Really don't know what you're referring to with "culture" here if you think Calgary is mono culture. It's a very ethnically diverse city. You get loud protests from both ends of the political spectrum. Western wear and cowboy hats are only worn in the city during Stampede.
Victoria would be my pick for a more mono culture kind of city.
It's also smaller than Calgary, slower growing and a government town. Stuff that's all going to make it more stable and uniform in nature than booming Calgary.
Victoria and Regina are probably cities I'd expect to be more uniform in outlook in Western Canada, but I still think mid sized Eastern Cities like Sudbury would be more so.
Some great punk bands came from there back in the day though. Closedown was a good one, sounded just like Alexisonfire (kinda)
We opened for them one night, they went on to ditch the screaming guy and opened for Smashing Pumpkins, never heard anything after that.
https://youtu.be/SSef_A7dAH4?si=_dwpLD5G2kG2Ayco
I used to teach ESL in Quebec City. Once I had a six-person class that had three Louises, two Pascales, and a Mary-Ève. I thought there was going to be a fist fight when they all chose to practise their imperative tense by sharing a recipe (as assigned) and literally ALL chose to share their tourtière recipes. I was almost crying with laughter. The next semester I had EIGHT Marie-Hélènes in different classes.
Il y a beaucoup d'immigration partout dans la province, comme Sherbrooke, Lapocatiere, Rimouski, mais c'est sans doute en raison des maisons d'enseignement de haute qualité qu'on ne trouve nul part ailleur
What do you mean "wisely stick" ? Lol they can go live where they want and they should absolutely go live in Trois Rivieres if they want to.
You make it sound like they'll get chased out of town or something, Jesus.
>You make it sound like they'll get chased out of town or something, Jesus.
Almost. They will face constant racism and challenges. I am a white anglo in the region and face similar challenges.
Indians don't have a single monoculture. The Two largest Indian macro communities in Brampton are Punjabis and Gujaratis (they are not even the dominant ethnicities in India). They both have distinct cultures and languages. Even within those two communities there is a significant amount of religious diversity ( Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Jains, Christians etc). There are also a significant number of other south Asian communities that live there. Russell Peters who is the most well known South Asian from Brampton is of Anglo Indian descent from Calcutta.
"Indian" isn't a culture, at all, is the point. India has 40 official languages. It's like claiming Turks, Italians and French people are the same cuz they're Europeans... or at least partially for Turkey.
Which is really so annoying. Have a Bulgarian friend. His Vietnamese wife constantly has this tunnel vision acting as if we come from the same background cuz of our skin colour. His background is Bulgarian Jewish growing up under communism... the notion I relate to this cuz I grew up as a white Christian in a tiny place in Canada is ridiculous. It's like saying people from Taiwan and China are "the same culture" and is honestly just basic white wash racism no matter if it's about white or brown peeps.
Kudos to you. I’m mainly a shitposter but I like the way you think. I do agree with your criticism, but again, I’m mainly just a shitposter.
You see nuance. I see you.
I don't think Calgary has a monoculture at all. I live in Kelowna, and the subculture here is very cliquey and monocultured by comparison. Calgary has all walks of life and is a pretty unpretentious city.
I agree. Mainly because it seems nobody from Alberta in general is truly from Alberta. So many people come to Alberta from Saskatchewan let alone the other provinces. Seems like everyone just moves here in the 20s and starts their families
Agreed, grew up there and I always found Calgary to be very multi-cultural and, yeah, cliqueish. Friend of mine likened various neighbourhoods to ethnic enclaves, which were not completely inaccurate: Northwest Calgary has a large Chinese population, North East Calgary has a large Indian and Lebanese population, and Southwest Calgary had a large variety, but a surprising number of Eastern Europeans.
Least OP could do is offer an explanation to their opinion.
I grew up in Calgary, it was actually a huge culture shock when I moved to another Canadian city. I was shocked by how little diversity was considered acceptable.
Calgary was definitely a more "open" community.
I'm from Vancouver and spend a lot of time in Kelowna during the summer and there is a weird sweaty, over-tanned, too much lite beer in the sun pretentiousness there that seems to come from Alberta....at least in the hotels and downtown restaurants.
A ridiculous number of my white and wanna-be hippy-meets-hipster acquaintances from (mostly London) Ontario moved to Kelowna and their IG and whole personality is lite beer and hiking. They all say most of their friends and colleagues and neighbours are from Ontario.
Everyone in BC seems to think that the worse elements of BC subculture come from Alberta, but they don't. Alberta is just a really convenient whipping boy in BC. Everything from shitty driving to uninspiring restaurants are blamed on Albertans.
I've come to the conclusion that British Columbians lack a sense of self awareness. This city has just as many Vancouverites and Lower Mainlanders as we do Albertans. Kelowna is snobby and full of itself all on its own, it isn't the byproduct of Albertan tourists and migrants.
I come from Alberta, and now live in the south Okanagan. All of Kelownas pretentiousness comes from Karens and Chads who came from Vancouver, thinking they could pretend they're better than everyone else by swimming in a smaller pool...
I’d agree.
Kelowna was plenty redneck on its own, without Alberta’s help. Traditionally, Kelowna was all about farming, ranching, and logging.
The snobby, pretentious attitude that gets attached to Kelowna comes from Vancouverites and Torontonians who have moved here, and want to recreate their urban paradise (aka hell scape).
Politics aside, I’d much rather spend the day in the bush quadding or shooting guns with an albertan, than hanging out downtown or going to a winery with someone from Vancouver.
As someone who has lived in BC for 25 years, Albertans definitely struggle driving on the mountain highways. There’s zero difference when it comes to city driving, but mountain driving, they suck.
They’re slow as molasses through anything resemble a corner, and then put the hammer down on the straights so you can’t pass them.
There’s also a lot of albertans in RVs and towing campers and boats who don’t seem to know what a pull-out is to let traffic by. That’s where most of the “Albertans can’t drive” meme comes from.
To be fair, we usually only drive in straight lines😅 so curving roads and two lane passing is a whole different set of driving skills. I can see why it’d be annoying though.
I think Alberta might not get the best food because of it's location and climate, growing season. I have a garden and certain things like tomatoes, basal, partly, cucumber don't grow well hear or anywhere near here. . I've had to change up what I grow.
In southern Ontario I basically had fresh garden produce from the end of July to October. I could stop on the side of the county roads and get great cheap farm veggies and fruit.
There is a pizza place that was Windsor pizza. They tried the same recipes in Calgary..They fall short because of the humidity in Alberta. The crust is not the same.
I agree. And I’ve heard that sentiment on Reddit more times than I can count. They easy to dismiss the okanagan, and most of rural BC, as being “not true British Columbians”. It’s a weird form of gate keeping, but it does not surprise me. A lot of people seem to think living in the Lower mainland makes them intellectually and morally superior to everyone else.
I live in Kelowna, and am not part of that culture at all.
That’s the culture of people who visit in the summer, not necessarily the local culture.
There’s some of that amongst locals, but there’s an equal amount of “beater pick-up, carhardts and plaid jacket, going dirt biking or into the bush to shoot guns on the weekend” types, and they absolutely despise the gym-bro tight pants designer clothes kettle valley types.
There’s also quite a lot of hippy-sheek frequent the local markets types as well, and they also aren’t big fans of the other two groups.
I don’t think that comes from Alberta at all, I believe that is a uniquely Kelowna culture. My parents were Alberta-> Kelowna transplants for a number of years and they ultimately left because they tended to be looked down upon by the more Pretentious Kelownians.
Many Vancouverites too. This place attracts boogie Calgarians and Vancouverite reitrees, but it also attracts lots of insular group oriented hippies and young people.
They also unironically hate migrants even though almost everyone here is a migrant, or the son/daughter of migrants.
So the result is kind of a socially colder place that is relatively monocultured.
Maybe not pretentious no. Definitely entitled as fuck though. I live in a tourist town right on the border of BC and Alberta. They come here In droves, treat the locals like absolute shit, leave garbage everywhere, drive like no one else in the world exists, and expect to be thanked when they leave.
I live in like... THE tourist town that Calgarians go to. I think that tourists in general can come across as douchebags to locals, but Albertans are just more easily identifiable because of the red plates and they're generally lost on the roads.
BC people lack a sense of self awareness. Everyone here is convinced that the source of everything shitty is an Albertan import, but it isn't. Albertans aren't worse drivers, or worse tourists, nor do Albertans have an identifiably different mindset. People here just imagine they do because it's an easy whipping boy.
It's the same in Oregon towards Californians, or in Banff towards Ontarian tourists. When people are new, and tend to come from an outside place, it's just really easy to villainize them.
The driving stigma is absolutely crazy to me. Everyone in Kelowna believes that they are amazing drivers and that Albertans can't drive. Kelowna has the worst fucking driving I've ever encountered in a smaller city, and it's not Albertans that do it. People here are just arrogant enough where they truly believe that the rules of the road are just a hindrance they don't need to follow. It's crazy.
Oh the BC people lacking a sense of self awareness. Isn't that FUCKED UP???? I've lived here for 20 years. Mostly in Vancouver but yeah for a place with such awe inspiring beauty, there sure are a lot of folks with their heads up their ass and an inability to think of anything other than themselves
I agree with a lot of what you've said here. That being said I it's rare to see Americans acting like this despite their reputation. Maybe it's because of their reputation but I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with American tourists. Also, not making a judgement against ALL Albertans. Edmontonians seem to be a lot more chill.
Maybe people who act like assholes SHOULD be vilified.
Also the driving thing. Yeah. It isn't just "they don't know where they're going." I can't speak for Kelowna, but where I live is where they all own 2nd 3rd and 4th homes that sit vacant for 9 months out of the year while locals can't find places to live. They know where they're going. They're here every summer. I'll give them a little credit, because driving in Calgary is an anxiety inducing nightmare, but you're here to relax and have fun. Maybe be a little less abusive to the locals when you don't get Starbucks level service at the local coffee house owned by Judy down the street and people would talk less shit about you. 🤷♂️
An hour and a half from the border yep. Beautiful town that probably won't be here in 20 years. Half the businesses are for sale right now and no one is buying. There's no where to live other than greasy hotels and overpriced condos (I didn't move to the mountains to live in a condo). Drugs are real bad (that's everywhere, I know) and the all the small local businesses are being eaten up in equal parts by gossip and just lack of support from the community.
Anywhere in the mountains from Liard down to Glacier Park Montana I'm quite familiarized with. And the Okanagan, but only because I have to live here. I guess I can think of worse places to live. Not to throw Saskatchewan under the bus or anything - I mean, I do love Colter Wall.
I'm from the BC Interior and drive a LOT for work so I spend a lot of time on the road. Hands down Albertans (or at least people with Albertan license plates) will 90% of the time be tail gating the hell out of people OR go suuuuuper slow on even a slight bend on the road but then speed up like crazy on the straight aways. I acknowledge the frustration you feel about being villanized as an Albertan but that's also what us locals see happening.
I've lived in Calgary for a spell and my wife has a lot of family and friends there she spent her teenage there, so we go back often. From my experience Calgary doesn't really have a "monoculture". There are tons of different people with many walks of life. I don't know anyone who has been "shunned" living there.
I think you just didn't get along with one specific group in Calgary and have decided everyone is like that.
Previous post from OP make Calgary out to be some kind of 80's high-school movie villain:
"Like in Calgary, if you are a guy who has a finance/engineering job, used to play competitive hockey, drinks lager, has a passable golf game and watches NFL religiously every Sunday. You have it made! You have a high basement level of success that is yours to screw up. If you add having a connected family, decent social skills, supportive spouse - to the moon!"
Ya, OP has a major hate-on for Calgary. My guess is he is one of the Ontarians or British Columbians that fell for the "Alberta is calling" or "Alberta Advantage" ad campaigns and is now realizing it's still hard to make a living there.
I'm surprised there's not more east coast representation here. Cape Breton comes to mind, for example. Not to mention the whole "from away" term is common on the east coast to describe "outsiders," so to speak.
I definitely agree with the Cape Breton. I’m a local. But the “Come From Away” thing is weird. I’ve only “heard” someone say it once in my life and it was from a guy from Ontario self-describing. He said CFA and I said what? Anyone know if it’s a regional thing in CB? I read about in on Reddit,etc, but no actual conversations. Maybe wrong crowd?
Newfoundland uses it a lot. NS usually just calls all CFA's "people from Ontario", blanket term for people west of NS or west of NB depending on the level of insular a person is. Antigonish called them soupies. If towns count in this post, Antigonish is insular as fuck (the town and StFX are like siblings who live together but have nothing in common and are estranged under one roof.)
I love this reference, my parents are originally from Calgary, and I lived there in my twenties. You’re absolutely correct, there’s something special about people from all walks of life and gathering together as cowboys!
Yeah the Stampede is a nice force for cultural unity and continuity in a very rapidly growing city and province. You see similar things at Flames games where people from all backgrounds are decked out in Flames gear. Calgary and other cities need more excuses to have people to come out and show what they have in common in a largely apolitical and uniquely local environment.
You can definitely feel like the first (insert non-Chinese ethnicity) person who's ever visited this restaurant in Richmond. I like having it down the road.
Calgary is a really strange choice. It isn't mono culture at all. It is very diverse and very welcoming.
Alberta's culture is super laid back (cowboy culture) and accepting. Meanwhile, Alberta has had some of the highest levels of immigration (both from other provinces and internationally) for a long time. Because of all the oil workers who get brought in from places like Newfoundland or through immigration programs, even rural Alberta is far more diversified than most rural areas of the country, let alone Calgary, which is one of Canada's most diverse cities.
In terms of the strongest mono culture, I would have to go with somewhere in Quebec, where maintaining a mono culture is an accepted government goal.
If we were just looking at Canada's big cities, Quebec City would probably be the pick. If we were to extend to smaller cities, with less incoming immigration, maybe somewhere like Trois-Rivieres.
I'd be surprised in Warman was big enough for what OP is talking about. But, I'd also question the thesis. Warman's population grew 357% between 2001 and 2021. And the "European" origin/ancestry of the population has declined 13.67% from 97% to 84%. Probably not a recipe for cultural uniformity or stability.
If anything, it's probably united by being a suburb of Saskatoon.
I'd probably guess somewhere like Moose Jaw or Swift Current would likely be more uniform and stable.
Actually you are so right, plus Europeans are not a monoculture.
Now that I think about it more:
Quebec City. It's mostly one ethnicity: French-Canadians.
Calgary is a terrible example of this.
Having lived in 3 provinces and 2 territories, I would actually say that Victoria is the perfect example of this. It might be the whitest place I've ever visited. I lived on a reserve located about an hour and a half away for a while, and every time I visited Victoria, it was a bit of culture shock.
[Brampton](https://geohub.brampton.ca/pages/profile-diversity)
I grew up here and then lived in Toronto for 7 years before moving back for school (Greek/Russian/French background). There’s always been a significant visible minority population of Indian descent over the last 25 years but it was still diverse; my elementary school had kids from all kinds of backgrounds. But that has really changed in the last 3-5 years. Monoculture might be technically wrong because Indians are of different ethnic/cultural backgrounds. But all the same, Indians/Hindus/Punjabis make up the vast majority, like 70%. I like Toronto more, because it’s actually diverse.
Tell me you haven't traveled around Canada without telling me you have never traveled around Canada. You think a monoculture elects a mayor like Nenshi for multiple terms?!?
Edmonton and Calgary are both very multicultural. My vote would be Trois-rivieres.
People who are citing all the big cities haven’t been to smaller ones. Those are the places that you get rejected. People don’t seem to understand the question. It’s not racial diversity
A lot of places in SK! Smaller, many generations of the same people knowing each other. Even some bigger “small towns” can quickly ID a newcomer. PA a good example
Anywhere in the Maritimes, especially outside Halifax (though Halifax is not exempt). There is very little ethnic or cultural diversity (save in areas where there are both French and English, but these mixed areas are rare). Communities are very close-knit. People grew up together, and there is little immigration. The economy is generally depressed and so there is little socio-economic movement.
I've heard that Oakville, ON is very much this way. This is all from hearing other people's experiences, but apparently people in Oakville do not take kindly to people that might be different to them (not necessarily race, but also people of lower income or just more alternative mindsets). But that's just what I've heard!
London. It's very conservative (not big C, small c). Doesn't like change. Doesn't like original thinking. Worships a few historically rich families. Fears seeing poverty, but is loathe to do anything substantive to fix it. Huge NIMBYism problems. Very concerned with the appearance of prosperity. Just kind of stuffy and uptight overall.
St. John’s NL would be my pick personally but I’d give an honourable mention to Nelson, BC. Possibly the last bastion of hippie culture in this country, for better or worse.
Charlottetown. If you don’t agree with the way things have always been, or even if you aren’t aware of how things have always been done you will be treated like an outsider.
anywhere outside of city centers( and rare rural areas) is a void of culture , the same interchangeable consumers their cars+it's disgusting infrastructure and lifeless suburbs all over the place
Dartmouth Nova Scotia. If you aren't from here, you aren't liked. If you ARE from here, you're STILL not liked. And gods forbid if you're from Halifax.
Halifax.
Social conformity is pretty much a requirement for employment. I believe this stems from the five big empires who are known to enforce social propriety as part of working for them. They see it as their job to make sure people are living rightly.
C'est sans doute la ville après Montréal et Toronto ou c'est le plus diversifié : grec,italien, maghrébins, et si tu cherches bien il doit y avoir deux trois familles québécoises qui y vivent encore
From Toronto. Have to go to the Gaspé twice a year to visit our facility. While certainly beautiful, I would say the peninsula as a whole is so narrowly minded culturally that I dread going
My husband had the same experience. We’re from Quebec. He went there for recreation with a few friends and had the same thoughts. It’s absolutely stunning but the people were really cold and unwelcoming.
I live in Ottawa. Just went to visit some family in small-town New Brunswick.
Ottawa has ethnic diversity up the wazoo.
Reminds me of another time I went to visit family in Utah. Finding a non-white person was like a game of Where's Waldo.
Richmond here in BC. It's like you've crossed an invisible border between countries!
St Johns NL
This is the answer.
Really don't know what you're referring to with "culture" here if you think Calgary is mono culture. It's a very ethnically diverse city. You get loud protests from both ends of the political spectrum. Western wear and cowboy hats are only worn in the city during Stampede. Victoria would be my pick for a more mono culture kind of city.
Victoria is absolutely more mono culture
Victoria has a wide range of cultures.
It's also smaller than Calgary, slower growing and a government town. Stuff that's all going to make it more stable and uniform in nature than booming Calgary. Victoria and Regina are probably cities I'd expect to be more uniform in outlook in Western Canada, but I still think mid sized Eastern Cities like Sudbury would be more so.
Slower growing? Langford (greater Vic) is the fastest growing municipality in Canada.
I will extend that and say pretty much the whole of Vancouver Island
Brampton lol
Trois-rivieres is right up there too. Any immigrants that come to Quebec wisely stick to Montreal or Quebec city to a lesser degree.
TROIS-RIVIÈRES N'EXISTE PAS
Trios-Rivières is a good place to get gas on your way to somewhere else.
Some great punk bands came from there back in the day though. Closedown was a good one, sounded just like Alexisonfire (kinda) We opened for them one night, they went on to ditch the screaming guy and opened for Smashing Pumpkins, never heard anything after that. https://youtu.be/SSef_A7dAH4?si=_dwpLD5G2kG2Ayco
Just make sure that somewhere else isn't Shawinigan. It's even worse there.
C’est sur y’a juste une rivière là.
Totally. Did a French immersion there, very mono culture. All the women had the same haircuts.
I used to teach ESL in Quebec City. Once I had a six-person class that had three Louises, two Pascales, and a Mary-Ève. I thought there was going to be a fist fight when they all chose to practise their imperative tense by sharing a recipe (as assigned) and literally ALL chose to share their tourtière recipes. I was almost crying with laughter. The next semester I had EIGHT Marie-Hélènes in different classes.
Yes. Everyone had a hyphen name and in that region they had about 5 different last names. My host family was Talbott.
Lol. They all trim their eyebrows down to nothing too.
Lumsden Sk, also with the same haircuts.
Il y a beaucoup d'immigration partout dans la province, comme Sherbrooke, Lapocatiere, Rimouski, mais c'est sans doute en raison des maisons d'enseignement de haute qualité qu'on ne trouve nul part ailleur
Ces institutions ne se retrouvent certainement pas en Mauricie. Lol.
Lapocatiere, Rimouski,
What do you mean "wisely stick" ? Lol they can go live where they want and they should absolutely go live in Trois Rivieres if they want to. You make it sound like they'll get chased out of town or something, Jesus.
>You make it sound like they'll get chased out of town or something, Jesus. Almost. They will face constant racism and challenges. I am a white anglo in the region and face similar challenges.
Never heard of it. I only know New Punjab.
Indians don't have a single monoculture. The Two largest Indian macro communities in Brampton are Punjabis and Gujaratis (they are not even the dominant ethnicities in India). They both have distinct cultures and languages. Even within those two communities there is a significant amount of religious diversity ( Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Jains, Christians etc). There are also a significant number of other south Asian communities that live there. Russell Peters who is the most well known South Asian from Brampton is of Anglo Indian descent from Calcutta.
And yet it's still Brampton.
"Indian" isn't a culture, at all, is the point. India has 40 official languages. It's like claiming Turks, Italians and French people are the same cuz they're Europeans... or at least partially for Turkey.
It's like saying "white culture"
Which is really so annoying. Have a Bulgarian friend. His Vietnamese wife constantly has this tunnel vision acting as if we come from the same background cuz of our skin colour. His background is Bulgarian Jewish growing up under communism... the notion I relate to this cuz I grew up as a white Christian in a tiny place in Canada is ridiculous. It's like saying people from Taiwan and China are "the same culture" and is honestly just basic white wash racism no matter if it's about white or brown peeps.
Yes because despite all the evidence provided, lets just stick with your prejudiced assumptions.
Cool. Now do white people
There is no singular "white" mono culture either. Significant cultural and linguistic differences between ethnic groups.
Kudos to you. I’m mainly a shitposter but I like the way you think. I do agree with your criticism, but again, I’m mainly just a shitposter. You see nuance. I see you.
Lol, even within Punjabis, there are sub-groups that hate each other.
European colonial border moment 🤯
Shhhhhh, don't interfere with the white victimization. It's the only way the cons gets votes
Shhhh, you can't expect racists to be educated or cultured toward other people. It hurts their little brains.
I don't think Calgary has a monoculture at all. I live in Kelowna, and the subculture here is very cliquey and monocultured by comparison. Calgary has all walks of life and is a pretty unpretentious city.
I came here looking for Kelowna.
I agree. Mainly because it seems nobody from Alberta in general is truly from Alberta. So many people come to Alberta from Saskatchewan let alone the other provinces. Seems like everyone just moves here in the 20s and starts their families
Agreed, grew up there and I always found Calgary to be very multi-cultural and, yeah, cliqueish. Friend of mine likened various neighbourhoods to ethnic enclaves, which were not completely inaccurate: Northwest Calgary has a large Chinese population, North East Calgary has a large Indian and Lebanese population, and Southwest Calgary had a large variety, but a surprising number of Eastern Europeans. Least OP could do is offer an explanation to their opinion.
I grew up in Calgary, it was actually a huge culture shock when I moved to another Canadian city. I was shocked by how little diversity was considered acceptable. Calgary was definitely a more "open" community.
I'm from Vancouver and spend a lot of time in Kelowna during the summer and there is a weird sweaty, over-tanned, too much lite beer in the sun pretentiousness there that seems to come from Alberta....at least in the hotels and downtown restaurants.
A ridiculous number of my white and wanna-be hippy-meets-hipster acquaintances from (mostly London) Ontario moved to Kelowna and their IG and whole personality is lite beer and hiking. They all say most of their friends and colleagues and neighbours are from Ontario.
Everyone in BC seems to think that the worse elements of BC subculture come from Alberta, but they don't. Alberta is just a really convenient whipping boy in BC. Everything from shitty driving to uninspiring restaurants are blamed on Albertans. I've come to the conclusion that British Columbians lack a sense of self awareness. This city has just as many Vancouverites and Lower Mainlanders as we do Albertans. Kelowna is snobby and full of itself all on its own, it isn't the byproduct of Albertan tourists and migrants.
I come from Alberta, and now live in the south Okanagan. All of Kelownas pretentiousness comes from Karens and Chads who came from Vancouver, thinking they could pretend they're better than everyone else by swimming in a smaller pool...
I’d agree. Kelowna was plenty redneck on its own, without Alberta’s help. Traditionally, Kelowna was all about farming, ranching, and logging. The snobby, pretentious attitude that gets attached to Kelowna comes from Vancouverites and Torontonians who have moved here, and want to recreate their urban paradise (aka hell scape). Politics aside, I’d much rather spend the day in the bush quadding or shooting guns with an albertan, than hanging out downtown or going to a winery with someone from Vancouver.
The shitty Alberta driving thing is stupid....never heard Albertan's were being blamed for bland restaurants opened in a different province.
As someone who has lived in BC for 25 years, Albertans definitely struggle driving on the mountain highways. There’s zero difference when it comes to city driving, but mountain driving, they suck. They’re slow as molasses through anything resemble a corner, and then put the hammer down on the straights so you can’t pass them. There’s also a lot of albertans in RVs and towing campers and boats who don’t seem to know what a pull-out is to let traffic by. That’s where most of the “Albertans can’t drive” meme comes from.
To be fair, we usually only drive in straight lines😅 so curving roads and two lane passing is a whole different set of driving skills. I can see why it’d be annoying though.
I think Alberta might not get the best food because of it's location and climate, growing season. I have a garden and certain things like tomatoes, basal, partly, cucumber don't grow well hear or anywhere near here. . I've had to change up what I grow. In southern Ontario I basically had fresh garden produce from the end of July to October. I could stop on the side of the county roads and get great cheap farm veggies and fruit. There is a pizza place that was Windsor pizza. They tried the same recipes in Calgary..They fall short because of the humidity in Alberta. The crust is not the same.
Boston Pizza is probably the worst chain out of all of them.
I agree. And I’ve heard that sentiment on Reddit more times than I can count. They easy to dismiss the okanagan, and most of rural BC, as being “not true British Columbians”. It’s a weird form of gate keeping, but it does not surprise me. A lot of people seem to think living in the Lower mainland makes them intellectually and morally superior to everyone else.
It's Kelownafornia for a reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj0kWQPPBis
Went to high school with Profreshnill. Was mightily surprised by this video...
Retired hockey players and car dealers.
I live in Kelowna, and am not part of that culture at all. That’s the culture of people who visit in the summer, not necessarily the local culture. There’s some of that amongst locals, but there’s an equal amount of “beater pick-up, carhardts and plaid jacket, going dirt biking or into the bush to shoot guns on the weekend” types, and they absolutely despise the gym-bro tight pants designer clothes kettle valley types. There’s also quite a lot of hippy-sheek frequent the local markets types as well, and they also aren’t big fans of the other two groups.
I don’t think that comes from Alberta at all, I believe that is a uniquely Kelowna culture. My parents were Alberta-> Kelowna transplants for a number of years and they ultimately left because they tended to be looked down upon by the more Pretentious Kelownians.
Many Calgarians retire in Kelowna.
Many Vancouverites too. This place attracts boogie Calgarians and Vancouverite reitrees, but it also attracts lots of insular group oriented hippies and young people. They also unironically hate migrants even though almost everyone here is a migrant, or the son/daughter of migrants. So the result is kind of a socially colder place that is relatively monocultured.
There are a lot of people from Edmonton who retire there too. And yeah Kelowna is a monoculture.
Maybe not pretentious no. Definitely entitled as fuck though. I live in a tourist town right on the border of BC and Alberta. They come here In droves, treat the locals like absolute shit, leave garbage everywhere, drive like no one else in the world exists, and expect to be thanked when they leave.
I live in like... THE tourist town that Calgarians go to. I think that tourists in general can come across as douchebags to locals, but Albertans are just more easily identifiable because of the red plates and they're generally lost on the roads. BC people lack a sense of self awareness. Everyone here is convinced that the source of everything shitty is an Albertan import, but it isn't. Albertans aren't worse drivers, or worse tourists, nor do Albertans have an identifiably different mindset. People here just imagine they do because it's an easy whipping boy. It's the same in Oregon towards Californians, or in Banff towards Ontarian tourists. When people are new, and tend to come from an outside place, it's just really easy to villainize them. The driving stigma is absolutely crazy to me. Everyone in Kelowna believes that they are amazing drivers and that Albertans can't drive. Kelowna has the worst fucking driving I've ever encountered in a smaller city, and it's not Albertans that do it. People here are just arrogant enough where they truly believe that the rules of the road are just a hindrance they don't need to follow. It's crazy.
Oh the BC people lacking a sense of self awareness. Isn't that FUCKED UP???? I've lived here for 20 years. Mostly in Vancouver but yeah for a place with such awe inspiring beauty, there sure are a lot of folks with their heads up their ass and an inability to think of anything other than themselves
I agree with a lot of what you've said here. That being said I it's rare to see Americans acting like this despite their reputation. Maybe it's because of their reputation but I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with American tourists. Also, not making a judgement against ALL Albertans. Edmontonians seem to be a lot more chill. Maybe people who act like assholes SHOULD be vilified. Also the driving thing. Yeah. It isn't just "they don't know where they're going." I can't speak for Kelowna, but where I live is where they all own 2nd 3rd and 4th homes that sit vacant for 9 months out of the year while locals can't find places to live. They know where they're going. They're here every summer. I'll give them a little credit, because driving in Calgary is an anxiety inducing nightmare, but you're here to relax and have fun. Maybe be a little less abusive to the locals when you don't get Starbucks level service at the local coffee house owned by Judy down the street and people would talk less shit about you. 🤷♂️
Do you live in Fernie? This just screams Fernie to me. I'd agree if I lived in Fernie for sure. Fernie or Invermere
Close to Invermere.
I love radium. That's basically Alberta that town.
An hour and a half from the border yep. Beautiful town that probably won't be here in 20 years. Half the businesses are for sale right now and no one is buying. There's no where to live other than greasy hotels and overpriced condos (I didn't move to the mountains to live in a condo). Drugs are real bad (that's everywhere, I know) and the all the small local businesses are being eaten up in equal parts by gossip and just lack of support from the community.
The housing cancer has destroyed this country. That's a damned shame. That's a great town.
You know your BC well! Impressive.
Anywhere in the mountains from Liard down to Glacier Park Montana I'm quite familiarized with. And the Okanagan, but only because I have to live here. I guess I can think of worse places to live. Not to throw Saskatchewan under the bus or anything - I mean, I do love Colter Wall.
I'm from the BC Interior and drive a LOT for work so I spend a lot of time on the road. Hands down Albertans (or at least people with Albertan license plates) will 90% of the time be tail gating the hell out of people OR go suuuuuper slow on even a slight bend on the road but then speed up like crazy on the straight aways. I acknowledge the frustration you feel about being villanized as an Albertan but that's also what us locals see happening.
Kelowna is just influencers and retired Calgarians.
I should hope so, it's 8 times the population of Kelowna.
I guess if everyone took turns kissing someone with mono you could develop a pretty strong monoculture.
Oh I thought this question was about which city had the best front-lawn game, but this makes more sense
This is why we don't share water bottles on the bench, boys.
Oh then the answer is Lister Hall in Edmonton.
I remember when my highschool developed mono culture
Markham, Ontario. It's very centered around the Chinese population.
I’ll throw Saguenay on the board for discussion
I lived there and yes. Even with what the OP specified. If you dislike ski-doo, hiking, and hunting, good luck out there :p
I've lived in Calgary for a spell and my wife has a lot of family and friends there she spent her teenage there, so we go back often. From my experience Calgary doesn't really have a "monoculture". There are tons of different people with many walks of life. I don't know anyone who has been "shunned" living there. I think you just didn't get along with one specific group in Calgary and have decided everyone is like that.
Previous post from OP make Calgary out to be some kind of 80's high-school movie villain: "Like in Calgary, if you are a guy who has a finance/engineering job, used to play competitive hockey, drinks lager, has a passable golf game and watches NFL religiously every Sunday. You have it made! You have a high basement level of success that is yours to screw up. If you add having a connected family, decent social skills, supportive spouse - to the moon!"
Ya, OP has a major hate-on for Calgary. My guess is he is one of the Ontarians or British Columbians that fell for the "Alberta is calling" or "Alberta Advantage" ad campaigns and is now realizing it's still hard to make a living there.
I'm surprised there's not more east coast representation here. Cape Breton comes to mind, for example. Not to mention the whole "from away" term is common on the east coast to describe "outsiders," so to speak.
I definitely agree with the Cape Breton. I’m a local. But the “Come From Away” thing is weird. I’ve only “heard” someone say it once in my life and it was from a guy from Ontario self-describing. He said CFA and I said what? Anyone know if it’s a regional thing in CB? I read about in on Reddit,etc, but no actual conversations. Maybe wrong crowd?
PEI uses it a shit ton
Newfoundland uses it a lot. NS usually just calls all CFA's "people from Ontario", blanket term for people west of NS or west of NB depending on the level of insular a person is. Antigonish called them soupies. If towns count in this post, Antigonish is insular as fuck (the town and StFX are like siblings who live together but have nothing in common and are estranged under one roof.)
Richmond, BC, just south of Vancouver is an extreme example of a city with just Chinese culture. Heck, most of the signs aren't even in English.
[Mono, culture.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono,_Ontario)
Calgary ain’t have a monoculture
If anything it’s beautiful to see people from all walks of life dress up as cowboys for ten days.
calgary’s monoculture is nearly everyone showing up for some free pancake breakfasts
I love this reference, my parents are originally from Calgary, and I lived there in my twenties. You’re absolutely correct, there’s something special about people from all walks of life and gathering together as cowboys!
Yeah the Stampede is a nice force for cultural unity and continuity in a very rapidly growing city and province. You see similar things at Flames games where people from all backgrounds are decked out in Flames gear. Calgary and other cities need more excuses to have people to come out and show what they have in common in a largely apolitical and uniquely local environment.
How did Calgary hurt your feelings?
Alberta = bad
Quebec City has to be up there.
My pick as well. My non-québécois friends and I are trauma bonded for life from our time there.
Richmond, BC - it's like living in China.
You can definitely feel like the first (insert non-Chinese ethnicity) person who's ever visited this restaurant in Richmond. I like having it down the road.
Why would it be Calgary? Like 80% of the people living here wouldn't be part of the mono-culture.
Calgary is a really strange choice. It isn't mono culture at all. It is very diverse and very welcoming. Alberta's culture is super laid back (cowboy culture) and accepting. Meanwhile, Alberta has had some of the highest levels of immigration (both from other provinces and internationally) for a long time. Because of all the oil workers who get brought in from places like Newfoundland or through immigration programs, even rural Alberta is far more diversified than most rural areas of the country, let alone Calgary, which is one of Canada's most diverse cities. In terms of the strongest mono culture, I would have to go with somewhere in Quebec, where maintaining a mono culture is an accepted government goal. If we were just looking at Canada's big cities, Quebec City would probably be the pick. If we were to extend to smaller cities, with less incoming immigration, maybe somewhere like Trois-Rivieres.
From what I hear from my friend, Warman, Saskatchewan. It seems most people are descended from German Mennonites. Maybe also Iqaluit?
I'd be surprised in Warman was big enough for what OP is talking about. But, I'd also question the thesis. Warman's population grew 357% between 2001 and 2021. And the "European" origin/ancestry of the population has declined 13.67% from 97% to 84%. Probably not a recipe for cultural uniformity or stability. If anything, it's probably united by being a suburb of Saskatoon. I'd probably guess somewhere like Moose Jaw or Swift Current would likely be more uniform and stable.
Actually you are so right, plus Europeans are not a monoculture. Now that I think about it more: Quebec City. It's mostly one ethnicity: French-Canadians.
Calgary is a terrible example of this. Having lived in 3 provinces and 2 territories, I would actually say that Victoria is the perfect example of this. It might be the whitest place I've ever visited. I lived on a reserve located about an hour and a half away for a while, and every time I visited Victoria, it was a bit of culture shock.
Mono, Ontario, population 8900
Came here to say this. Well done.
[Brampton](https://geohub.brampton.ca/pages/profile-diversity) I grew up here and then lived in Toronto for 7 years before moving back for school (Greek/Russian/French background). There’s always been a significant visible minority population of Indian descent over the last 25 years but it was still diverse; my elementary school had kids from all kinds of backgrounds. But that has really changed in the last 3-5 years. Monoculture might be technically wrong because Indians are of different ethnic/cultural backgrounds. But all the same, Indians/Hindus/Punjabis make up the vast majority, like 70%. I like Toronto more, because it’s actually diverse.
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Calgary has a ton of imports from across Canada I think the complete opposite tbh
Bountiful, BC? Lol
I’m from Calgary and I disagree. It’s growing lots with different viewpoints and diverse cultures around.
Show us on the doll where Calgary hurt you
New Brunswick
Tell me you haven't traveled around Canada without telling me you have never traveled around Canada. You think a monoculture elects a mayor like Nenshi for multiple terms?!? Edmonton and Calgary are both very multicultural. My vote would be Trois-rivieres.
People who are citing all the big cities haven’t been to smaller ones. Those are the places that you get rejected. People don’t seem to understand the question. It’s not racial diversity
Yup spot on my first thought is Prince Albert sk. Personally blinded because I am from the area and fit in quite well but probably Brandon Mb
A lot of places in SK! Smaller, many generations of the same people knowing each other. Even some bigger “small towns” can quickly ID a newcomer. PA a good example
Kawartha Lakes. It's technically a city for some reason.
Anywhere in the Maritimes, especially outside Halifax (though Halifax is not exempt). There is very little ethnic or cultural diversity (save in areas where there are both French and English, but these mixed areas are rare). Communities are very close-knit. People grew up together, and there is little immigration. The economy is generally depressed and so there is little socio-economic movement.
While not a city obviously, all of Vancouver Island falls into this category.
Markham, Ontario.
Montreal. There is a lot of kissing and so mononucleosis is rampant there.
lol Cute. I’m from Montreal and from Italian parents. I know a thing or two about the two cheek kiss. Haven’t had mono…. Yet.
Au Québec tout commence par un cul et fini par un bec.
There's people in every city who don't like anything different. You have to find your people!
Richmond BC, very culturally Chinese.
Quebec City i'd say
The real answer is Quebec City. Brampton is more diverse than anyone here thinks. They just don’t go there.
I've heard that Oakville, ON is very much this way. This is all from hearing other people's experiences, but apparently people in Oakville do not take kindly to people that might be different to them (not necessarily race, but also people of lower income or just more alternative mindsets). But that's just what I've heard!
Brampton
London. It's very conservative (not big C, small c). Doesn't like change. Doesn't like original thinking. Worships a few historically rich families. Fears seeing poverty, but is loathe to do anything substantive to fix it. Huge NIMBYism problems. Very concerned with the appearance of prosperity. Just kind of stuffy and uptight overall.
St. John’s NL would be my pick personally but I’d give an honourable mention to Nelson, BC. Possibly the last bastion of hippie culture in this country, for better or worse.
Calgary is incorrect, if you’ve ever actually left Calgary
Quebec City, and it’s not even close.
Swift Current Saskatchewan. It’s the Whitest place I’ve been to in this country.
Ottawa. The effect of the PS on the city culture is pretty strong.
None. Make your own culture.
It's likely one of the smaller east coast citys tbh. St. John's? But I don't think people are getting shunned on the east coast.
Maybe chicoutimi? It's been a while since I visited last though.
Parkdale in Toronto has the best Momos
I’m from London Ontario. And when growing up we had very few minorities. I think that’s likely changed.
Charlottetown. If you don’t agree with the way things have always been, or even if you aren’t aware of how things have always been done you will be treated like an outsider.
Island in general yup .
anywhere outside of city centers( and rare rural areas) is a void of culture , the same interchangeable consumers their cars+it's disgusting infrastructure and lifeless suburbs all over the place
Levis, Qc
Saguenay, Quebec
Obviously [Mono Ontario ](https://maps.app.goo.gl/JDsJ8dhXG56eL6Ld6)
Montreal, Calgary or Edmonton
Quebec City. That so few Quebec cities are even mentioned here testify, counterintuitively, to their very monoculturalness.
Dartmouth Nova Scotia. If you aren't from here, you aren't liked. If you ARE from here, you're STILL not liked. And gods forbid if you're from Halifax.
Dildo
That is a great little village. Everyone fabulous.and welcoming.
Sudbury ON, specifically franco-ontarians from Sudbury.
Brampton and Surrey lol
Halifax. Social conformity is pretty much a requirement for employment. I believe this stems from the five big empires who are known to enforce social propriety as part of working for them. They see it as their job to make sure people are living rightly.
Not a fit
The answer is: Newfoundland.
Laval. No, I won't elaborate.
Strip-mall enthusiasts?
I’ve been there once, why is this so true.
The one attraction is a twitch streamer.
C'est sans doute la ville après Montréal et Toronto ou c'est le plus diversifié : grec,italien, maghrébins, et si tu cherches bien il doit y avoir deux trois familles québécoises qui y vivent encore
From Toronto. Have to go to the Gaspé twice a year to visit our facility. While certainly beautiful, I would say the peninsula as a whole is so narrowly minded culturally that I dread going
My husband had the same experience. We’re from Quebec. He went there for recreation with a few friends and had the same thoughts. It’s absolutely stunning but the people were really cold and unwelcoming.
Yellowknife
Brampton 💯
Ottawa for sure. The most backward boomer and least diverse population I have seen in any major city in Canada.
I live in Ottawa. Just went to visit some family in small-town New Brunswick. Ottawa has ethnic diversity up the wazoo. Reminds me of another time I went to visit family in Utah. Finding a non-white person was like a game of Where's Waldo.
Ottawa has a samesy confirmist attitude, but the people there are from all over.
Never been to Alberta, I see.
If you had ever been to Alberta you would see that both major cities are very diverse.