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Charles St GRT terminal redevelopment
That is definitely not true. Waterloo Region is big, but Kitchener itself is certainly not the 4th largest city in Ontario unless Vaughan, Markham, Hamilton, Brampton and London have magically lost hundreds of thousands of people since the 2021 census. Kitchener only barely has over 250'000 people living there. Brampton is the 4th largest with over 659'000.
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(02-27-2024, 03:10 PM)Bytor Wrote:
(02-27-2024, 09:39 AM)westwardloo Wrote: If Kitchener was the largest city in the province we would have no problem getting our fair share, but we are barely in the top ten within Ontario. As a single city we would be the close to 4th largest with a real possibility of over taking both brampton & Mississauga within the next 2 decade for #3. 

Kitchener is the fourth largest population centre in Ontario, according to StatCan.

I also don't know that I believe that population is actually the main factor here.

Hamilton is larger than us even as a region and I think it probably gets much less attention than us.

London is only just barely behind us, and yet also gets far less attention than we do.

And Toronto and Ottawa are the biggest two cities, and yet the Ford government often treats them as enemies.

I suspect some combination of political and economic clout, future prospects, and the level of problematic conflict with the current government determines the amount of positive attention a city gets from a government.
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(02-27-2024, 03:10 PM)Bytor Wrote:
(02-27-2024, 09:39 AM)westwardloo Wrote: If Kitchener was the largest city in the province we would have no problem getting our fair share, but we are barely in the top ten within Ontario. As a single city we would be the close to 4th largest with a real possibility of over taking both brampton & Mississauga within the next 2 decade for #3. 

Kitchener is the fourth largest population centre in Ontario, according to StatCan.

Correct the KWC CMA is the fourth largest in Ontario and the tenth largest in Canada. People don't realize this as they are not considered to be one entity.
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(02-27-2024, 04:32 PM)neonjoe Wrote:
(02-27-2024, 03:10 PM)Bytor Wrote: Kitchener is the fourth largest population centre in Ontario, according to StatCan.

Correct the KWC CMA is the fourth largest in Ontario and the tenth largest in Canada. People don't realize this as they are not considered to be one entity.

Not sure what you mean by this. I suspect most people outside the region don’t really consider them separate. And the people inside are often in denial of what they know to be true (we are one region)
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(02-27-2024, 06:20 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(02-27-2024, 04:32 PM)neonjoe Wrote: Correct the KWC CMA is the fourth largest in Ontario and the tenth largest in Canada. People don't realize this as they are not considered to be one entity.

Not sure what you mean by this. I suspect most people outside the region don’t really consider them separate. And the people inside are often in denial of what they know to be true (we are one region)
Most people from outside of KW that I know who only come here occasionally believe that we are just a small town because they see the population sign on the highway. Outside of the circles of those in the profession or those interested in urban issues people are quite ambivalent to things such as cities and sizes.
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I'm sure that most people across the entire country are pretty ambivalent about the population of any particular community, whether it's one that they live in, or one that they pass through or visit. I doubt that if we magically expanded boundaries to make Waterloo Region, and Guelph just because we can, one big municipality just to climb the ranks of "biggest municipalities in Ontario" that the new municipality would suddenly have politicians and corporations beating a path to our door any more than they are now.
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(02-27-2024, 06:20 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(02-27-2024, 04:32 PM)neonjoe Wrote: Correct the KWC CMA is the fourth largest in Ontario and the tenth largest in Canada. People don't realize this as they are not considered to be one entity.

Not sure what you mean by this. I suspect most people outside the region don’t really consider them separate. And the people inside are often in denial of what they know to be true (we are one region)

In my experience, most people would lump together KW, Guelph, Peterborough, Kingston, etc, as similarly-sized university towns. No one in Toronto has any clue that KW is far larger, or that Cambridge is in any way connected to KW.

Pointing out the Kitchener metro population is about as close to Edmonton as it is to Peterborough has only ever gotten me totally shocked responses.

Certainly most people I know outside this area consider it to be far smaller than somewhere like Hamilton or London.
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(02-26-2024, 03:19 PM)ac3r Wrote: Will that ever happen, though? It gets brought up seemingly each year, but the vast majority of people politicians hate the idea. It would be a hard sell.

Fixed that for you.
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(03-01-2024, 08:02 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(02-26-2024, 03:19 PM)ac3r Wrote: Will that ever happen, though? It gets brought up seemingly each year, but the vast majority of people  Local politicians hate the idea. It would be a hard sell.

Fixed that for you.

Fixed that for you.
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(02-29-2024, 04:00 PM)taylortbb Wrote:
(02-27-2024, 06:20 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Not sure what you mean by this. I suspect most people outside the region don’t really consider them separate. And the people inside are often in denial of what they know to be true (we are one region)

In my experience, most people would lump together KW, Guelph, Peterborough, Kingston, etc, as similarly-sized university towns. No one in Toronto has any clue that KW is far larger, or that Cambridge is in any way connected to KW.

Pointing out the Kitchener metro population is about as close to Edmonton as it is to Peterborough has only ever gotten me totally shocked responses.

Certainly most people I know outside this area consider it to be far smaller than somewhere like Hamilton or London.
This is certainly my experience living in various Provinces or in Ottawa. People know London and Hamilton. The only reason people might know our region is because of the University of Waterloo and they definitely act surprised when I tell them there are 600,000 people living in the area.
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And for likely the same reason that other cities in Ontario fly under the radar (I'm looking at you Brampton, Oshawa etc). London in 90 minutes away from the next closest municipality (us) while we're in a constellation of medium sized communities within less than an hours drive that includes places like Brantford, Guelph, Burlington and Hamilton. Despite what local boosters might like to believe, I don't think that Waterloo Region will ever become big enough in population or reputation to eclipse anyone else in the GTA (or GTHA) to become second place to Toronto for prominence.
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I could see us us being more well known in the world than Mississauga, but only because we have a unique technology and financial based economy and reputable universities whereas Mississauga is...something. Apart from those of us Ontario, I don't think most people know them. The only time I've ever heard them mentioned in mass media it was on one of those goofy left wing late night talk shows - possibly John Oliver or Colbert - who naturally mangled the pronunciation.
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(03-01-2024, 06:19 PM)ac3r Wrote: I could see us us being more well known in the world than Mississauga, but only because we have a unique technology and financial based economy and reputable universities whereas Mississauga is...something. Apart from those of us Ontario, I don't think most people know them. The only time I've ever heard them mentioned in mass media it was on one of those goofy left wing late night talk shows - possibly John Oliver or Colbert - who naturally mangled the pronunciation.
The funny thing about Mississauga is that a ton of my American relatives know about it. It seems that each of their companies has a Canadian head office there.
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