[passing_by_and]

Bingo. Canada is empty. It has the second lowest population density in the world. Most land is owned by the crown and is simply parcelled out to the friends and family's of the ruling class.

Adding to that, you have some of the worst zoning and development practices in the modern world. Most of the country is simple a piggy bank for money laundering in the form of empty condo towers.

[Tiktaalik]

Canada is empty for a good reason. Explore around and you'll see why. Sheer mountain, muskeg and tundra.

Where people live are the places where it's reasonable to live. Everywhere else is misery or impossibility.

[passing_by_and]

The land is owned by the crown. In private hands it would be used productively. It has nothing to do with "misery or impossibility."

[Tiktaalik]

A great many people tried to use crown land in the past and gave up because it was useless bog too remote and not worth it. See: Haida Gwaii Naikoon. Cape Scott colony, and more.

When folks don't live somewhere, there's usually a reason, and it's usually "the land is terrible" not the government is forcing people to not use it.