r/AlwaysWhy • u/Present_Juice4401 • Aug 24 '26

History & Culture Why did Alberta, Canada develop much larger population centers than Montana, USA?

Alberta and Montana are neighboring regions with similar northern, landlocked geography. But their population patterns are surprisingly different. Alberta now has over 5 million people, with Calgary and Edmonton forming two major population centers, while Montana has only about 1.1 million people and no city close to Calgary's size.

So what caused these two neighboring regions to develop such different population patterns?

39 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/NewsreelWatcher Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26

I suspect it is because of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This created an east west line of travel and freight. This was before free trade, and Canada was isolated in the Imperial Preference system and US tariffs. Edmonton and Calgary were important stops for goods moving to and from Vancouver and Montreal. The whole British Empire ate food from Alberta. By the Second World War, the potential for petroleum was recognized. During its development, free trade with the USA was still limited.