The Mountain Provinces? The Atlantic Northeast?

[Docere]

I haven't heard of either region but...

Alberta and British Columbia are also sometimes subcategorized together, either as the "Rockie Provinces" or "mountain provinces" owing to both hosting large swathes of the mountain range, or due to shared socio-economic, cultural, and demographic factors such as their highly urbanized populations (three of Canada's five largest cities are Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver) and significant interprovincial mobility between the two.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Canada

There's also the Atlantic Northeast which is comprised of Atlantic Canada, Quebec and New England (what do Connecticut and Newfoundland have to do with each other?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Northeast

[zoomer]

Crazy man - just goes to show you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Never heard of the Mountain Provinces in my entire life. Sounds like someone is making sh*t up or using crappy AI to create content.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by Docere

There's also the Atlantic Northeast which is comprised of Atlantic Canada, Quebec and New England (what do Connecticut and Newfoundland have to do with each other?)

Both were British colonies, Newfoundland in 1583, and Connecticut in 1636. I guess both attribute much of their existence and identity to that heritage. Today they are still part of North American democracies which have a lot in common. Geologically and geographically they have some commonalities.

Mountain provinces should only refer to Alberta and BC, and perhaps Yukon, it's an accurate way to describe them, among other things. If somebody said that I would instinctively know what they were talking about, even though it's not common terminology. People had to get used to hearing "The Atlantic Provinces" too. Where are the Mountain States of the US? Where are the deplorable states?

There are all kinds of esoteric categorizations most people aren't familiar with.

[theman23]

Is Alberta a mountain province? It’s mostly flat in the areas people actually live, and while Calgary is a short day trip away from the Rockies it’s not actually in the mountains like most of the populated parts of BC are.

[SignalHillHiker]

I've not heard of these either, but I can't judge - reality is stranger than fiction sometimes. For example, Newfoundland and Bermuda used to be a single Anglican diocese.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I've not heard of these either, but I can't judge - reality is stranger than fiction sometimes. For example, Newfoundland and Bermuda used to be a single Anglican diocese.

And the Methodists in Bermuda were affiliated with the Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Canada. My brother-in-law was a UCC minister and preached in Bermuda for five years.

Mount Allison University in Sackville NB had a significant relationship with Bermuda, and, Dalhousie used to reserve 1-2 med school seats per year for Bermuda residents. One of my better friends in med school was a Bermudian - Terrance Elliott.

One of the best ways to repatriate the Irving fortune would be to make Bermuda the 11th province.

[niwell]

I have seen Albertans try and claim BC as their own, but never as "the Mountain Provinces". BCers are probably not too excited about that grouping!

[MonctonRad]

Certainly Vancouverites would be shocked and dismayed to hear they have "cultural similarities" to Calgarians..........

[MolsonExport]

never heard of it, unlike "Cascadia"

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

I don't recall ever hearing either of the two. The 'Atlantic northeast' like the 'Pacific northwest' would seem to be from the perspective of the US. Why is it we don't hear Vancouver and Victoria being referred to as being in the Pacific southwest?

[Docere]

Originally Posted by theman23

Is Alberta a mountain province? It’s mostly flat in the areas people actually live, and while Calgary is a short day trip away from the Rockies it’s not actually in the mountains like most of the populated parts of BC are.

Given the NW/SE direction in which the Rockies run, the "Mountain West" makes more sense in the US than it does in Canada. The Rockies are the center of a region in the US, in Canada they are a dividing line between BC and the Prairie Provinces.

Meanwhile the Plains (Prairies) stretch further west in Canada and are more of a coherent region. Manitoba flows into Saskatchewan which flows into Alberta.

Over the border, the Northern Plains are pretty much empty. The Dakotas and Montana are low population density states, but the really empty areas are the western Dakotas and eastern Montana.

So while superficially Alberta is "mountain-plains" like Colorado or Montana or Wyoming there's a lot more "plains" and a lot less "mountain."

[Acajack]

Never heard these names, though in the past I've heard Atlantic Canada lumped in with New England as a kind of Greater New England. Extremely rarely using that name but the general idea has been kicked around.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Never heard these names, though in the past I've heard Atlantic Canada lumped in with New England as a kind of Greater New England. Extremely rarely using that name but the general idea has been kicked around.

There is an annual conference of New England governors and eastern Canadian premiers which encompasses all six New England states, the four Atlantic provinces and Quebec. They meet to discuss regional issues as particularly pertain to trade and possibly the environment.

This would encompass the "Atlantic Northeast", but, otherwise, this is a fairly foreign concept and nowhere near as well formed in the public consciousness as the "Pacific Northwest" or "Cascadia."

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

There is an annual conference of New England governors and eastern Canadian premiers which encompasses all six New England states, the four Atlantic provinces and Quebec. They meet to discuss regional issues as particularly pertain to trade and possibly the environment.

This would encompass the "Atlantic Northeast", but, otherwise, this is a fairly foreign concept and nowhere near as well formed in the public consciousness as the "Pacific Northwest" or "Cascadia."

The Council of Atlantic Premiers - their choice of name probably hints to the lack of a widely-used term for the broader region.

Cascadia is a nice one. And I knew Pacific Northwest.

We tend to just say "away" or "the mainland" for all the rest of Canada ("I'm after accepting a job away", "She's from the mainland", etc.). That's usually specific enough for most conversations.

If we have to break it down further than that... the most common regions we'd reference would likely be the Maritimes (or, if meant to include us, Atlantic Canada), Quebec, Ontario, and the West. But, as I suspect is normal everywhere, if we have to be specific, it'd usually be the specific or province name we'd say.

Like... thinking of a sentence...

"I got tickets to see Taylor Swift away" - No one would EVER say that.
"I got tickets to see Taylor Swift on the mainland" - A good chunk of people would say that; I'd expect a quarter at least.
"I got tickets to see Taylor Swift in Ontario" - Almost no one, but certainly a handful.
"I got tickets to see Taylor Swift in Toronto" - Majority.

[O-tacular]

Weird thread.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This would encompass the "Atlantic Northeast", but, otherwise, this is a fairly foreign concept and nowhere near as well formed in the public consciousness as the "Pacific Northwest" or "Cascadia."

When most people talk about the Pacific Northwest or Cascadia they're referring to a fairly compact area that runs from roughly Vancouver to Portland (like how "Northern California" mostly connotes SF, not Yreka). It has a roughly even level of development and natural environment and if it weren't for bad infrastructure and the international border would be a more cohesive "megaregion".

In the Northeast there are a few comparable areas, one being the much larger Boston-Washington corridor, another being the St. Lawrence area or maybe Quebec-Windsor, and then the central part of the Maritimes being its own smaller region separated from the others by the comparatively empty parts of NB and ME. Newfoundland is completely separate and Labrador doesn't have road access. The arctic parts of Quebec are not a meaningful part of the region, they just happen to be a part of that province.

If you want to talk about physical geography there's a coastal lowland area in eastern North America that part of NB and NS is in as well as the major cities of the US Eastern Seaboard. It's distinct from the Great Lakes or Appalachia, but parts of Cape Breton and Newfoundland have similar geography but closer to the coast. They look very different from other parts of the region.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Weird thread.

Not the first one I don't think.

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by theman23

Is Alberta a mountain province? It’s mostly flat in the areas people actually live, and while Calgary is a short day trip away from the Rockies it’s not actually in the mountains like most of the populated parts of BC are.

I leave my house at 05:30, on the trail at 0615, back for work before 0900 after a 1.5 hr mountain bike.

“Day trip” makes it sound like Calgary is far away

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

I leave my house at 05:30, on the trail at 0615, back for work before 0900 after a 1.5 hr mountain bike.

“Day trip” makes it sound like Calgary is far away

But really it is a day trip for the vast majority of people, realistically. In minimal traffic, you can get from the farthest western suburban edge of Calgary, if you’re near the Transcanada, to the eastern edge of the mountains, in about 45 minutes. That’s still a 90-minute round trip, and that’s the best case. If you’re downtown it’s a two-hour round trip, even in a zero-traffic situation. My sister lives in Mahogany, and that’s 80 minutes one way.

Generally speaking, it is not the case that Calgarians have access to the Rockies to like, pop in for a quick jog or bike ride or whatever. It’s just a little too far away; it’s a prairie city with mountain adjacency, not a mountain city.

[theman23]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

I leave my house at 05:30, on the trail at 0615, back for work before 0900 after a 1.5 hr mountain bike.

“Day trip” makes it sound like Calgary is far away

That’s a pretty unusual morning routine. Most people don’t take a 90 minute round trip for their morning exercise before work.