Geography By Geoff discussion thread: Canada's relatively empty Atlantic Provinces

Why is there no major Canadian city on its Atlantic coast in the same way the U.S. has Boston and New York City?

Welcome to the first ever discussion thread for the weekly Geography By Geoff episodes! Today’s episode is all about Canada and its Atlantic provinces. This episode originally came from a single question: why doesn’t Canada have any major cities on its east coast? Canada has Halifax in Nova Scotia, of course, and St. John in Newfoundland, but those are both pretty small cities. Halifax, for example, is only a tenth the size of Montreal. As it turns out, much of the answer comes from a single river: the St. Lawrence River!