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My Quebecoise cousin once asked me if people in Toronto discriminate against me because of my French name. And to reply to Salsa, you're right: francophone Montrealers often have strong negative opinions about Toronto, often without having had much experience of "La ville reine", as RDI insists on calling us when they deign to notice.
 
For my money, La Ville Reine is a wikkid moniker for my hometown....a billion times better than what those kooky Vancouverites refer to it as.
 
I'm a Torontonian living in Cologne, Germany and I have to say Germans have a very good impression of Canada and Toronto in general. One guy said how interesting it must be to have so many people of different races, nationalities and ethnic groups. I've met quite a few people that have been to Toronto and they've loved it. Toronto gets high points in most things (sightseeing, culture, nightlife, restaurants, green spaces) but the one complaint people generally have is that for a city of 3 million (6 million if you count the suburbs), it has a ridiculously simple rapid transit system with no hope of getting better (you can dig out my comments in this forum from 10 years ago and you can now see that not much has changed).

And yes everybody in Europe has heard of Rob Ford but I don't feel "embarrassed" since most people don't judge me by what kind of mayor my home city has even if I tell those people that I've voted for him in 2010. And besides things have gotten more boring ever since that stiff John Tory has come into office. :)
 
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I've been to Vancouver many times over the years. The Vancouverites never have anything good to say about Toronto or the rest of Ontario for that matter.

I don't find the people in Vancouver one bit friendly either. I have met tourists from all over the world and the first thing they say to me is how friendly the people in Toronto are.
 
Like I've stated before, having travelled (and still travelling) the world, I have never met any locals who have anything negative to say about Toronto. I find it humourous that most people seem to have relatives or know of someone or have friends that have moved to Toronto.

The only place(s) where you get negative sentiment regarding you being from Toronto really is in other cities in Canada. Might be more of a sibling rivalry kind of thing.
 
MTown said:
"Concrete wasteland", "Shithole", "Worst city in Canada"....etc.

Lol, because the only legit response to that sentiment is lol.
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To be honest, I never have anything nice to say about Vancouver either... The city itself is pretty provincial and I'm not outdoorsy (so scratch all that surf in the morning ski in the evening stuff).

I believe at my last drunk rant with a Vancouverite who was shitting on Toronto (but had no problem taking a job here that paid 2x as much as he earned in Vancouver) - I called it 'a fishing village on the shores of the Pacific'. He was pretty upset, as if I just called his wife some names...
 
NorthYorkEd said:
Have you ever been to the Maritimes? :)
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Of all the people I've heard putting Toronto down, aside from some rural Ontario types, Maritimers have to be the only ones who do so by telling you all the things that make them legit scared of our city. 'Oh no, the traffic, the crime, the [veiled insinuation about non-white people], I could never live there'.
 
Filip said:
To be honest, I never have anything nice to say about Vancouver either... The city itself is pretty provincial and I'm not outdoorsy (so scratch all that surf in the morning ski in the evening stuff).
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Sybil: Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton were telling me about California. You can swim in the morning, and then in the afternoon, you can drive up into the mountains and ski.
Basil: Must be rather tiring.
 
the lemur said:
Of all the people I've heard putting Toronto down, aside from some rural Ontario types, Maritimers have to be the only ones who do so by telling you all the things that make them legit scared of our city. 'Oh no, the traffic, the crime, the [veiled insinuation about non-white people], I could never live there'.
Click to expand...
I remember hearing about a friend of a friend from small town Ontario whose impression of Toronto was that it was a very dangerous and crime-infested place. Apparently she would lock her doors and avoid stopping the car any time she had to drive near the city. People have weird ideas.
 
I've long felt that the grievances of the Maritimes have some legitimacy, but "Western alienation" strikes me as nonsense in the modern-day context.
 
See, I love Vancouver so I can never respond to the bashing by turning it around on them. I just laugh and shake my head. Speaking of which....can't wait to head back to Van City in January, though that may be the absolute dumbest time of year to spend time there. But, yeah, it's my second fav Canadian city.
 
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