No Major Cities: Why So Few Canadians Live In On The East Coast

Hi Geoff, Born and raised halogonian here, who studied both history and politics and gave guided historical tours of the city. I'm sorry but I have to point out several major errors and omissions in your video concerning why the east coast is so sparsely populated. If you would like to discuss any of them further, please don't hesitate to reach out. 1. Quebec city is not the oldest city in Canada: port Royal was the first major french settlement founded Nova Scotia close to those amazing tides you spoke of in 1605. St John's was founded in 1497 by the English. Nova Scotia itself was actually first settled as a LONE Scottish colony In 1621. 2. Halifax was the most important port for the British on mainland North America: Halifax was it for the British. Nova Scotia actually had the first representative democracy in North America. Halifax was home to one of four principal ports for the British navy in the Atlantic. (The others being Gibraltar, Portsmouth, and Bermuda). It was home to the courts, the political center, the economic center, and financial center. 3 out of five of the major Canadian banks were based boat of Halifax. So what happened to Halifax? So many things. 3. You forgot about the Halifax explosion: the most devastating explosion in the history of mankind, and the largest non-nuclear explosion ever. It leveled the city during world war I by a freak accident. Unfortunately, at this point in Canada's history, the military importance of Halifax was far greater than anything else and that became the focal point of recovery, especially with the dawn of the great Depression and world war II. 4. You forgot about the national policy: during the infant stages of Canada's development as a nation, the very serious question of where to invest you economically came into question. Here. You are very correct to identify why St. Lawrence River Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Ottawa are so important. Canada chose to invest in this area and actively repressed and extracted everything they could out of the Atlanta provinces to establish that industrial center. It's consequences of this policy were severe, and led to all the major banks leaving Halifax, (Although the bank of Nova Scotia still holds that name in Toronto) and government sanctioned suppression of unions to ensure cheap coal and timber would flood into proper Canada. This is why all Atlantic provinces have been in a recession since the early 1900s. There are actual videos of the RCMP beating up strikers in cape Breton on their way home from church. 5. Canada is huge and has been organized and developed opposite to and in a symbiotic economic relationship with the United States: The coast of America are densely populated populated with almost no one in between. For the longest time, that was the same case in Canada until the national policy and the absolute explosion of immigration and development in British Columbia. Because of this relationship with US. However, again, our development was focused in the middle of the country, with each coast being far more sparsely populated. So as you can see, you hit on a few of the important geographic conditions that led to how Canada was populated, but you presented some clearly wrong facts and very important omissions that give critical context.

Nova Scotians voted massively against joining confederation with Canada because as the richest of the 4 colonies, it was afraid that Upper Canada would want to impose tariff barriers against the US, killing business with Nova Scotia’s biggest trading partner. That’s exactly what happened. This version of “history” completely misses the true story.

You left out my favourite fact! Nova Scotia is the only place outside of the UK to have a Gaelic dialect, and bilingual road signs in Gaelic and English. There's a lot more Scottish and Irish influence here, which you can really hear if you talk to people from Newfoundland or Cape Breton. The accent and some phrasing is not quite the same as the rest of Canada.

I live in the Annapolis Valley here in Nova Scotia. This province is growing. Due to extremely high Housing prices in other more densely populated provinces. I moved from the states to Ontario and then moved out here. Nova Scotia has some of the prettiest scenery I have ever witnessed. If you ever have a chance to visit do so. From wine lovers to cider fans you will find some of the very best locally grown and produced right here.

Something that is completely missing here is the availability of suitable agricultural land. Although some regions of Atlantic Canada have good soil/land to grow food (e.g., PEI, Annapolis Valley Region in NS), most of the region has shallow soils and is incredibly rocky. It's the same reason most people in New England live in Massachusetts and not northern New Hampshire and Maine. Compare that with the rich agricultural land in Southwestern Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River around Montreal. Southwestern Ontario even grows tobacco. The big economic driver in Atlantic Canada was cod fishing, which never drove enough industry as most of the processing was done in Massachusetts. Mining, coal extraction and forestry were other notable industries, but again never generated enough population growth or industry to foster large cities. For this reason, Atlantic Canada has always been relatively poor and sparsely populated.

Halifax: exists

super technical and specific addition - The Appalachian mountains extend into Newfoundland as part of the Long Range Mountains on the province's west coast. Beautiful mountains and fjords there, and the UNESCO world heritage site of Gros Morne and the Tablelands.

The western portion of the land at 3:27 shouldn't be red as a part of the agreement in the Treaty of Paris was that thanks to a secret deal between Louis XV and his cousin Charles III of Spain the year before, France would give Louisiana (or the land west of the Mississippi River) to Spain. Spain then administered the territory from Havana, and while they tried their best to make the territory Spanish by sending Canarians there (and Louisiana today still has people descended from said Canarians called Isleños), their effort was usually fruitless as the majority preferred French. To gain land in Tuscany, Louisiana was returned to France in 1800, and of course would be purchased by the US in 1803. Shame the Acadians weren't mentioned as they're just as important to the history of the Maritimes. The Acadians are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia (now Atlantic Canada) during the 17th and 18th centuries. During the French and Indian War, British officers suspected that Acadians were aligned with France after finding some Acadians fighting, even though the majority were neutral. Despite this, the British worked together with New England militia to carry out the Great Expulsion which forcefully deported 11,500 of them, and one-third of them dying from disease or drowning. Many of them ended up getting recruited by the Spanish in Louisiana, thus developing the Cajun culture.

Montreal and Quebec City might seem far inland from a modern point of view, but at the time they were founded they would have been ocean front property for the purposes of transportation. Montreals position was dictated by geography: its as far up a river that gave easy access to the center of the continent. (A characteristic that it shares with New Orleans) Quebec City is where the river narrows enough for a single fortress to cover its entire width

Halifax was an also important pre-jet era port. Most ocean liners had their headquarters in Halifax like Titanic’s White Star line.

They may not be as populated as Ontario, Quebec, or BC, but Atlantic Canada is still proud of their culture, and it shows on their provincial flags! On the New Brunswick flag, the big lymphad evokes NB's historical shipbuilding industry and the ships utilized by numerous Loyalists to land in the province after they fled the US after the American Revolution. On the Newfoundland and Labrador flag, the flag design is that of etchings on Beothuk and Innu decorative pendants worn hung from a cord around the neck. Blue for water, white for snow, red for effort, gold for their confidence. Nova Scotia's flag represents their Scottish heritage, with the royal arms of Scotland in the middle and an inverted version of the Saint Andrew's Cross. And finally, PEI's flag has a large oak tree with three saplings. One for England, and the three represent the island's counties. Taken altogether, the trees tie in with the province's motto of Parva sub ingenti ("the small under the protection of the great". The three oak saplings are interpreted as the descendants of the British oak tree and are guarded by the British lion. Also, Atlantic Canada is home to the oldest city in Canada as Sir Humphrey Gilbert founded St. John's in Newfoundland in August 1583! The town of Harbour Grace also in Newfoundland was founded even earlier in 1517 by the French. And something else to note is that Newfoundland didn't join Canada until 1949

Great video Geoff! I really enjoy your channel. Two things; FYI during WW2 Halifax became Canada's main east coast port; mainly because of the U-Boats having a field day in the Gulf of St. Lawrence due to our sonar having a problem with the mixing of fresh and sea water. So we just shipped everything to Halifax by rail and the U-Boats had no targets. Second thing. Before 1959 (long before your time, but not mine) the St Lawrence was NOT navigable west of Montreal because of rapids. It was only when the St. Lawence Seaway project that opened in 1959, that opened the St. Lawrence up to the great lakes. I may be wrong, but I believe Toronto ships much more stuff every year than Montreal now. I was just back to Montreal last summer, and it seemed like the port was a shadow of what I remember it being when I was a kid. Also, when i was a kid growing up, Montreal was Canada's largest city. Now it's Toronto. Reason? When the Quebec legislature passed Bill 101 making French the working and only official language of Quebec, large companies that had been headquartered in Montreal simply relocated to Toronto, taking their workers with them.

As a Canadian living in Vancouver, I say Labrador is sparsely populated due to it's harsh climate and remoteness. There's only one road going in and out. In fact, it's so far away from my home, I'll probably never visit there in my lifetime.

You should do a video on why the Canadian Prairie is so much more Urban than the American Prairie. Just looking at Calgary and Edmonton it's weird that no city in Montana even comes close to their size.

During WW2 Halifax was an enormous port. Halifax was a major hub for everything needed and used for the war including the production of ocean vessels. Never underestimate Halifax's role as a major city or port.

Great Video Geoff. I happen to live in Newfoundland and there's 1 piece of information you forgot to mention, Newfoundland has not connection to either Labrador or Nova Scotia either by land or by bridge unlike PEI and the other Atlantic Provinces.

As a Maritimer living in Calgary I was a little dismayed over how quickly the history was glossed over with no mention of the Acadians, the expulsion of the Acadians, Halifax( The Warden of the North) and the sailing companies that shaped the business character of the region.

My dad, his friend, and I wanted to go to Labrador for vacations a few weeks before the wildfires in Quebec. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go there because we didn't have enough time. That might be a good thing, because we passed through Northern Quebec and Abitibi during our trip, the two regions where there are a lot of wildfires. I still dream of visiting Labrador one day.

Several years ago I went on a tour of Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick. Every moment was wonderful. It had so many beautiful spots and the people were very courteous and welcoming. And the lobster and salmon dinners!

I’ve lived in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. It’s beautiful land, scenery, with the ocean lending a moderating effect to our climate, not too hot or cold. There are areas of each province which get a lot of snow in winter, so lots of skiing and snowmobiling. Our cities are not overly large; you can find your way around, and everywhere there is a friendly feeling. The entire 4 Atlantic provinces are paradise in the summer. There is something to do everyday for tourists, from golfing to a strong music scene, but the best part of summer is just relaxing and enjoying the view.