Aerial view of downtown Vancouver in 1969

 https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1r960mq/tbt_aerial_view_vancouver_downtown_coal_harbour_c This was still a time when Vancouver didn't allow any office tower to have a 30th floor. As of 2026, no office building in Vancouver has been permitted to have a 40th floor. However, Burnaby & Surrey are planning to have their first office building over 40 stories. That's because they aren't under the extreme height restrictions that Vancouver imposes. 

Seattle had its first 50 story office tower in 1969. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeco_Plaza 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Square The first 50 story office tower in Australia (1967) was possible because they don't have anything like the height restrictions in Vancouver.

Toronto had its first 50+ story office tower in 1967. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto-Dominion_Centre#Late_20th_century

SF had its first office buiding over 50 stories open in 1969. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_California_Street 52 stories, but the equivalent of 60 when counting all of the mechanical plant floors.

Toronto Line 5 Subway

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00oSL8evCRg 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAAAhJ4oeH4

After more than 15 years, Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT finally opens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDy4t0vCQ_c 

Line 5 Eglinton is officially open 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LskGlwZf6s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH8nWGD2sKE 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EgMKg56a3Q 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb4EhJpIdm4 Just like Edmonton, Calgary and Seattle, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is able to have longer stations than what congested Vancouver has. 

The BRUTAL TRUTH about Living in Washington State

Washington's Dark Side Exposed! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrhL0ih2XcI 

A cold, crappy dark and damp fall and winter is common. It's almost as bad as Vancouver, Canada. However, it's important to point out that Seattle and Vancouver never froze over like Minneapolis and Winnipeg, Chicago and Toronto, NYC and Montreal, Boston and Halifax. 

Is Canada No Longer A Country? Is it Just A Failed Experiment?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd1uwnBVp1o  

People are leaving Toronto and Vancouver in record numbers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0Jh0EymI_A&t=103s  

In 2025, over 120,000 citizens and permanent residents left Canada for good—and early data shows this "Great Exodus" is only accelerating in 2026. From the housing crisis to stagnant wages, the reasons are clear, but the real question is: Where is everyone going? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDvV6v3YV-E

A very cold, crappy winter in Toronto, or perpetual cold, dreary dampness in Vancouver, is too much for some people to endure anymore.

Toronto Has Several Skylines

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI9WJa9Q8dA 

Many large urban areas around the world have more than 1 or 2 skylines or tower clusters.

Why Living in Vancouver, BC Has Become Impossible

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puM93PmmWbI  

People are leaving Toronto and Vancouver in record numbers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0Jh0EymI_A

Moving From Canada to the U.S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJAA1D_7lCs

Vancouver mayoral candidate pitches plan to build 4,000 City-owned and affordable homes

 https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-mayoral-candidate-william-azaroff-pitches-affordable-homes Providing more affordable housing in Vancouver would certainly be of great benifit. 

In some cases, if a developer was allowed to build Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne sise towers, provided they agreed to build some affordable housing, it could be of mutual benefit.

Finch LRT shut down all day due to “weather conditions.”

 https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2026/01/15/finch-lrt-shut-down-all-day-due-to-weather-conditions It should have been a proper subway line, protected from the crappy snow & ice. In contrast, Edmonton & Calgary are mostly surface lines and can usually run through the terrible winter conditions. 

https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/01/15/toronto-snowstorm-shuts-down-finch-west-lrt-some-bus-stops-also-out-of-service/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/toronto-snowstorm-shuts-down-finch-west-lrt-some-bus-stops-also-out-of-service/

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/01/15/line-6-finch-west-lrt-delays-snowstorm-ttc-updates/ 

https://www.ttc.ca/riding-the-ttc/Line-6-Finch-West  

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=LRT

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Toronto+snowstorm

Canadian Weather on January 15

https://weather.gc.ca/data/wxoimages/wocanmap0_e.jpg

https://weather.gc.ca/canada_e.html   

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Toronto+snow

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Montreal+snow

Some Ontario civil servants told to get to office in snowstorm or take vacation day

 https://globalnews.ca/news/11615259/ontario-office-mandate-snow-day 

As Australia & NZ get some intense summer weather, Canada is constantly reminded that winter isn't always a fun time. While its sunny and well above freezing in Vancouver & Victoria, Toronto & Montreal are stuck right in the middle of total winter conditions. 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Toronto+snowstorm

Toronto snow

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Toronto+snowstorm

 https://jf-databits.blogspot.com/search?q=Toronto+snow  

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Toronto+snow

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Montreal+snow

Mild Victoria, BC

Victoria has been a provincial backwater for most of its history. Despite being in a mild winter setting, it's so small when compared to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec City and Halifax. 

https://victoria.citified.ca/news/35-storey-one-victoria-place-mixed-use-tower-unveiled-blanshard-st-pandora-ave

https://www.onevictoriaplace.ca 

https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=37&status=15  

While Edmonton was eventually allowed to have a tall building, even by Toronto, Calgary and Montreal standards, Victoria was always supposed to have shorter buildings than Winnipeg, Quebec City and Halifax. That's part of the KEEP THINGS SMALL mentality on V. Island. 

Victoria should have had its first LRT line by now, but that might improve urban mobility. Eventually, Victoria and Nanaimo will merge into one linear urban area. Eventually, the Comox_Valley_Regional_District will have over 100,000 people, the Regional_District_of_Nanaimo will have over 200,000 people, the Cowichan_Valley_Regional_District will exceed 100,000 people and the Capital_Regional_District will have over 450,000 people. 

Of course there doesn't seem to be any big regional scale planning from Sooke to Courtenay. Perhaps the island's urban planners will wait until there is 800,000 and over a million residents on the island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Island#Demographics 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Rail_Corridor#Vancouver_Island_Transportation_Corridor_Coalition

So, as more people discover that Victoria and Vancouver are the mildest winter cities in Canada, more people just might want to move there. Especially, when Canadian Snowbirds don't feel as comfortable with Florida, Texas & California.  

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=population+growth

How Toronto built two very different light railways

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPFyCa8xsjk

Toronto’s $13 billion Eglinton Crosstown Line

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVQ8CbZK7Mo 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_5_Eglinton

So, what should have been a proper high capacity subway ends up being a little like an Edmonton LRT line. 

https://www.metrolinx.com/en/projects-and-programs/eglinton-crosstown-lrt/what-were-building

Toronto’s Skyline Is About to Change Forever (again)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4V8jo8-NFg&t=113s  

Drone View Of Toronto’s One Bloor West - Canada’s Tallest Building When Completed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26xU_Rx2ks0  

How Toronto Is Slowly Becoming The Skyscraper Capital Of North America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z6w82sAYck

Sideways Chicago vs. Tilted Toronto: Great Lakes Urbanism Showdown

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1swCsa1_U5s

Canada's next tallest building just crossed the 100-floor mark

 https://dailyhive.com/toronto/canada-next-tallest-building-100-floors 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_108 Opened between 2018 to 2020.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/875_North_Michigan_Avenue Chicago's first 100 story building opened in 1969. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building Opened in 1931. 

https://www.dezeen.com/2025/07/09/one-park-lane-skyscraper-australia

World’s Tallest Towers Comparison

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09pmnf8npA8 

There was a time when no structure in BC was allowed to be as tall as Blackpool Tower. Then there was a time when no building in Vancouver was allowed to be as tall as the Seattle Space needle or the Calgary Tower. Even in late 2025, only one Vancouver building has been allowed to be taller than the Calgary Tower. 

Burnaby, Coquitlam and especially Surrey, don't have such imposed height restrictions as stumpy Vancouver. Thus, Burnaby, Coquitlam and Surrey will all be having taller buildings than Vancouver.  

If Montreal can ever have its equivalent of La_Defense or Canary_Wharf, then it might be able to have some tall buildings that would be impressive by Melbourne and Toronto standards. Perhaps even Chicago or NYC standards. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Defense 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Wharf

Calgary ranked the top place for GTA families moving out of Ontario

 https://dailyhive.com/toronto/gta-families-move-to-calgary 

If you move from Toronto to Calgary, you will still be in a real city. However, Calgary has about a 3rd of the population. The GTA is so much more vast and dense than Calgary. The Calgary_Tower is only a 3rd of the height as the CN_Tower.

For those that move from Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Edmonton to Vancouver, you will be shocked to see mostly 4 lane bottleneck-chokepoint bridges. The few 6 lane bridges in Greater Vancouver have no proper bus or HOV lanes, so its the epitome of congestion planning.