The bases of differences between American and Canadian cities

The author presents a reanalysis of multivariate data used in a 1986 study by Goldberg and Mercer entitled "The myth of the North American city: continentalism challenged", which examined differences between U.S. and Canadian cities. He concludes that "if one factors out that part of the variance in these 34 variables associated with metropolitan population, racial composition, and variations in the boundaries delimiting central municipalities, and in the criteria used to delimit metropolitan areas in the two countries, then the apparent national urban differences they find are considerably muted."