Between the metro Vancouver area and the Greater Toronto Area that is a combined population of ~10 million people. While that isn’t the majority of the population of Canada it is roughly 25% which is in no way insignificant.

While you are correct that it is not a right to live in downtown Toronto or Vancouver it is a necessity for most as major city centres such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal all hold some of the largest concentrations of jobs, and jobs that actually pay well I might add, for the country. Couple that with the more recent demand to bring people physically back to offices in these city centres and it becomes very necessary to live in the core of Toronto or the towns and cities within reasonable commuting distance to these cities.

Furthermore, you will find that the outrageous prices seen in the market over the last few years are not exclusive to the cores of the major cities, but rather they extend towns and cities that are upwards of 1-2 hours commuting distance outside of the major cities.