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In the US, most people would consider the US East Coast as being more fast-paced and brash than the US West Coast. However, I think it is the reverse in Canada- that Canada's West Coast (Vancouver) is faster and more impersonal than the country's East Coast (Maritimes).
People in Maine are actually quite similar to people in NB, NS and PEI.
It's really when you get further south in New England closer to Boston that it becomes go-go-go.
I think part of the reason that Atlantic Canada is the way it is (compared to the west coast of Canada) is a lack of large-scale urbanization.
Consider that the largest metro by far in Atlantic Canada, Halifax, has just over 400,000 people. Vancouver has over 2 million and Boston's is twice the size of Vancouver.
Well... Canada's east coast is further east than the US east coast. If you're going to draw parallels, compare Eastern USA to Central Canada. Directly north of the USA's busiest eastern cities (Boston, NYC, DC, etc) is Ontario and Quebec, and really, it's really Toronto that's the busy career-centric city. And Montreal is its own unique situation - the cultural heartland of Quebec. But the region from Windsor Ontario to Quebec City is Canada's industrial heartland. So if you look at immediate north-south patterns, it fits. "Central Canada" is the Canadian equivalent of the US "Eastern Seaboard" and the rust belt (Cleveland, Detroit) combined. New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, etc. would be the American equivalent of Atlantic Canada. Atlantic Canada is much more rural and off the beaten track, hence its slower paced life.
Now, if you were to compare Vancouver to Toronto, Vancouver would appear less career-centric and more lifestyle-oriented than Toronto, which is really no different than comparing San Francisco to NYC or to Chicago. Comparing Vancouver to Halifax would definitely make Vancouver seem faster paced, but as Acajack mentioned, it's because you're comparing a city of 2 million to a city of 400,000. It would be like comparing Seattle and San Francisco to Portland, Maine and Manchester, New Hampshire. In that context, the US west coast is much more fast paced than the most north-eastern states.
Last edited by Robynator; 12-23-2009 at 09:50 AM..
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