Talk:National Capital Region (Canada)

How important is the NCR from a travel perspective? The article for Embrun (Ontario) says that it's technically in the NCR, but is treated as if it were just another part of Eastern Ontario. If that's the case, do we need an article for the NCR as a separate entity, or are the articles for Ottawa and Prescott-Russell sufficient to cover these areas? We don't need to create another level of geographic hierarchy and an article for it just because the government did. - (WT-en) Todd VerBeek 17:26, 26 July 2006 (EDT)
 * I think the regional designation is useful for treating Ottawa and Gatineau as a unified city; beyond that, I agree with you. (WT-en) Padraic 10:40, 1 November 2007 (EDT)
 * This page should be moved to Ottawa-Hull or Ottawa-Gatineau. The only entity which uses "national capital region" as a name for this is the federal government.
 * Wikivoyage also needs to make a long-overdue decision as to whether this is a huge city with districts (Ottawa, Gatineau, Kanata, Manotick or rural Ottawa...) or whether it's a small lumber village which can be treated as a single-level entity (merging the inexplicably-separate Kanata page, a non-notable suburb, into the main Ottawa article).
 * Ottawa-Gatineau is a little awkward as it's a major city (it used to be the fourth-largest metropolitan area, before it was surpassed by Cowgary circa-2006) — and yet it is divided by a provincial boundary. That makes it hard to fit into WV's structure, which seems to expect destinations to be aligned within regional and provincial boundaries. 204.237.49.108 20:43, 9 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Correct. It doesn't fit into Wikivoyage's breadcrumb navigation structure, so that's why this is an extra-region article. Are you suggesting that this is a completely useless article, or that it should be renamed?
 * The standard of whether to district a city on Wikivoyage or not begins with the consideration of whether the existing city article is too long to be manageable. I don't think Ottawa is. A secondary consideration is whether listings would be relatively evenly distributed among the different district articles. If you believe Ottawa needs districting, please start a thread on the Talk:Ottawa page, proposing the names and boundaries of the districts and estimating the total number of listings (See, Do, Buy, Eat, Drink, Sleep) that would be in each district. I'm skeptical, but I'd hear out a proposal.
 * Kanata is not that short an article, so it's not obvious to me that it should be merged with Ottawa, and merging it would increase the size of the Ottawa article, which contradicts any impulse behind districting that city. That said, if you feel strongly about merging and redirecting Kanata to Ottawa, make a proposal on Talk:Kanata, explaining why it's important to take that step, and see if you can get a consensus behind you. Ikan Kekek (talk) 21:47, 9 April 2022 (UTC)


 * I'm from Ottawa. I'd say keep both the NCR & Kanata articles. The region matters because things like government offices & museums are on both sides of the river, & there's a federally funded National Capital Commission that has roads & parks throughout the area. Kanata is a fair distance from the city & somewhat distinct. Pashley (talk) 02:38, 10 April 2022 (UTC)

Cities and destinations
I've formatted the cities and other destinations in a more typical way that (I think) more clearly shows what the national capital region looks like, despite being parts of two distinct provinces.

Hopefully the re-formatting isn't seen as a change to the structure of this extra-region, but it does reveal a few anomalies. Kanata is now emphasized a little bit less now, in brackets after Ottawa, instead of being noted as the most prominent "other town" with its own marker. This makes the map a little bit cleaner, and also works well from the traveller's perspective- I think most people specifically choosing Kanata as their destination know that it's technically/geographically part of Ottawa, despite being quite distinct. Others probably end up there for business/hockey/accommodations, but as a suburb of Ottawa. It's listed with Carp, which was mentioned further down, but not linked.

I've also expanded the list of other destinations, based on towns that were/are mentioned in this article, and towns that link (or allude) to this region. The new list looks like a big change to the extra-region, but it's making the existing, sometimes implicit, relationship between these places more clear.

Quebec: Ontario: Gregsmi11 (talk) 13:58, 1 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Added Chelsea, outside Gatineau, but serves Gatineau Park with the visitor centre, cottages, restaurants, and the spa complex. Chelsea's article already provides focuses on getting in from defunct Hull, Gatineau, and Ottawa, but it could use a link to the national capital region.
 * Kept Gatineau Park - obviously not a town, but it's a large part of the region. The heading is "Other destinations", so I think it works here. Its article already links to the national capital region. It's shaded on the map, but not listed as a region, intending to show the odd shape that connects it to the other points listed.
 * Added Montebello, a bit further away from Gatineau, but already describes itself as on the edge of the region. Its article already links to the national capital region.
 * Kept Wakefield, it's article talks about being close to Ottawa, but does not yet link to the national capital region.
 * Kept Calabogie. Its article mentions the "Ottawa-Hull capital region", instead of linking here.
 * Embrun and Russell are "sister" communities that form one administrative township in the offline world. On WV Embrun is described as part of the capital region, while Russell links to the region to say that it is not part of the region, despite being closer to Ottawa than Embrun. Embrun is mentioned further down in the region article, but not previously listed as a destination.