# Let's make it a trifecta: The Largest Canadian city you've never heard of **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184 "2010-03-03T21:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/21 "2010-03-03T23:49:35Z")
I doubt you could say Mississauga and there would be very many people in the US would have any clue of what you’re saying. For me Surrey, British Columbia was the first I didn’t know. But it’s a suburb so I don’t think that’s so unusual. ---
**Author:** ![Sonnenstrahl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Sonnenstrahl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonnenstrahl)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/22 "2010-03-03T23:50:25Z")
Yup, Brampton is a suburb of Toronto, the most bland suburb in existence. One of those places without a city centre or any real walkable streets. (Sorry, Bramptonites! I kid because I’m from Richmond Hill, number 28, which no one would have heard of if they made it that far down the list.) It is notable for having a very large Indian population. But the only times I’ve been there I’ve been to visit my friends who live there, who, because they’re the kind of people who decide to move to Brampton right after finishing university, are also the kind of people who think that Kelsey’s is the only restaurant worth visiting so I haven’t even experienced the Indian food. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/23 "2010-03-03T23:50:46Z")
Mississauga. Don’t have aclue about it or what province it’s in. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/24 "2010-03-03T23:58:46Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > Yet another Brampton. Is it just a big suburb of Toronto? Basically. So’s Mississauga. Also Markham, Vaughan, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, and Aurora. Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Oakville, Halton Hills, Burlington, and Oshawa are in the next ring of outlying municipalities that aren’t completely consumed by the suburban Toronto sprawl, though Pickering and Ajax are giving their best efforts to that end. And cities near enough to be accessible by the interregional bus system centred on Toronto include Barrie, Peterborough, Niagara Falls, Waterloo, and Kitchener. It’s telling that the two largest suburban municpalities in the Greater Toronto Area, Mississauga and Brampton, are themselves #6 and #11 on the list. Mississauga was crafted from a collection of villages and the intervening farmland around 1970; it has since then just filled in with sprawl, but now it’s trying to create a real downtown instead of just being centred on a large mall. In the past ten years, Mississagua has actually gtown a skyline even! In many ways, it reminds me of other ‘instant cities’ like Shenzhen. Brampton, on the other hand, is a small town grown large. It has always had a centre, a downtown, where the railway, Highway 10, and Queen Street (old Highway 7) meet. But it has its sprawl as well, such as the suburb called Bramalea. It doesn’t have a skyline in the same way that Mississauga does. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/25 "2010-03-04T00:02:40Z")
And I’ll add: Clarington and Kawartha Lakes are two largely-rural municipalities just east of the Greater Toronto Area that were created when counties and the towns they contained were forcibly amalgamated in the late nineties. They’re somewhat artificial, and people still tend to think of them in terms of the old towns. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/26 "2010-03-04T00:49:33Z")
For me, #12: Surrey, BC. I used to live in Montreal, years ago, so I knew every city in Quebec on that list. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/27 "2010-03-04T00:50:34Z")
Brampton, although I have no idea how to pronounce Mississauga, so maybe I’ve never heard it, but I’ve seen it in print. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/28 "2010-03-04T01:40:45Z")
6 Mississauga is the one for me on that list. Course, I’ve only been up to Canada once in my life and I think it was to Toronto. So yeah, bummer… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/29 "2010-03-04T01:44:13Z")
Only got as far as 14, Laval. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/30 "2010-03-04T01:45:28Z")
Y’all need to take the train more, it seems, can’t miss Brampton on the train! ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/31 "2010-03-04T01:51:31Z")
#6 Mississauga And I thought I knew a thing or two about Canada. :eek: I also have never heard of Brampton. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/32 "2010-03-04T02:08:43Z")
> [@ToeJam](#): > > 6 Mississauga is the one for me on that list. Course, I’ve only been up to Canada once in my life and I think it was to Toronto. So yeah, bummer… If you landed at Pearson Airport, you’ve been in Mississauga. 😉 (It’s just across the municipal boundary from the City of Toronto.) ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/33 "2010-03-04T02:24:54Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > #9 Hamilton. > > I fail. Me 2 ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/34 "2010-03-04T02:27:58Z")
#16, Markham, Ontario I’ve actually heard of a good number of the ones below it, but this one stopped me. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/35 "2010-03-04T02:39:52Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Maple Ridge (#75). I’ll have to say this one too. All the rest are familiar; I’ve been to, driven through, changed planes in, or taken a train through most of the rest. The remaining ones I’ve certainly heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/36 "2010-03-04T03:15:55Z")
Brampton. Followed by Laval. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/37 "2010-03-04T03:19:40Z")
#12 Surrey I’m actually surprised I got that far down the list. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/38 "2010-03-04T03:35:36Z")
Richmond Hill (28). The next one after that is Strathcona, Alberta (59). Lots of entries on this list that I know of only through riding names. (In fact I thought that might be the case for Strathcona, but Edmonton–Strathcona isn’t the same.) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/39 "2010-03-04T03:49:53Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Only got as far as 14, Laval. A hugely expensive extension of the Montreal Metro to Laval recently opened. That’s the most likely context you might have heard of this city. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184/40 "2010-03-04T03:55:38Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Richmond Hill (28). The next one after that is Strathcona, Alberta (59). > > Lots of entries on this list that I know of only through riding names. (In fact I thought that might be the case for Strathcona, but Edmonton–Strathcona isn’t the same.) It’s easy to understand your non-knowledge of Strathcona, Matt. Strathcona is to Edmonton as Santa Monica is to Los Angeles: a separate part of the greater city that has been swallowed by the greater city, and is easily mistaken for a suburban neighbourhood rather than a city on its own. If you’re driving from Edmonton to Calgary, you pretty much have to pass through Strathcona, although you’d never know you were passing through another city. The Edmonton street numbering continues through Strathcona, Edmonton Transit serves Strathcona, and few signs indicate that you have left Edmonton and entered Strathcona. Most folks don’t really care about the distinction, although some Strathconians (Strathconites?) will insist that they are _not_ Edmontonians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-it-a-trifecta-the-largest-canadian-city-youve-never-heard-of/531184.md?page=3)