Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > Canada > Ottawa-Gatineau
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
 
Old 01-23-2018, 07:55 PM
 
Location: Boston, MA
3,961 posts, read 5,702,373 times
Reputation: 4709

Advertisements

I am surprised at times that Canada's national capital never declared that as the national capitals of many other nations (U.S., China, Mexico, etc.) are its own district. Why is that so? Being a separate district, the Ottawa government can easily enact laws and regulations entirely separate from Ontario Province. Isn't that a good thing?
Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-23-2018, 08:43 PM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,759 posts, read 37,656,929 times
Reputation: 11527
It's not really up to Ottawa to decide. Municipalities are creatures of the provinces so Ottawa would have to agree to it. Ontario would lose its second-biggest city and second source of revenue.

Of course, to really make it work you'd have to include Gatineau too. You have the same issues as Ottawa (Gatineau is the third metro area of Quebec) plus it would be even more politically sensitive. It's actually illegal for the Quebec government to cede territory to the feds or any other province.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-23-2018, 11:09 PM
 
Location: Alberta, Canada
3,594 posts, read 3,332,372 times
Reputation: 5456
Quote:
Originally Posted by Urban Peasant View Post
I am surprised at times that Canada's national capital never declared that as the national capitals of many other nations (U.S., China, Mexico, etc.) are its own district. Why is that so? Being a separate district, the Ottawa government can easily enact laws and regulations entirely separate from Ontario Province. Isn't that a good thing?
Problem is that Canada's constitution makes no mention of "municipal districts." Under the constitution, only the federal government and the provinces have any jurisdiction (see ss. 91-95 of the Constitution). Acajack is quite correct when he states that municipalities are constituted under provincial law (see Constitution s. 92(8)), and as such, Ottawa cannot declare itself its own district.

In short, it would take a constitutional amendment before Ottawa could become a self-governing district like Washington DC or Canberra ACT.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-24-2018, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,759 posts, read 37,656,929 times
Reputation: 11527
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChevySpoons View Post
Problem is that Canada's constitution makes no mention of "municipal districts." Under the constitution, only the federal government and the provinces have any jurisdiction (see ss. 91-95 of the Constitution). Acajack is quite correct when he states that municipalities are constituted under provincial law (see Constitution s. 92(8)), and as such, Ottawa cannot declare itself its own district.

In short, it would take a constitutional amendment before Ottawa could become a self-governing district like Washington DC or Canberra ACT.
Thanks. BTW my first sentence should have read "so Ontario would have to agree to it". But you already knew that I am sure...
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-27-2018, 11:14 PM
BMI
 
Location: Ontario
7,456 posts, read 7,210,605 times
Reputation: 6120
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
Thanks. BTW my first sentence should have read "so Ontario would have to agree to it". But you already knew that I am sure...
Could have/should have been done at time of confederation.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-10-2018, 09:14 PM
 
518 posts, read 391,520 times
Reputation: 470
You should know there was a capital fight between Montréal and Toronto back then and both Québec and Ontario wanted to have the capital, in the end they agreed on Ottawa because it's at the Québec/Ontario border, ultimately still in Ontario. So Ontario would never agree for Ottawa to become a separate district.
Also Ottawa as a separate district, wouldn't be so complete, because Gatineau is left out. And just as Ontario, Québec would never agree to let Gatineau go.

Also Ottawa has less than 1 million inhabitants, so it does not really deserve to become a district.
Furthermore, Canada is for equal federalism, so if Ottawa became a district, wouldn't it be in a province anymore? That would make Ottawa more special than other cities, besides its capital status, that would be unacceptable for the other Canadian cities. If no Québécois city can have a special status, so no other Canadian should have one. Also Washington as a special district is distorting for American federalism (no equality of federal states anymore as one district stands out). It's not the purpose of federalism to have a special capital district. In Germany, Berlin for example is a federal state and one of only two cities to be one city-federal states, but all German federal states are equal and have no special status.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2019, 08:48 PM
 
Location: Toronto, ON.
35 posts, read 35,271 times
Reputation: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by QuebecOpec View Post
\
Also Ottawa has less than 1 million inhabitants...
Mute point. You make it sound like they are a far cry from a million in fact there are approximately 950K.


Quote:
Originally Posted by QuebecOpec View Post
\
Also Washington as a special district is distorting for American federalism (no equality of federal states anymore as one district stands out).
Not true. DC is very much accepted as the federal capital reason based on my days living in the US. If you can support your statements I'd love to hear it! lol
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-13-2019, 11:58 AM
 
518 posts, read 391,520 times
Reputation: 470
Quote:
Originally Posted by 40roller View Post
Mute point. You make it sound like they are a far cry from a million in fact there are approximately 950K.


Ottawa has 950 000 on 2778 km²!!!

Vancouver has 630 000 on 115km²,
Ottawa's city limits are 24x greater than the one of Vancouver.

Any North American city with 300 000 inhabitants could simply incorporate its entire surrounding region and artificially bolster up its number of inhabitants and become officially as large as Ottawa.

Ottawa is basically a city-region; it feels like a 300 000 city and is actually far far below a real 1 million inhabitants city.


Quote:
Originally Posted by 40roller View Post
Not true. DC is very much accepted as the federal capital reason based on my days living in the US. If you can support your statements I'd love to hear it! lol

It does not surprise me, that the inhabitants of the industrialized world's most unequal nation are supportive of their own inequality, even in federal structures....




+ It seems like you were in the East Coast or in the Chicago / North-East America corridor.
Actually, in the Bible Belt, Central North America and the regions where there are the most Trump supporters, lots of people don't like Washington.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-13-2019, 03:25 PM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,759 posts, read 37,656,929 times
Reputation: 11527
I don't think population, population density or land area have anything to do with the suitability of having a capital district or territory.


Canberra, Australia is smaller than Ottawa in population, area and density and it is own capital territory.


The District of Columbia has 200,000 fewer people than the City of Ottawa.


Timmins, Ontario is about 2000 km2 in area.


Westmount and Côte-St-Luc are tiny in size but have high population density: 5000 people/km2.


What will prevent Ottawa (and also Gatineau) from ever becoming a district of any kind is politics.
Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-17-2019, 08:22 PM
 
Location: Toronto, ON.
35 posts, read 35,271 times
Reputation: 30
Quote:
Originally Posted by QuebecOpec View Post
Ottawa has 950 000 on 2778 km²!!!

Vancouver has 630 000 on 115km²,
Ottawa's city limits are 24x greater than the one of Vancouver.

Any North American city with 300 000 inhabitants could simply incorporate its entire surrounding region and artificially bolster up its number of inhabitants and become officially as large as Ottawa.

Ottawa is basically a city-region; it feels like a 300 000 city and is actually far far below a real 1 million inhabitants city.

.

Actually few a few NA cities do incorporate. Look at Pittsburgh for example, it's CMA is listed at around 2.3 Million and has a massive land area to boot. While Pittsburgh is a nice city, it is hardly an imposing place or imposing in stature.


Not going to split hairs over Ottawa's urban Ontario population but we both know it's just a shade under a million so cut the bull****.






Quote:
Originally Posted by QuebecOpec View Post



It does not surprise me, that the inhabitants of the industrialized world's most unequal nation are supportive of their own inequality, even in federal structures....


.

I detect a little US bashing here. Your comments are rich which don't surprise me really. You represent Quebecers to a tee. lol

Quote:
Originally Posted by QuebecOpec View Post

+ It seems like you were in the East Coast or in the Chicago / North-East America corridor.
Actually, in the Bible Belt, Central North America and the regions where there are the most Trump supporters, lots of people don't like Washington.

"It seems"?? lol Ya ok. Like the perception I gave was that I lived in the Bible Belt or Chicago? You are dead wrong actually. Try California!! lol
Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


 
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:
Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > Canada > Ottawa-Gatineau

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top