<P> Although Vancouver is a profoundly wealthy city with some of the highest housing prices in North America and, indeed, the world, it is also home to significant poverty and social dislocation . The old core of the city was long home to transient industrial workers who made seasonal use of' single room occupancy' (SRO) hotels around Main Street and Hastings Street . Since the 1970s that neighbourhood has suffered economically to such a point that the Downtown East Side (DTES) is often characterized as' blighted' and' Canada's poorest postal code' . It contains one of the country's highest concentrations of dedicated social housing and social services, and is home to INSITE, the nation's first safe - injection facility . Much of the poverty, transience, substance abuse, and survival sex trade in the neighbourhood has its origins in mental health issues, many of which became acutely visible with the end of mental health institutionalization in the 1980s . Demand for land in a city that is surrounded by mountains and water has increased pressure on the DTES and has generated conflict over the potential for displacement of long - term marginalized residents through' gentrification .' These changes are rejuvenating aspects of the old downtown's economy while creating new challenges for individuals with complex health, social, and economic issues . </P> <P> As of 2013, the City of Vancouver has a population of 603,000 and the Greater or Metro region has a population in excess of 2,300,000 . </P> <P> Oil, national politics and high - tech have made Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa, all cities with populations of one 1,000,000, significant national urban centres . </P> <P> Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, and Halifax are major regional centres . St John's and Saint John are smaller centres in Atlantic Canada . Whitehorse and Yellowknife are small and more isolated cities in the Canadian north, the serving as the capitals and largest cities of the Yukon and Northwest territories respectively . </P>

Why have canada's major cities increased in size