Lemonaidan
New Member
I had no idea Okotoks wasn't included in calgary's CMA, its less than 20 kms from the city limits and right off a major highway making the commute as fast as possible... but ghost lake is in and ~25 kms away
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Statscan numbers
- Thread starter kora
- Start date
If you want to do some reading that will help put you to sleep, Statscan has info explaining what makes a CMA, and explains forward and reverse commuting rules, etc.. Of course of you're a stats nerd, you might get hard on instead...either way it's worth a quick look.
Census metropolitan area and Census agglomeration: Detailed definition
Stephen Ave
Active Member
Top 10 CMAs for raw numbers growth:
Toronto: 92,435
Montreal: 31,148
Vancouver: 30,905
Calgary: 29,254
Edmonton: 26,121
Ottawa: 23,411
Kitchener: 11,928
Hamilton: 9,515
Halifax: 9,015
London: 8,717
The top 35 CMAs
1) Toronto - 6,555,205
2) Montreal - 4,364,189
3) Vancouver - 2,737,698
4) Calgary - 1,543,283
5) Edmonton - 1,468,926
6) Ottawa/Gatineau - 1,461,494
7) Winnipeg - 850,056
8) Quebec City - 832,328
9) Hamilton - 804,691
10) Kitchener/Cambridge/Waterloo - 593,882
11) London - 551,066
12) Halifax - 448,544
13) St Catherines/Niagara - 437,114
14) Oshawa - 423,036
15) Victoria - 408,883
16) Windsor - 356,880
17) Saskatoon - 336, 614
18) Regina - 263,184
19) Sherbrooke - 224,557
20) Kelowna - 222,748
21) Barrie - 218,188
22) St. John's - 214,014
23) Abbotsford/Mission - 204.265
24) Kingston - 176,184
25) Sudbury - 172,462
26) Guelph - 167,509
27) Saguenay - 163,354
28) Trois Rivières - 163,287
29) Moncton - 158,695
30) Brantford - 151,566
31) Peterborough - 131,939
32) Saint John - 131,772
33) Lethbridge - 128,851
34) Thunder Bay - 126,861
35) Belleville - 112,980
Toronto: 92,435
Montreal: 31,148
Vancouver: 30,905
Calgary: 29,254
Edmonton: 26,121
Ottawa: 23,411
Kitchener: 11,928
Hamilton: 9,515
Halifax: 9,015
London: 8,717
The top 35 CMAs
1) Toronto - 6,555,205
2) Montreal - 4,364,189
3) Vancouver - 2,737,698
4) Calgary - 1,543,283
5) Edmonton - 1,468,926
6) Ottawa/Gatineau - 1,461,494
7) Winnipeg - 850,056
8) Quebec City - 832,328
9) Hamilton - 804,691
10) Kitchener/Cambridge/Waterloo - 593,882
11) London - 551,066
12) Halifax - 448,544
13) St Catherines/Niagara - 437,114
14) Oshawa - 423,036
15) Victoria - 408,883
16) Windsor - 356,880
17) Saskatoon - 336, 614
18) Regina - 263,184
19) Sherbrooke - 224,557
20) Kelowna - 222,748
21) Barrie - 218,188
22) St. John's - 214,014
23) Abbotsford/Mission - 204.265
24) Kingston - 176,184
25) Sudbury - 172,462
26) Guelph - 167,509
27) Saguenay - 163,354
28) Trois Rivières - 163,287
29) Moncton - 158,695
30) Brantford - 151,566
31) Peterborough - 131,939
32) Saint John - 131,772
33) Lethbridge - 128,851
34) Thunder Bay - 126,861
35) Belleville - 112,980
JTron
Active Member
Thanks for posting those numbers. I wonder how long before Kelowna passes Sherbrooke and Regina?
The numbers for Calgary are fantastic!
The numbers for Calgary are fantastic!
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gsunnyg
Senior Member
Man, what shocks me the most is that there was almost the same number of people gained in Edmonton in comparison to Calgary. No offense to any Edmontonians here, but why are people still choosing to live in Edmonton over Calgary????
I just wished all of Edmonton moved down to Calgary, we can relocate the capital and university as well and just become a megacity with a metro population of over 3 mil!
I just wished all of Edmonton moved down to Calgary, we can relocate the capital and university as well and just become a megacity with a metro population of over 3 mil!
darwink
Senior Member
Edmonton has a few physical absolute advantages that Calgary can never meet:
1) access to abundant water for industrial processes
2) access to abundant salt layers for cheap storage of liquids and gases
There is also the comparative advantage in building up one of the largest industrial fabrication complexes in the western world. Makes way more sense to build up there than down here for many things. If your small thing is going to be integrated into a big thing there.
1) access to abundant water for industrial processes
2) access to abundant salt layers for cheap storage of liquids and gases
There is also the comparative advantage in building up one of the largest industrial fabrication complexes in the western world. Makes way more sense to build up there than down here for many things. If your small thing is going to be integrated into a big thing there.
heightjunkie
Active Member
The CMR should reach about 2 million by the end of this decade
heightjunkie
Active Member
The area around Edmonton can also be quite beautiful, especially in the summer. Abundant lake land and cottage country. Impossibly long days. The people are hardy. I live in St. Albert myself, though I grew up in Calgary.
+ Calgary gets huge benefit from being satellite to an industrial centre without having to bear the marks of that industrial wealth like edmonton does lol. It's good to split them up.
+ Calgary gets huge benefit from being satellite to an industrial centre without having to bear the marks of that industrial wealth like edmonton does lol. It's good to split them up.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
I think GSunny was just making a joke about Calgary vs. Edmonton since Calgary is lightyears ahead in our correction of planning mistakes over the past century while central Edmonton is somehow still losing population while ours has doubled, and how their core is still an ocean of parking lots, only now with a landed starship (arena), a crashed battlestar (library) and one tall building in the middle. Oh and a mall somewhere 
CBBarnett
Senior Member
Way off topic - and a dangerous faux-pas on urban development fan sites to go city-v-city (RIP SSP) - but for my two cents on nice things about Edmonton as a city:
Edmonton's age is just slightly enough older that it has fantastic main streets and lots of potential in a wider number of areas that Calgary. Once again, the key is starting long ago and being big earlier. More tradtional format main streets, in more areas. Same applies for the university and institutions - being a big education, student hub for longer actually changes your culture and offers markets and sub-markets that Calgary struggles to develop as it's focus has been elsewhere (local music, arts, counter-culture vibes etc.)
My other positive thing (and it might be related to the first) is that Edmonton does better with it's community "institutions", speaking of retail and food. Lots more of that eclectic, home-grown, neighbourhood stuff that's actually great in both contributing to the urban fabric, great atmosphere and good quality. Sandwiches, pubs and food. Perhaps neighbourhoods have been at it longer, perhaps it's a bit of that blue-collar vibe - not sure why Edmonton does so good at this. Calgary has tons of good food and awesome retail too of course, but doesn't compete on that "local hub" feature that long-standing retail institutions as many of our best things are relatively new or get replaced with new best things every decade or two.
Edmonton's age is just slightly enough older that it has fantastic main streets and lots of potential in a wider number of areas that Calgary. Once again, the key is starting long ago and being big earlier. More tradtional format main streets, in more areas. Same applies for the university and institutions - being a big education, student hub for longer actually changes your culture and offers markets and sub-markets that Calgary struggles to develop as it's focus has been elsewhere (local music, arts, counter-culture vibes etc.)
My other positive thing (and it might be related to the first) is that Edmonton does better with it's community "institutions", speaking of retail and food. Lots more of that eclectic, home-grown, neighbourhood stuff that's actually great in both contributing to the urban fabric, great atmosphere and good quality. Sandwiches, pubs and food. Perhaps neighbourhoods have been at it longer, perhaps it's a bit of that blue-collar vibe - not sure why Edmonton does so good at this. Calgary has tons of good food and awesome retail too of course, but doesn't compete on that "local hub" feature that long-standing retail institutions as many of our best things are relatively new or get replaced with new best things every decade or two.
artvandelay
Active Member
I don't disagree with you (and sorry for nitpicking), but Calgary as an actual town/settlement is actually slightly older than Edmonton (1885 vs 1891). Prior to the arrival of the C&E Railway, Edmonton was no more than a trading fort.
However, what I think you are getting at is the fact that Edmonton experienced more growth than Calgary pre 1960s / 70s and consequently has a larger ring of streetcar suburbs.
heightjunkie
Active Member
Oh I know it was all in good fun, I just felt the need to remind people that there are SOME good things about Edmonton!I think GSunny was just making a joke about Calgary vs. Edmonton since Calgary is lightyears ahead in our correction of planning mistakes over the past century while central Edmonton is somehow still losing population while ours has doubled, and how their core is still an ocean of parking lots, only now with a landed starship (arena), a crashed battlestar (library) and one tall building in the middle. Oh and a mall somewhere
CB does a great job at highlighting some of the little things. The University is a jewel of the city that is again threatened by provincial policies and tightened budgets. It would be great if the University of Calgary could develop more of the "self contained city- within city" that the U of A has- though I think recent developments do have it trending this way. Calgary lacks a comparable to Whyte ave.
Calgary of course has countless other advantages though. But there are good reasons to live up here
and I recommend anyone with High school age children nudge their kids to look at the U of A. Re: City Centre mall= this is a sad story up here. It will be defunct within the year IMO. It is in shambles and has virtually no tenants.
heightjunkie
Active Member
There was also the dual nature of the original settlements of Strathcona and Edmonton, which created two defacto "town centres" from the get go. The surrounding area was littered with more settlements that were incorporated into Edmonton proper as well, and still has some large sattelites that bear significant enough regional political weight (i.e. St. Albert and Sherwood Park.)
Less focused on the singular city and more of a stitched together region, whereas Calgary is more like a blackhole consuming the region around it (I meant this in a nice way even though it sounds sinister!)
heightjunkie
Active Member
Incidentally, it was the dual nature of Edmonton that allowed Alexander Rutherford to underhandedly "steal" the university from Calgary. The stipulation from the federal government was that the Capital and the provincial university had to be in separate cities, with the idea that one would go to Calgary and the other to Edmonton to placate the fighting between the burgeoning settlements. The Capital went to Edmonton but Rutherford was able to locate the university in Strathcona; a separate municipality from Edmonton.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
I don't agree that Calgary doesn't have anything comparable to Whyte Ave. I have always maintained that, while Whyte Ave is arguably the best/most active street in the province, it is Edmonton's only good/active street, while Calgary has several with a couple others under intensive development. Kensington (Kensington Road and Tenth Street) is absolutely comparable to Whyte Ave, as are 17 Ave and Stephen Ave. I'd also say that Bridgeland and 9 Avenue in Inglewood are up-and-comers in that realm as well. With First Street, Fourth Street, and Marda Loop on their heels. The only other street with a decent level of pedestrian retail activity in Edmonton is Jasper, and half the street is strip malls through Oliver. Ice Plaza might be decent eventually.
Edmonton may have marginally better bones, but it certainly has not capitalized on that advantage has been my point in these two posts.
Also, Edmonton isn't older. Calgary was chartered as a town in 1884, and as a city in 1894. Edmonton was chartered as a town in 1892 and as a city in 1904. It was merely bigger when that sort of thing had an impact on urban development. That advantage was taken for granted and lost long ago. All of those positives stated about Edmonton are true, however it's also to their detriment since despite having the provincial university, a downtown university, and the capitol, it is still nowhere near our level of urban revitalization/pedestrianization... and we're not even THAT far along.