[perardi]

So, so many reasons that it can’t simply be summed up, as there is no simple answer, though “big cities have network effects” is close enough. Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, those are the tech and oil and finance centers, and people want to be near there.

But also: yes, Canada is big. Canada will also kill you real good and hard in most places. There’s a tremendous amount of land, and a lot of it is very very cold, and you really, really don’t want to live there.

[dangitdangitdan]

Most of inland Canada is not too cold, accessibility is the problem.

Yakutsk pop. 311,760

Omsk pop. 1,172,070

Harbin pop. 6,976,136

The maritimes are sparsely populated and have even milder weather.

If the will were there to build the necessary road and rail infrastructure, Canada could support a much, much larger population.

[red-iron-pine]

> not too cold

bollocks, it's plenty cold

> accessibility

...is a function of, among other things, weather. much of geography is also very problematic; huge portions of the country are marshes that are dicey to build on, while other parts are mountains, and often in rain-shadows

> maritimes

...don't have any jobs. the fisheries are dying and climate change is driving that, on top of excess demand collapsing fish populations. the offshore oil platforms are dead too; those guys became Alberta roughnecks.

What service companies there are in CAN have followed suit with the US and demanded all of their workers go back to the office.

Yeah it's sparse but there are no jobs and no ability to move there -- non-starter of an idea. And "milder" weather is still quite cold by most of the world standards.