SamJam

I live in a suburb of Oshawa (east of T.O.) so I live close enough to know all about it but also far enough away to get a reasonable perspective of it. First, the opinions... The rest of the world doesn't know a darn thing about it, and why would they? If you haven't been to a particular place, especially in a foreign country, then you're not likely to know much about it or hear about it. People from the U.S. assume the world knows everything about them when the opposite is really the case--most people don't know (or care) much about the U.S. unless they've been there or plan to go there. But this is where the U.S. differs from the rest of the world: they don't care what people think. Sometimes Toronto is a perfect small-scale example of what most Canadians feel: they're obsessed with everyone else's opinion of them in a desperate attempt to be seen and heard. Bottom line, if people don't visit or study the city, it will always be limited to the CN Tower, the Maple Leafs, SkyDome (Rogers Centre), the 401, and snow (even though it gets a relatively small amount). Only a major international event would cause people to focus their attention to another place, which is usually bad news like crime, terrorism, natural disaster, or in Toronto's case--SARS. Once the SARS problem was eliminated, the attention on T.O. once again slipped into obscurity where it usually is. In my opinion... It's a vibrant place with lots to see and do (outside of the above-mentioned scraps). There's not nearly enough space here to discuss it, but check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto (which I believe has already been listed in the thread). Trouble is, there are as many things wrong with the city as there are right. Homelessness, trash (who said T.O. was clean?!?), an almost entirely wasted waterfront, and slooooow CBD traffic (which goes hand-in-hand with not having enough freeway coverage and overcrowding the Gardiner Expressway). That said, the TTC transit system is very efficient (but expensive), Wonderland and Ontario Place are a blast, and my girlfriend seems to think that the shopping is second to none >;-) I think the buildings in the CBD are too cold-looking. Unfortunately T.O. doesn't have the control over presentation and design like, say, Vancouver has. I think downtown Vancouver has one of the most impressive-looking CBDs in the world because designers have to go through city council for criticism and approval first, covering everything from placement, height, shape, even flora. I think there's something to be learned there. Prior post corrections... 1) Mississauga and some other cities around T.O. are not suburbs. They are called exurbs meaning there is a distinctly high level of work-related commuting to and from Toronto but they're also "self existing" cities with large CBDs and suburbs of their own. In other words, Mississauga has a downtown and business areas of its own (with over 30 major employers) and people commute there from places like Streetsville, Malton (where I lived for 2 years), Meadowvale, Port Credit, Erin Mills, etc etc. It is a seperate and distinctly centred city in the GTA along with Oshawa, Hamilton, and Newmarket. Suburbs tend to be "bedroom communites" where the zoning is mainly residential, like Pickering/Ajax, Markham, Brampton, Burlington (which serves Hamilton as much as it does T.O.), Vaughan, and Oakville. Just because the area is known as the Greater Toronto Area does not mean they're actually a part of Toronto. 2) The temperature has never reached 42 degrees. The person that wrote it must have had it confused with the Humidex, meaning the humidity in the air made the temp feel like 42. The average summer temp in T.O. ranges from 25 to 35 but those are extremes. In July/August it's about 30. In December/January it's about -10. 3) North America includes Mexico. It also includes all Caribbean countries and islands. Mexico City is the largest city in North America and 2nd-largest in the world. The person who excluded Mexico City was probably thinking of Latin America, which is just a term of reference. 4) People that live in Toronto are known as Torontonians. This is all just my opinion, of course. The most critical people are generally the ones who care the most.