Quote:
Originally Posted by chowhou
BC: "The City" = Vancouver
AB: "The City" = South of Red Deer ? Calgary else Edmonton
SK: "The City" = Saskatoon
MB: "The City" = Winnipeg
ON: "The City" = Toronto
QB: "The City" = Montreal
NB: There are no cities in this province
PE: Likewise
NS: "The City" = Halifax
NL: "Town" = St. John's
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"The City" i.e. "la ville" is not something people would say in French in this way, most of the time. Sure you might hear "ce sont des gens de la ville" (they're city folk) in say the Gaspésie to talk about visitors, but this doesn't nececessarily mean Montrealers. They could be talking about people from Quebec City or some other city.
If you were to refer to "la ville" in St-Hyacinthe or Rouyn-Noranda, people would think you're talking about their municipal government.
If people speak metaphorically about Montreal without actually naming it in Quebec, they usually use the term "la métropole". (Yes, we know Toronto is bigger but our metropolis is still Montreal.)
We also use the term "en ville" which is equivalent to "in town" in English. As in "je déménage en ville" (I'm moving to town) or "je vais en ville" (I'm going into town).
If you're anywhere within striking distance of Montreal (say 100 km) references to "en ville" will almost always infer that it's Montreal. If you're in Chambly or even Mont-Tremblant, the "ville" people refer to in this usage will always be Montreal.
If you're in Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré or Lévis, it refers to Quebec City.
In the Outaouais it might mean Gatineau or it might mean Ottawa. Depends.