Quote:
Originally Posted by dc_denizen
The Canadian side is very interesting, far more interesting than the border region south of Montreal or Sarnia/Windsor. You cross the border, and suddenly every municipality wants to tell you their population levels. Niagara region, population 400,000. Hamilton, population [whatever], Burlington etc. It's like SSP forumers designed the signs.
|
LOL. The Ontario population signs make an impression, good or bad, on other people too. In many places it's unnecessary bragging and dick measuring, but in more remote parts of the province it's a kind of useful indicator of what services you can expect to find. Another very quaint piece of Canadiana used to be the Provincial Highway Map published by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (the Ontario DOT, if you will) which had little symbols for towns with hospitals, OPP (provincial police) detachments, and, IIRC, the presence of government-run liquor stores.
Anyway, to get back OT, Niagara Falls, NY could stand to be a bit more spruced-up, but even without poor planning it has several innate disadvantages to NFON. For starters, there's the fact that Niagara Falls, ON is within exurban reach of Toronto, and is certainly a favourite weekend getaway destination. The second is that the farmland on the Ontario side is more fertile and the peninsula offers a bit of a microclimate that, combined with the prevailing winds and limestone soils, creates a natural wine region with the support of a lot of Toronto startup capital. Finally, there's also Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is sort of an olde world, Gilmore Girls-like small town that has a very respectable Shaw festival. Basically, on the Ontario side, tourists are sold a package of goods: not just the falls, but the wineries, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and all the quaint attractions in between.