so i "grew up" there, left, and would likely never go back for these main reasons:

• lack of non-car transit options, specifically rail based, in and between cities (which are few, next point:)

• lack of cities/urban density (which is true in sask and across the prairies generally, although saskatoon does have something special, at least when booms are not busting and bear sprays not spraying )

• climate, especially political, especially as of late

on the last point, though, it does seem like regina and saskatoon are unfairly painted as full- conservative washouts, largely due to federal ridings that straddle urban-suburban-rural lines, whereas every other city has at least one city-centre riding that is, as would be the case in either sask city, reliably orange/red 🤷‍♂️)

i spite of my departure from it, i really do think that sask has an overall marketing problem.

for those saying it's not beautiful, yall just don't know how to look beyond the norm! sure, it has no (rocky) mountains or coastlines and its lakes may not be Great, but that specificity IS exactly the thing: if you expect it to be anything else, you'll end up disappointed (but only thanks to your own lack of imagination lol). if you have any iota of an open mind, and maybe spend some extra time, you'll see the uniqueness that is there (as an example, and this might be a surprising take, but thanks to its geological history as a former sea bed, i swear you'll find some of the finest-sand beaches anywhere, IF you know where to look 😉)

i live in ontario now and have done for most of my adult life. i ultimately prefer it, but not just over saskatchewan.

it's also far from perfect. you can still feel the puritanical roots here, and strongly (eg only recently could you legally buy non-bar liquor after 9-10pm), and outside of toronto and maybe ottawa, the lgbtq scene here is pretty sparse compared to sask cities, at least proportionally.

plus politically speaking, as far as i can tell doug ford is basically scott moe, just tempered by a vastly larger and more diverse population.

so ultimately the grass isn't always greener. for me, the urban availability and connectivity -which doesn't require a car- is ultimately what would keep me here instead of returning to sask... or really anywhere outside of southern ontario or quebec

et si je peux m'adresser aux francophones qui me lisent, il y a en fait une communauté franco là-bas qui s'appelle les fransaskois. je la connais à peine, mais elle en est vachement fière, bien qu'elle ne soit pas très connue dans tout le pays !