily picture it in another country.

Victoria I could easily picture being placed on the South Island of New Zealand and not looking out of place at all.

St. John’s could easily be placed on the Faroe Islands and look right at home.

Windsor looks like it belongs south of the border (there is a geographical pun there).

But to me, I could only ever imagine places such as Edmonton and Ottawa in Canada.

Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver to for that matter.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by someone123

NS has been a Canadian province since the beginning so NS symbols have been included in Canadiana. Yet would you say that the Bluenose could have equally been from Ontario or Quebec? Or Newfoundland? If you were to plot a line between, say, Toronto and St. John's, Halifax would fall much closer to St. John's than Toronto.

At the broadest cultural level, all 4 Atlantic provinces belong to the Atlantic world but have limited historical continental connections. The old "neighbours" of this area are Western Europe, Canada, the US Eastern Seaboard, and the Caribbean, connected by waterways.

Both cities are salty old seaport towns (i.e. like Gloucester Mass.), but that is not really a Canadian quality per se, so if you remove that there isn't as much in common as Halifax might have with, say, Regina or Kingston.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

More akin to Minneapolis or Indianapolis.

Minneapolis seems the closest, based on what I've seen. (This will likely be an unpopular opinion but) I'd even go so far as to say that Minneapolis seems like the more Canadian of the two, in terms of its architecture and built form, while Edmonton feels somewhat more American to me. While Edmonton may be one of the "most Canadian" cities, many of its qualities are not really typical of Canadian cities, especially outside the Prairies.

[Acajack]

And the Bluenose was actually put on the dime, not the nickel. And still is.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by lio45

Also, anyone who puts Montreal and Quebec City in different categories here, to me makes no sense (it would be like putting Vancouver and Victoria at opposite ends of the spectrum, when in reality, IMO, they have to be near each other - which, in my ranking, they are).

I might consider it like Toronto and Ottawa - close together in distance, but different vibe altogether. The cities have different mindsets and focus. Toronto and Quebec City definitely don't aspire to take their cues from the rest of Canada. They aspire to be different from it.

Or Calgary and Edmonton. Calgary is much more American-feeling in terms of vibe, while Edmonton is more Canadian.

[north 42]

Most Canadian: Ottawa and Edmonton

Least Canadian: Windsor, Victoria and St. John’s

[Acajack]

I will surprise even myself as I have long referred to Montreal as the quintessential Canadian city, but I think that (in spite of allusions in Quebec to its imminent anglicization) Montreal is probably too "French" (or at least "Québécois") to place anywhere near the top of the Most Canadian list.

If I look around most of the country today, from Halifax to Vancouver via Winnipeg and Ottawa (and maybe even St. John's), if there are any big city cues taken from a Canadian metropolis, they're coming from Toronto. Not Montreal. Except for Quebec, across the country if anything from the local dining and foodie scene to the relationship to immigration and diversity "smacks" of anything, it smacks of a mini-Toronto, not a mini-Montreal.

For all the rhetoric about the bizarreness and deficiencies of the metropolis-hinterland relationship between Toronto and the ROC (also one of my favourite talking points!), there is a definitely a rapport there that does not exist with Montreal.

Ottawa and Moncton are today the outermost limits outside Quebec of any tangible influence of Montreal as a metropolis, and even in those two places I'd argue Toronto carries considerably more weight at this point.

[niwell]

Growing up in Calgary but visiting family in Toronto pretty much every summer, I always considered Southern Ontario to better fit my stereotypical idea of "Canadian". Calgary didn't particularly feel this way as the climate always seemed at odds with "the East".

I'd agree with most posters that Ottawa-Gatineau is up there, but I may actually put Toronto first. Acajack summed up why quite well. I'm also increasingly of a mind that there probably have to be two distinct answers to this one...

[esquire]

I look at this question from the standpoint of a host wanting to show a visitor from abroad the "real Canada". If I wanted to do that, where would I take them?

Probably Ottawa or Edmonton. Both are big and cosmopolitan but not obsessed with global status either. Neither one is especially regionally-oriented the way that Quebec, Victoria or St. John's might be. They both seem fairly representative of the types of places most Canadians live, in that someone from the GTA suburbs as well as someone from a smaller place like Lloydminster or Brockville wouldn't feel out of place there.

"Least Canadian" is much tougher. If I wanted to show a visitor a place that is not really representative of Canada, not many places readily come to mind. Maybe Niagara Falls, just because of its weird combination of heavy tourism and depressed industrial town vibes, combined with its location right on the US border?

[Acajack]

I actually started a similar thread on which place is a "microcosm" of Canada a few years ago. Though I did not touch upon the "least Canadian" city, which is an interesting angle.

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...ight=microcosm

For this thread, I don't think there is a better answer to "Most Canadian" than Ottawa(-Gatineau).

Its demographics are quite representative of the country as a whole (as close as you're gonna get), and at least in its capital-esque aspects it tries hard to be representative. On a municipal level it's a bit of a different story, and both Ottawa and Gatineau generally tend to be run as if they were just run-of-the-mill cities in Ontario and Quebec.

In terms of activities, there aren't many metros in the country where you have Québécois sugar shacks and bars with chansonniers, Scottish Highland Games, country music festivals, Chinese dragon boat races, indigenous festivals, plentiful live theatre in both English and French, passion for curling and the CFL, Newfoundland pubs and stores, etc.

Plus the region has a Dfb climate which is the classic Canadian climate which means abundant snow and ice in the winter with stereotypical Canadiana like backyard skating rinks, ice fishing, snowmobiling, skiing, etc. part of the local culture in the winter.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by niwell

Growing up in Calgary but visiting family in Toronto pretty much every summer, I always considered Southern Ontario to better fit my stereotypical idea of "Canadian". Calgary didn't particularly feel this way as the climate always seemed at odds with "the East".

I'd agree with most posters that Ottawa-Gatineau is up there, but I may actually put Toronto first. Acajack summed up why quite well. I'm also increasingly of a mind that there probably have to be two distinct answers to this one...

Toronto may be where Canada is going (kicking and screaming?), but I definitely would not choose it as Most Canadian at the moment.

Like esquire I am having more trouble picking the Least Canadian city. And Toronto's actually on my short list. But the reasons for a city being on or off that list vary greatly.

[MolsonExport]

the descriptor 'Canadien' existed long before it was applied to points west of New France, and appropriated by non francophones.

If I state that Montreal is the most 'Canadian' (Canadien) place, it is only because I wish more places in Canada had the urban fabric and linguistic mixture that makes Montreal what it is.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I actually started a similar thread on which place is a "microcosm" of Canada a few years ago. Though I did not touch upon the "least Canadian" city, which is an interesting angle.

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...ight=microcosm

For this thread, I don't think there is a better answer to "Most Canadian" than Ottawa(-Gatineau).

Its demographics are quite representative of the country as a whole (as close as you're gonna get), and at least in its capital-esque aspects it tries hard to be representative. On a municipal level it's a bit of a different story, and both Ottawa and Gatineau generally tend to be run as if they were just run-of-the-mill cities in Ontario and Quebec.

In terms of activities, there aren't many metros in the country where you have Québécois sugar shacks and bars with chansonniers, Scottish Highland Games, country music festivals, Chinese dragon boat races, indigenous festivals, plentiful live theatre in both English and French, passion for curling and the CFL, Newfoundland pubs and stores, etc.

Plus the region has a Dfb climate which is the classic Canadian climate which means abundant snow and ice in the winter with stereotypical Canadiana like backyard skating rinks, ice fishing, snowmobiling, skiing, etc. part of the local culture in the winter.

You make a great case for Ottawa. To the point where I think you may have swayed me.

What really makes a smaller city a must for "most Canadian" is the willingness to embrace smaller, more home-spun things that the big 3 would ignore, like local country music, curling and such. There's a reason Toronto never hosts the Brier anymore, for example.

Ottawa gives off the "big, important city" vibes but it also seems capable of relaxing and having a good time without worrying too much about image. I like that trait.

[SignalHillHiker]

Love the Niagara Falls suggestion for least.

Nothing to add but this thread is fascinating to read.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

the descriptor 'Canadien' existed long before it was applied to points west of New France, and appropriated by non francophones.

If I state that Montreal is the most 'Canadian' (Canadien) place, it is only because I wish more places in Canada had the urban fabric and linguistic mixture that makes Montreal what it is.

As you know, my vision aligns with yours. But I am fighting it in my responses to this thread.

[samne]

I would also agree that Ottawa is the most Canadian city. Like others mentioned it feels like its at crossroads and influents by English and French Canada.

Its also surrounded by Canadian-like natural setting.

I think Montreal is the most Canadian out of the biggest cities.