Downtown in Canada

The downtown areas of many Canadian cities are very different from those in the United States — or if comes to that, from many in this country. They are, for the most part, pleasant to shop in; they have retained their employment base and are usually well integrated with public transport. Some cities have linking bridges between buildings which create a shopping system immune from the weather (highly desirable in Canada's frequent sub‐zero temperatures). Others have downtown shopping areas with underground links. Alan Hallsworth recently spent some time in Canada; these are some of his impressions.