A capital idea

Canada Day (July 1st, for all you Canuck-wannabes) falls inconveniently on a Saturday this year. Not to worry - in the longstanding and pragmatic tradition of my fellow citizens, we will celebrate our nation's holiday on the following Monday. Why ruin a perfectly good long weekend by being sticklers about dates?

We are a pragmatic people. On a recent visit to our provincial capital, I was reminded of that.

Victoria is a lovely city; a port town where the sailors don't cuss and horse-drawn carriages can be seen trotting along on every other street in the city centre. It is a hub for artists and tourists and a retreat for well-heeled retirees.

It's also got a population of just 335,000 people. This contrasts with over 2 million people in the Vancouver metropolitan area.

Actually, Vancouver surpassed the provincial capital over 80 years ago. Nonetheless, Victoria remains the provincial capital of BC.

This might seem odd, until we remember that Ottawa, our national capital, has just over 800,000 people. Meanwhile, the nearby sprawling megalopolis of Toronto has nearly 2.5 million.

The people I meet from other countries are often incredulous at the on-the-face-of-it oddness of it. In their home countries (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, etc), the capital is almost invariably the population centre, if not the economic and cultural centre as well.

Capitals can and do move around. Before Tokyo, there was Kyoto. Before Brasilia, there was Rio de Janerio. Even in modern-day South Korea, serious proposals are on the table to move the seat of government from Seoul to a place a little further away from North Korea's artillery.

But Victoria, Ottawa and all of the other places marked by little stars on the map of our country can stay right where they are. In an age of instant communication and convenient air travel, it doesn't matter as much where our elected representatives vote in the halls of parliament - just so long as they are all accountable to their local ridings at election time.

tags: Victoria, provincial capital, national capital, political center, Canada Day, Ottawa, Canada's population, BC