FWIW here's how Canadian cities are classified according to the Globalization and World Cities Network:
Alpha: Toronto (Chicago, Los Angeles)
Alpha-: Montreal (Boston, San Francisco)
Beta+: Vancouver (Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Washington)
Beta: No Canadian cities (Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle)
Beta-: Calgary (Austin, Detroit, Minneapolis, Tampa)
Gamma+: No Canadian cities (Baltimore, Charlotte, Orlando, Phoenix, San Jose, St. Louis)
Gamma: Ottawa (Nashville)
Gamma-: Edmonton (Cleveland, Columbus, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Sacramento, Salt Lake City)
There's also a longer list of high sufficiency and sufficiency cities below the Gammas. Halifax, Quebec City and Winnipeg are on the list of sufficiency cities and Saskatoon was just added.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global...earch_Network#