I moved to TO in 1979 from the UK (London and the SE) however I live just NW of TO in the City of Brampton, a rapidly growing place. I have lived in many places around the world, from Vancouver to Winnipeg to Halifax and points in between, including the far east and north of Scotland. I took a visitor downtown a year or so ago and was so embarassed having to step over beggars on Yonge Street (the main drag) every 10 feet. Toronto and suffers from a totally inept, bleeding heart Liberal loving Mayor and Council who will not work with or back up our Police Force and do nothing to address anything important never mind our huge homelessness/poverty issue, aggressive panhandlers, ganstas having shoot outs on said Yonge Street in the middle of the day or local streets, garbage and graffiti, smog pollution and general filth that Toronto has evolved into over the past 20+ years. It is also correct that our "newcomers" are horribly underemployed often driving cabs or working several minimum wage jobs at convenience store level when they possess medical licences, or are professional engineers etc because Canada can't get it's act together to find a way to get these peoples'credentials validated. Guns and gangs are a huge problem. Violence is rife in schools and we hear about a school in lockdown mode almost every week. The transit system is a joke - it takes hours to get from one place to another or is very expensive because you must transfer and pay from one municipality or region's transit to connect with the TTC of Toronto, hence the gridlock we experience on all our roads in and out of the City using our cars as an only alternative - everything is too far to walk or too dangerous to bike. We have 2 rush hours - all day and all night! However, the leisure activities available, concerts of all genres in fanatstic venues like the Air Canada Centre (ACC) or Molson Amphitheatre on the lake or Rogers Centre, formerly Skydome, live theatre, fine arts,TIFF,dining, pubs, bars, clubs, theme attractions (Canada's Wonderland), waterfront, the Beaches boardwalk, the Toronto islands are all absolutley fabulous. Yes it's butt freezing cold in winter and hot, humid and smoggy in summer, but you get used to that. I'd rather this climate than that of the UK - rainy and damp to the bone chilling with one good day in July to get your best burn. The best thing really is that in comparison to the UK, eveything is half price - take any UK price and slap a dollar sign on it.We have better quality homebuilding with far more mod cons, built ins and space than is offered back home. I could never afford the home I have back there. As much as I miss wandering around the National Gallery, cruising the Thames, having a glass of wine at El Vino's or knocking back a pint at a "real" pub, the overall standard of living and amenities offered by Toronto and across Canada is still vastly superior and I would really recommend Toronto to any visitor regardless of what I've said here. I guess we all become jaded and down on our own towns no matter where we live.
Posted by Claire from Toronto on January 18, 2008 8:06 PM