(no subject)

[blue_lotus13]

I've been doing a lot of research on various places in Canada and I have come to the very obvious conclusion that our population base is ridiculously low.

Just look at some of these figures from the 100 largest urban areas in Canada by population . You see, I know that I am ultimately a person who needs to live in a major city and unfortunately, we've only got 3 that are over a million. Sometimes I think it would be better for me to live in the States, just because I love big city life, but you know, then my whole "Canadian cultural creator/producer" thing would have to go and I really love my own country. I love change and living overseas, but ultimately, I need to be in Canada.

Comments

[arwenoid.livejournal.com]

Don't take that list too seriously -- it's misleading as to what an "urban area" is. By "Vancouver" they mean the GVRD. Surrey isn't even mentioned on the list, and it's the second largest city (by population) in BC. It also lists Vancouver as having over a million people? The city itself has about 600,000.

I find it amusing that one of the listings is "Walnut Grove". Er, Walnut Grove isn't a city. It's a neighbourhood in Langley. It's like saying, "East Vancouver" is a city, or "Kitsilano".

[zooby.livejournal.com]

That's also horribly out of date. Calgary recently proclaimed itself to have hit one million and it's growing every day. About a year ago, there were something like 50-75 people moving here every day. That's died down a little, but it's still growing.

I'm torn. I like the bustle of the big city, but sometimes, I think I wouldn't mind the quiet, peaceful life one could live closer to nature and the wide open spaces Canada is famous for. I'm not even talking about small towns. I grew up in a small town. I'm a person of extremes. Either it's a megalopolis or a cabin in the tundra.

Basically, I wish I could have a small patch of sky-scrapers surrounded by a huge forest and mountains.

[eclexys.livejournal.com]

Funny... having started living outside Canada, I just find it really hard to come back to the country. Not that I want to live in Asia forever, but... there's something kind of, I don't know... maybe snobbish about Canada that I'm not interested in being around. A kind of intellectual snobbishness that's mostly unwarranted, combined with a kind of provincialism that just makes the snobbishness look even more ridiculous. (Actually, this reminds me a lot of the rantings of an Australian friend about Australia.)

Or maybe it's Canadians abroad who have turned me off? I find that Canadians abroad are much worse than Americans when it comes to blind idiotic nationalism. Seriously! July 4th, most Americans seem just to have a barbecue. July 1st, man, you see all kinds of idiots wearing Canadian flag things, flags as kilts, flags up in their classrooms... it's quite off-putting. It loudly screams "Inferiority Complex."

That, and I am not crazy about the Canadian literary scene, with of course a few exceptions.

[gragathaz.livejournal.com]

So far, I can say that Halifax is a pretty good place, and while it is nowhere near as shiny and certainly not as big as Vancouver, I have not felt in any way deprived living here. (You are of course welcome to come visit us for a week or two to decide for yourself...!) As far as that list goes, I must agree with arwenoid: that list is not consistent. If one looks at regional populations, Halifax's was almost 360,000 at the time that list's figures were current; if one looks at within-boundary city populations, Halifax is only about half the size of Vancouver.

Meanwhile, if I might ask a potentially ignorance-revealing question, why would you want to leave Vancouver, anyway?

[zocalo.livejournal.com]

I hate to rain on your Canadianess (*grin*) but I seriously think that if your'e in the art/entertainment world, staying in Canada is not good for your future. The world of literature is something I don't know much about but for certain art/entertainment does not have bright prospects in Canada. All our Canadian big shots are now in USA. Canadian cultural creator/producer is not very marketable - interesting only to a certain extent, rarely profitable. I hear a lot of this from dating a film student.