I vote for Kamloops as rival/analogue/conversant: similar population and geography (meeting of rivers & highways & railways), both former HBC posts, both with at least one pulp mill and provincial prison, similar downtown issues, and both regional centres for large rural areas. TRU seems kind of like CNC and UNBC combined, as if PG had levelled-up the college instead of developing a separate university.
I vote for Kamloops as rival/analogue/conversant: similar population and geography (meeting of rivers & highways & railways), both former HBC posts, both with at least one pulp mill and provincial prison, similar downtown issues, and both regional centres for large rural areas. TRU seems kind of like CNC and UNBC combined, as if PG had levelled-up the college instead of developing a separate university.