If the USA got Canada, how populous would Canada be?

[SuperCanada]

Arizona was also an utter backwater that was ignored until air condition made living there a little more manageable.

Imagine air conditioning making winter intolerable! Who would have thought it? And it did that despite northern areas having abundant water, arable land, and few natural disasters!

Seriously though; it's amazing how upside-down North America is in respect to the usual picture of the global north-south divide: Sure, in the broad western hemisphere sense, it fits the bill perfectly. But once north of the Rio Grande, things flip over: In America people flock to places that geographically resemble the Third World while abandoning places that are the classical First World, and causing northern places to become closer to resembling the Third World (such as northern Rustbelt cities)! Also in a language sense; with French (a rather more southerly language in origin) speakers in Canada, English in the US Sunbelt.

I'm exaggerating but you get the point.

 

[funnyhat]

Seriously though; it's amazing how upside-down North America is in respect to the usual picture of the global north-south divide: Sure, in the broad western hemisphere sense, it fits the bill perfectly. But once north of the Rio Grande, things flip over: In America people flock to places that geographically resemble the Third World while abandoning places that are the classical First World, and causing northern places to become closer to resembling the Third World (such as northern Rustbelt cities)! Also in a language sense; with French (a rather more southerly language in origin) speakers in Canada, English in the US Sunbelt.

French originated in the region of Paris, which is not very southern at all: Paris (48.8566° N) is actually further north than Montréal (45.5017° N) and Québec City (46.8139° N).

English being spoken in subtropical regions like the U.S. South and Australia is a bit odd though, granted.

 

[Maine]

Seriously though; it's amazing how upside-down North America is in respect to the usual picture of the global north-south divide: Sure, in the broad western hemisphere sense, it fits the bill perfectly. But once north of the Rio Grande, things flip over: In America people flock to places that geographically resemble the Third World while abandoning places that are the classical First World, and causing northern places to become closer to resembling the Third World (such as northern Rustbelt cities)! Also in a language sense; with French (a rather more southerly language in origin) speakers in Canada, English in the US Sunbelt.

Let's think like typical english Canadians: English = best language spoken by rich people ; French = inferior language spoken by dirty frogs.

 

[Londinium]

Good question!
I tend to think that there would have been virtually nothing beyond Montreal and Quebec City on the eastern part of the mainland with the Maritimes only being sparsely populated- with little beyond Vancouver City in the West and huge expanses between Montreal and Vancouver City having a few trading outposts if that. Perhaps there might be a little push northwestwards if the Klondike happened but other than that, I'm not so sure.

 

[SuperCanada]

French originated in the region of Paris, which is not very southern at all: Paris (48.8566° N) is actually further north than Montréal (45.5017° N) and Québec City (46.8139° N).

English being spoken in subtropical regions like the U.S. South and Australia is a bit odd though, granted.

It's relatively south by European standards, especially since France is south of Britain. And there's the French Riviera.

Also, considering that Quebec is basically the sole non-English speaking major place in the advanced European-settled world, and because of the fact that so much of that consists of warmer places, French being spoken only in cold Canada is surprising.

 

[SuperCanada]

Let's think like typical english Canadians: English = best language spoken by rich people ; French = inferior language spoken by dirty frogs.

That sentence was actually not connected to what I wrote before.

 

[Arkenfolm]

Good question!
I tend to think that there would have been virtually nothing beyond Montreal and Quebec City on the eastern part of the mainland with the Maritimes only being sparsely populated- with little beyond Vancouver City in the West and huge expanses between Montreal and Vancouver City having a few trading outposts if that. Perhaps there might be a little push northwestwards if the Klondike happened but other than that, I'm not so sure.

Why would the Maritimes be sparsely populated? Maybe not as much so, but Cape Breton Island is a good industrial region (it won't last forever, but still), Halifax is a very nice port, and Newfoundland is highly strategic as a military base and for fishing the Grand Banks.

The west is still great farmland, but might lose out a lot more than OTL. Alberta at least will have the oil industry.

Also, would what happen to the French Canadians who emigrated to the US in large numbers? Will they all still move south to OTL US cities?

 

[funnyhat]

Also, would what happen to the French Canadians who emigrated to the US in large numbers? Will they all still move south to OTL US cities?

Probably. It was an economic migration, to work in the mills of New England.

 

[SuperCanada]

Here's another reason OTL Canada would have less people. US population density tends to drop off quite suddenly (especially from the Great Lakes east to the coast) north of the 43rd parallel, as shown in this shot from Google Earth. There's a pretty sharp line where the numbers of cities drop off dramatically near 43N: Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Flint, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Boston, and many smaller ones:

Toronto is well north of this line, and this, along with it being inconveniently located on the north shore of Lake Ontario, thus requiring a zigzagging route to reach it from the coal mining regions in PA, would probably mean it would be no bigger than Utica, NY, and most of Ontario would be a backwater like Maine (like most of it actually is in OTL when the Canadian Shield is taken into account).

That being said, southwestern Ontario along Lake Erie would be more populous, as it's nestled within the industrial belt region.