# What are the largest Canadian cities you've never been to/heard of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593 "2007-04-11T02:32:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/21 "2007-04-11T09:09:47Z")
Oshawa here too for “never heard of”. Unfortunately, I have never visited Toronto or Montreal. (Well, arguably not “unfortunately” :), but you get the idea) ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/22 "2007-04-11T10:43:23Z")
Largest one I _have_ been to is Halifax. I don’t travel much. First one I didn’t recognise was Barrie. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/23 "2007-04-11T13:35:06Z")
I’ve never been to Calgary (#5), and I’ve never heard of Barrie (#21). ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/24 "2007-04-11T13:36:29Z")
I went through Calgary on the way to Banff. Outside of that, I spent a few nights in Nelson, BC once on spring break. ---
**Author:** ![Queuing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Queuing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queuing)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/25 "2007-04-11T13:55:28Z")
Largest one I haven’t been to: Vancouver #3 (but hopefully that will change soon) Heard of: #51 Granby **Pygmy Rugger** its: Gretzky ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/26 "2007-04-11T14:24:36Z")
Dumb fact: Kitchener, ON used to be called “Berlin, ON” but was changed during WW1. [(Cite.)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchener%2C_Ontario) Never been to: Montreal (2) (Which is sad because I live in #9.) Never heard of: Saint-Hyacinthe (57) ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/27 "2007-04-11T14:29:57Z")
Never been to, oddly enough, Quebec city (7). Never heard of Kelowna (22). ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/28 "2007-04-11T14:55:10Z")
Never set foot on Canadian soil. Oshawa was the first one that stumped me. Below that, I knew exactly a dozen of them.\* "To be fair, “know” means “heard of”, not “able to pinpoint with accuracy on a map.” ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/29 "2007-04-11T15:36:12Z")
largest I haven’t been too is Saskatoon, which will be remedied in a couple months. I have heard of pretty much all of the cities except for a handful of ones in Quebec starting with Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/30 "2007-04-11T15:47:50Z")
The largest Canadian city I have never been to is Ottawa, and I’d really like to see it. The largest city that I had never heard of was Wood Buffalo Alberta. ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/31 "2007-04-11T17:07:21Z")
Haven’t been to #1, Toronto, and haven’t heard of #14, Oshawa. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/32 "2007-04-11T17:30:19Z")
Wood Buffalo is another one of those bogus agglomerations. It’s more properly known as Fort McMurray. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/33 "2007-04-11T17:42:52Z")
I haven’t been to #3 (Vancouver). The highest I’ve never heard of is #18 (Sherbrooke). ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Machine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Ice\_Machine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Machine)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/34 "2007-04-11T17:50:48Z")
I’ve never been to any other province than Ontario and Quebec. I"ve been to probably 80% or so of the Ontario locations and half the Quebec ones and there’s only a few for each of those provinces I haven’t heard of. There were a lot more near the bottom of the list for the other provinces. The first one I hadn’t heard of was Vernon, BC (#58). [QUOTE=Sublight] I’ve never heard of Kitchener (#11) [/QUOTE] That’s my hometown, didn’t know it would be #11 on the list though. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/35 "2007-04-11T18:02:32Z")
[QUOTE=Helen’s Eidolon] Never been to, oddly enough, Quebec city (7). Never heard of Kelowna (22). [/QUOTE] Huh. Well, that saved me some typing. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/36 "2007-04-11T18:10:58Z")
Other than to turn around at the border with Idaho, I’ve never really been to Canada. Looking at the list, the first one that I did not recognize was Kitchener (Cambridge, Waterloo), #11. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/37 "2007-04-11T19:12:00Z")
Biggest that I haven’t been to is Vancouver. Biggest I haven’t heard of is #24, Kelowna, BC. In my defense, Kelowna is a town of 150,000 on the other end of the continent. And what’s striking, when you compare this list with the American one, is how fast the drop-off occurs, from big to not-so-big. Number 100 on the list has a little over 20,000 people, which in American terms, is basically a village. I’ve been to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (#43) and Granby, QC (#49), and it’s really hard for me to read those as top-100 towns. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/38 "2007-04-11T19:27:42Z")
The biggest I have never been to is Montreal (#2), and that I hadn’t heard of is Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (#74). Actually, that’s the ONLY place on that list I had not heard of before today. [QUOTE=Tracy Lord] How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now! [/QUOTE] You’re not a broken man on a Halifax pier, are you? Either way, damn them all! It’s gonna be stuck in my head ALL DAY. [QUOTE=Trunk] I went through Calgary on the way to Banff. Outside of that, I spent a few nights in Nelson, BC once on spring break. [/QUOTE] My hometown (Calgary), and my adopted hometown (Banff) from someone whose hometown (Baltimore) is where I now reside. Nelson, BC is probably known best as a movie location because of its quaint charm. It was the town in “Roxanne”, with Steve Martin. [QUOTE=adam yax] The largest Canadian city I have never been to is Ottawa, and I’d really like to see it. The largest city that I had never heard of was Wood Buffalo Alberta. [/QUOTE] You and I both know - being Albertans - that Raygun99 is right. The city is McMurray and the buffalo are buffalo. What a load of hooey. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/39 "2007-04-11T19:43:28Z")
Biggest never-been-to: Calgary Biggest never-heard-of: Brantford, Ontario I’ve lived in the top three Quebec areas (Montreal, Sherbrooke, and Québec) (not counting Gatineau, because that might as well be Ontario 😉 ) and visited many others. I’m with **Sal** , there’s an awfully big drop-off somewhere around this list’s late teens-early twenties. I suppose some of that’s because this list’s definition of metropolitan area is a little shaky. I mean, Laval is lumped in with Montreal, though you’d have to search a long time for a Montrealer or Lavallois who’d count these two cities as a unit. (I suppose a cartographer could call them the Greater Montreal Region, but no one who lives here does.) If Montreal and Toronto were divested of the cities cleaved to them, and those cities were considered separately, I suspect some of the smaller areas would be bumped off the list. Another surprise for me was seeing mining towns like Val d’Or (#82) and Thetford Mines (#92) on this list too. \ You may be a redneck country when you’ve got towns on your top 100 list that are threatened with closing every couple of years. \ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593/40 "2007-04-11T19:50:11Z")
I’ve been in Canada once (Toronto). I had never heard of Sherbrooke before, but I’m familiar with many of the lower ones on the list. Some places like Yellowknife are not even in the top 100. I see Sherbrooke is about the same size as Panama City, FL. I’m not sure if that means I should have heard of it or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-canadian-cities-youve-never-been-to-heard-of/399593.md?page=3)