Quote:
Originally Posted by timmy89
I tried to balance both population and cultural/economic significance for my list.
Tier 1: Toronto (5.5 M), Vancouver (2.5 M), Montreal (3.8 M)
Tier 1b: Calgary (1.2 M) (punches way above it's weight compared to similar pop. cities), and I see it referenced with the other big cities far more often than my tier 2 cities.
Tier 2: Edmonton (1.1 M), Ottawa (1.2 M), Winnipeg (730 K), Quebec City (760 K)
Tier 3: Hamilton (520 K), Victoria (350 K), London (475 K), Kitchener-Waterloo (510 K), Halifax (410 K), Saskatoon (260 K)
Honourable mentions to Kelowna, Regina, St. John's, Windsor, St. Catharines / Niagara Region. Windsor and St. Catharines/ Niagara are larger in population than some of my Tier 3 cities but just don't have the same impact or significance.
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I really don't see what puts Calgary into a special category above other similar sized cities in Canada besides bias.
Culture-Nope
History-Nope
Social/Arts/Entertainment scene-nope
Massive transit hub-nope
Climate-nope
You've got a great economy and high standards of living but that is true about every Canadian city and especially anywhere in Alberta.
Almost no one outside of Canada has heard of any Canadian city outside of Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto and Calgary is no exception there.
Is it a nice city? Yup. Is it nicer than Edmonton? Yup. Is it a world class city that is a class above every other provincial backwater around the globe? Nope.
Anywhere in Alberta is a great place to raise a family. All the advantages in the world are in the province. Would I live here if I could make gobs of money just as easily in someplace like San Diego? Hell, no.