Western Canada. Love it, hate it or indifferent?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by billy corgan

There's a western Canada?

London and Windsor.

[Innsertnamehere]

Yea I thought Kenora was on the pacific ocean, how can there be another chunk of the country over there?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Yea I thought Kenora was on the pacific ocean, how can there be another chunk of the country over there?

No, Kenora is High Arctic. Learn your geography!

[niwell]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

No, Kenora is High Arctic. Learn your geography!

The 401 is the treeline basically - right?

[Tone]

Love it! BC Bud and Okanagan cider all day.

[middeljohn]

Lots of opportunity, a meeting place for people across the country. In 12 days it'll be my new home, looking forward to it.

[middeljohn]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

London and Windsor.

And northern Ontario which starts as soon as you cross the 401.

[kool maudit]

the west is a key component of canada's identity — if we didn't have it, the country would not possess the full north american experience, would lack the frontier element with all of its newness and promise and room for self-reinvention.

that said, my personal canada relates much more to the east, and particularly to the institutions, architecture and social realms that surround quebec, montreal, ottawa and toronto. for me, that's the centre. i have never spent much time in the west, and the newness of its cities means that one of the main determinants of "place" seems lacking.

in montreal, there are a lot of things that are "only in montreal," and they are tangible things, from spiral staircases to smoked meat sandwiches to faded old kix cola signs in dépanneur windows. this sort of stuff is important to me. i find that, as i prepare to move to copenhagen, i am looking for these sorts of things there... and they exist, from smørrebrød (open-faced rye sandwiches) to værtshuse (a specific sort of divey pub) to the whole hygge thing (a winter thing, something that is chaleureux, or cozy). i am not sure that a newer place would provide these particulars, but i could be wrong. i have never been to most major western cities.

los angeles doesn't lack in this department, and it's pretty new. so i am open to being wrong about calgary or edmonton in this regard.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by niwell

The 401 is the treeline basically - right?

do you mean the 40? because i think there's still colossus laval a bit above that, but after that it's windigo country.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I too adore the West. Except for Saskatchewan because the people there are so sneaky. You can't take your eye off them for a minute!

La province des ratoureux... if I got that right...

[Spliff]

I've lived overseas for 15 years, and I am shocked how many central and eastern Canadians I meet who have the most ignorant and discriminatory views towards Alberta. Usually these views are based on stereotypes associated with places like Texas (which is also a very misunderstood place), and ridiculous Susukiesque environmental views related to the "tar-sands" that are based on half-truths and fear mongering.

I'm always amazed how many people will read something on the internet or in the news and believe whole-hog without making one ounce of effort to question what they hear and do 5 minutes of research. The oilsands are not perfect, but they are far from the enviro-disaster that radical greens, the CBC and Toronto Star make them out to be - its absolutely ridiculous.

I've had central canadians tell me Albertans are greedy rednecks - sometimes the first time they meet me and find out I from Alberta.

I love Canada, but my experiences in dealing with central Canadians while living overseas has left a very lasting impression on me - and not a positive one.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

in montreal, there are a lot of things that are "only in montreal," and they are tangible things, from spiral staircases to smoked meat sandwiches to faded old kix cola signs in dépanneur windows. this sort of stuff is important to me. i find that, as i prepare to move to copenhagen, i am looking for these sorts of things there... and they exist, from smørrebrød (open-faced rye sandwiches) to værtshuse (a specific sort of divey pub) to the whole hygge thing (a winter thing, something that is chaleureux, or cozy). i am not sure that a newer place would provide these particulars, but i could be wrong. i have never been to most major western cities.

They exist--whenever I visit west, I see the things that lend a sense of definite place to the cities and towns. In and around Calgary, Edwardian commercial buildings constructed of unique prairie sandstone are a giveaway.

There's also a particular plain but graceful residential architecture common to inner neighbourhoods that I've never seen elsewhere--a lot of stucco and unfussy ornamentation. Not sure how to describe it.

As well, every sizable town has a Chinese/Western cafe, weird anachronisms which have somehow survived to the present day, originally started by Chinese immigrants who'd worked on the railroads. (Calgary has a handful, one of which was my regular late-night neighbourhood hangout--I didn't realize how particularly Western they were until I moved back to Ontario.)

And in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northern Alberta, the common-ness of the Ukrainian culture and church also creates a lot.

And the greatly increased visibility of First Nations cultures is a western thing as well, at least as compared to the large cities of Central Canada.

There probably isn't as much of that place-making stuff, but it's there--the older cities on the prairies are coming up on a century and a half. Young by comparison with Montreal, but you don't get to that age without developing a few particular quirks and identifiers. Those are a few off the top of my head--I'm sure there are more that others could pitch in.

[SignalHillHiker]

The residential architecture in prairie cities is impressive. Large lots with front lawns on wide, tree-lined streets - often with large trees on both sides of the sidewalk, which is set back from the street. Even the lower-class neighbourhoods typically have this design. All of these things are associated with extreme wealth in Old St. John's - most houses open directly onto the sidewalk, which in turn is directly adjacent to the street. There are no trees out front, only in the central courtyards of the rowhouse blocks.

This was my street in Winnipeg. That's my Civic,



And that's a lower-middle class neighbourhood. The equivalent class of people in St. John's live in neighbourhoods like this:



The stucco thing always confused me. To me, it looks unfinished. It looks like fire-retardant foam or spray insulation and they just never go around the putting the clapboard or stone on top.

[SHOFEAR]

Love it. It's incredibly gratifying being a part of the transformation going on and the opportunity for those willing to work hard is endless.

[sync]

i'll never forget the day that my young nephews from toronto were going to fly back home from visiting calgary...they both exclaimed with marked delight "we're going back to canada tomorrow!".

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Nathan

La province des ratoureux... if I got that right...

Effectivement. Un nid de ratoureux!

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Spliff

I've lived overseas for 15 years, and I am shocked how many central and eastern Canadians I meet who have the most ignorant and discriminatory views towards Alberta. Usually these views are based on stereotypes associated with places like Texas (which is also a very misunderstood place), and ridiculous Susukiesque environmental views related to the "tar-sands" that are based on half-truths and fear mongering.

I'm always amazed how many people will read something on the internet or in the news and believe whole-hog without making one ounce of effort to question what they hear and do 5 minutes of research. The oilsands are not perfect, but they are far from the enviro-disaster that radical greens, the CBC and Toronto Star make them out to be - its absolutely ridiculous.

I've had central canadians tell me Albertans are greedy rednecks - sometimes the first time they meet me and find out I from Alberta.

I love Canada, but my experiences in dealing with central Canadians while living overseas has left a very lasting impression on me - and not a positive one.

I'm always shocked that people are shocked by the views/actions of "ordinary Canadians", most of whom shouldn't be allowed to leave the house unsupervised let alone travel abroad or form opinions about places they haven't experienced first hand. The remedy, as I have suggested in the past, is simple - recognize that they are irrelevant, don't let it upset you, and set your sights on interacting with the better class. They are out there, you know.

[MolsonExport]

Love it. How could somebody not love the beautiful Mountain, Lakes, and Coastlines of Western Canada?

[kwoldtimer]

[QUOTE=SignalHillHiker;6533283]The residential architecture in prairie cities is impressive. Large lots with front lawns on wide, tree-lined streets - often with large trees on both sides of the sidewalk, which is set back from the street. Even the lower-class neighbourhoods typically have this design. All of these things are associated with extreme wealth in Old St. John's - most houses open directly onto the sidewalk, which in turn is directly adjacent to the street. There are no trees out front, only in the central courtyards of the rowhouse blocks.

This was my street in Winnipeg. That's my Civic,



....QUOTE]

I love the gambrel roofs on older homes (you never seem to see it on modern construction, unless someone is putting up a new barn!). I assume it has some kind of European origin, but I've only seen it in Canada and the USA.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

I guess I'm indifferent, if only because I've never visited or seen the place. I'd very much like to take a summer road trip west to the coast and spend a couple days in a lot of the towns and cities along the way, and get a better sense of the western half of the country of ours.