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About Canada—Canada's Cities

Although Canada is still a vast expanse of forests, lakes, prairies and mountains, Canadians have become largely a nation of city dwellers. With over three-quarters of its population living in urban areas, and almost one-third in large cities of more than a million, Canada is actually one of the most urbanized countries in the world. The story of the change from a rural to an urban society is thus an important part of our history. Some of the common themes and variations of this development can be illustrated by briefly examining the unique character of a few important cities in eachregion in terms of their origins, physical features, economy, ethnic composition,

Toronto

Vancouver

cultural life, and patterns of growth. Only a small sampling is possible here, but it is not entirely arbitrary: Quebec is our oldest city and a symbol of French civilization in North America; Halifax, our first British imperial city, is now the major city of the Atlantic region; Montreal was Canada' bilingual metropolis for a century and a half; its rival, Toronto, is now the country's largest city, with anenormous concentration of financial power and cultural influence; Sudbury exemplifies a city which has survived the decline fo its resource-based economy through diversification; Edmonton represents the new cities of the Prairies; and Vancouveris the binding knot of Canada's growing economic and cultural ties with Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Quebec: Canada's first city

When the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, founded Quebec City in 1608 atop the strategic cliffs where the St. Lawrence suddenly narrows towards the west, his only intention was to defend the area from rival fur traders. Quebec's role changed dramatically, however, when the French government decided to make it much more than a trading post and bastion against the British. Although the town remained relatively small—its population was still only 2,000 in 1700—it became the administrative, religious, military and cultural centre of the royal colony of New France.

Quebec City continued as an administrative centre after the British conquest in 1759, but gradually declined in economic importance during the 19th century as new settlement further west made Montreal better located to become the commercial centre of British North America. Its ethnic compositon also changed dramatically during this period as Anglophones came to account for nearly half the population by 1861. This has since been reversed, however; today the 600,000 strong population fo the city and its suburbs is 96% Francophone. Quebec's French cultural life (the province's as well as the city's) has been greatly enriched by the Seminaire de Quebec. Founded in 1663, it was one of the first educations institutions in North America. Some two centuries later it became the nucleus of Laval University (founded 1852).

In appearance Quebec ramins the most European of North American cities. Mus of its early character has been preserved in the historic centre,still entered through a gate in the remaining portion of the town wall. The commercial and residential buildings of the old Lower Town resemble those of medieval French towns like Rouen in Normandy, while the architecture of the rligious institutions of the Upper Town reflects the Baroque style of seventeenth century Paris. Most of the fortifications which dominate the site-the walls and the citadel-date from the early 19th century when the Americans were considered a threat. The modern city has grown out into the suburban fringes of Ste-Foy and Charlesbourg, but the old city remains a unique relic of Canada's earliest urban life.

Halifax: Canada's gibraltar

For most of its early history, Halifax's prosperity and growth depended on its fluctuating military importance as fortress, naval base, and garrison for troops. Founded in 1749, its original purpose was simply to counter the military and economic threat of Louisbourg, a French fortress on what is now Cape Breton Island. During the Seven Years War, the American Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars, Halifax became a booming centre of British operations, but during the intervening periods of peace, its economy stagnated. In the middle decades of the 19th century, the "Golden Age of Sail", Halifax competed successfully with its larger commercial rival, Saint John, New Brunswick. But the industrializaiton that created rapid growth in Central Canadian cities during the latter part of the century largely by-passed the Atlantic region, partly because of distance to markets, unfavourable freight rates to Central Canada, and increased tariffs.

During this century, Halifax has become the largest city of the Atlantic region. It now has a metropolitan population of more than 300,000. With its two large container terminals, it is also the region's principal port. Its five universities and the Neptune Theatre are some of the many examples of a vigorous educational tradition and rich cultural life. People of British origin still make up about 80% of the population, a figure far higher than that of cities in other regions of the country.

Like Quebec, Halifax still shows its historical roots. The original city nestles on the side of an imposing hill, pressed tightly between the two strategic sites that gave it birth-the citadel above and the waterfront below. The present citadel dates from the 1850s and , in spite of competition from the glass and steel structures below, is still a commanding presence. The historic waterfront has been partially restored and effectively recalls Halifax's great age of sail. The original parade ground, once used for drilling troops, is still the city's symbolic centre. Unlike the larger cities of central and western Canada, Halifax still has fine wooden churches and houses of all sizes near the downtown core.

Montreal: the experience of a dual society

Montreal's origins seem rather unlikely for a city destined to become the country's metropolis for 150 years. Founded in 1642 by a French officer, Maisonneuve, as a missionary post to the Indians, it was later granted to a religious order, the Sulpicians, who shaped its character for generations. However its location at the confluence of the St. Lawrence, Ottawa and several other rivers also made it a natural centre of the fur trade with the western native population. By the 1820s, general trade and industry had transformed it into the major distributing centre for Kingston, Toronto and other new towns on the western frontier. It was propelled to national metropolitan status by a combination of finance, transportation, and industry, all dominated by Anglophones. The Bank of Montreal, founded in 1817, played a pivotal role in making St. James Street (Rue St. Jacques in Old Montreal) the financial centre of the country. Another important player was the Canadian Pacific Railway, a Montreal-based syndicate headed by George Stephen, who was also President of the Bank of Montreal.

In more recent years, Montreal gained international stature by hosting Expo 67 and the Summer Olympics of 1976. However, economic decline has since eroded the city's once dominant positon within Canada. The rise of Quebec sparatism, followed by new language laws, has also led a number of large firms to move their headquarters to Toronto, and prompted a number of Anglophones to leave the province.

Competing interests between Anglophone and Francophone have been a feature of Montreal socity since the conquest. British immigrants created an Anglophone majority between 1831 and 1867. Industrialization reversed the balance by attracting a large inflow from rural Quebec, but an English-speaking business elite continued to dominate the city's economic life until the mid-70s. During recent decades the Francophone population has risen to about 66% of the total (compared to 82% for the province) while the language and sign laws have again made French the language of the workplace.

Based on a plan laid out in the 1670s by Dollier de Casson, Head of the Sulpician Order, and possibl Canada's first town plnner, Montreal's downtown core for much of its history was a rectangular grid beside the St. Lawrence. During the 19th centur the city expanded up and around Mount Royal, its most striking topographic feature. Much of the downtown residential area, once the quartiers populaires of rural immigrants, is still dominated by turn-of-the-century houses with their characteristic outdoor wrought-iron stairways. The shift to a new downtown core began in the late 1950s with the construction of Place Ville-Marie on Dorchester (now Rene Levesque) Boulevard. A Parisian-style subway sstem, with cars running on quiet rubber tires, was completed just before Expo 67. Together with a vast underground system of shops and pedestrian walk-ways, this has drained some of the life out of streets that were once the most vibrant in Canada. But despite all the changes and challenges, Montreal is still the most culturally complex and, to many, still the most interesting city in Canada.

Toronto: from loyalist community to multicultural metropolis

Toronto long remained the conserative British community that John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, founded in 1792. Protestant, puritanical, and loyal to Britain, the ruling group he helped to establish shaped the town for generations. By the time it officially became a city in 1834, it had already replaced Kingston as the commercial centre of Upper Canada. It became even more dominant during the 1850s when its businessmen built a network of railroads to other parts of the province. Like Montreal, Toronto carried a good deal of weight in federal politics and this greatly facilitated its industrialization during the second half of the 19th century. For example, a national baning act centralized financial control in these two cities while a national tariff policy further strengthened the already well-established industry of Central Canada.

In the years after World War II, Toronto overtook Montreal as the country's largest city, and Bay Street replaced St. James Street as its chief financial centre. As in all North American cities, industry gradually moved from downtown to the suburbs, or fled the country entirely. This new suburban industry is highly specialized, with the largest component now in the automotive sector. With plants in Oakville, Oshawa, and Brampton, the Toronto area is, in North America, second only to Detroit in this field.

Toronto's graduation from a provincial to a national city was accompanied by dramatic changes in its ehnic make-up. During the 19th centur, Torontonians were overwhelmingly of British origin, although Irish Catholics, soon comprised one quarter of the population. Non-British immigration began early in this century but the major changes came after WWII, and from a great variety of sources. By the time of the 1991 Census, successive waves of immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe (chiefly Italian, Greek, and Portuguese), the Caribbean, and Asia (mainly Chinese and Vietnamese) had reduced the proportion of those of British/Irish origin to about 40%. Today Toronto is the only major Canadian city where the majority is of neither British nor French descent.

Laid out in a grid pattern along Lake Ontario, Toronto's flatness is unrelieved by any strong natural feature. Until recently, it was more compact than most cities, making public transportation a more workable alternative to the automobile than elsewhere. Downtown neighourhoods have thus remained viable, indeed desirable, places to live. Major cultural and educational facilities such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Art Gallery, the Univeristy of Toronto, Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, the CBC, and a number of national publishing firms remain concentrated in the downtown area. Large bank towers dominate much of the skyline, but the best-known architectural shapes are those of the CN Tower and the Skydome.

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