Quote:
Originally Posted by bfisher
I have seen what seem to me to be massive changes over my life (60 years) in Canadian society, but that is from a personal perspective. I do think that sometimes it is possible to see big changes even from the perspective of 200 or 300 years. For example, 200 or 300 years from now, people will probably see a vast difference between the China of 1940 and the China of 2010, but possibly not between the Canada of 1940 and the Canada of 2010.
|
Maybe not much changed in Ottawa (oops, that belongs in the P&R forum), but Toronto has changed tremendously. In 1940 it was a pretty staid British city, with a (single) Chinatown and a Jewish neighbourhood. Now it is said to be the most diversified city in the world, shops open on Sundays and even on holidays in 'tourist' areas. Canada itself has changed from a mostly rural population to 80% urban.
On the other hand, and to your earlier comment on perspective, Will and Ariel Durrant's _The Story of Civilization_ ended with the French Revolution. They said it was too early to judge anything newer; of course royalist curmudgeons say there is a more obvious reason.
