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I agree with this. Even though I'm much closer to Montreal than most, when I lived in the Boston area, Montreal was essentially THE Canadian city due to proximity and I would even say a bit of a kinship (fights at Habs/Bruins games notwithstanding ). From a Bostonian perspective, Montreal feels quite different yet oddly familiar.
Misread the question, so I’d agree almost no American would first associate Canada with Ottawa unless you deal with US Canada politics. In the US as a whole country it’s easily Toronto, in Asia it’s more likely Vancouver and in Europe perhaps Montreal.
If I were to guess within distinct regions of the US, perhaps in the mid Atlantic and New England you’d have equally as many people associate Canada with Montreal as Toronto? Similarly in the west coast of the US as many would think of Vancouver as TO. The rest of the country though I can’t see either city being more well known.
In my experiences, even Americans who can name some cities in Canada, don't know Ottawa. They think Toronto is the capital of Canada.
Ok, perhaps I am not a typical American, but I really like Ottawa, though it has only really been a stopover for me on the way to Algonquin and other points north and west.
I think it is in a really nice setting on the river and I would love to visit in the winter. I have really been getting into nordic skating and would love to skate the Rideau canal.
Its certainly much more important to Americans than Montreal or Vancouver.
Other than the Blue Jays and the Raptors, what would any American know about Toronto? It’s not a tourist destination. Canadian corporations headquartered there aren’t household names in the US. For a city that’s now bigger than Chicago, it’s pretty invisible in the United States.
I think the reference was to the movie industry where Vancouver is a big player. Video special effects and animation is a huge employer.
I suppose, though the impact of this in terms of the city's visiblity in the U.S. would be...?
I don't think people in Iowa watching a movie or show on Netflix, or a Hallmark Christmas movie are looking up the filming locations.
And of course basically zero of these productions are actually set in Vancouver.
So 99.99% of the people watching just assume it's set in some random place in the U.S. They even pepper the (Vancouver) streetscapes with random American flags, just to make sure.
Last winter I was skating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa and stumbled onto a movie set with a stage and all sorts of American flags and election signs. Turns out they were filming the movie "Fatman" starring Mel Gibson.
Other than the Blue Jays and the Raptors, what would any American know about Toronto? It’s not a tourist destination. Canadian corporations headquartered there aren’t household names in the US. For a city that’s now bigger than Chicago, it’s pretty invisible in the United States.
I generally agree, though Toronto is (or at least was prior to the pandemic) a pretty major tourist destination for Americans from the Great Lakes region, Midwest and western NY.
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). From a Bostonian perspective, Montreal feels quite different yet oddly familiar.
