The City of Toronto

"T.O." is short for "Toronto, Ontario", and this is the city's unofficial nickname. Here's the standard spiel: Toronto tops the the polls for living standards, lifestyle, multiculturalism, social opportunities and over-all prosperity according to everyone from the United Nations to Fortune Magazine. As far as quality of life is concerned, it's one of the greatest cities in the world. Six million people live in the Toronto region-- 1/6th of the total Canadian population. It's the economic, cultural and social heart of the country, and a major centre on the English-speaking cultural scene.

That's the standard spiel. Basically, Toronto is, beyond the tourism-department propaganda, a neat place to live and work and a safe city with (mostly) clean streets. The bets part, of course, is that it's a big city with access to plentiful resources like great hiking trails and beautiful countryside.

Houses in winter in the Annex, Toronto, Canada
>From my Photos Section.

Toronto has wonderful neighbourhoods. There are countless pleasant, out-of-the-way, tree-lined streets. You can live in a house in the city centre, in one of many neighbourhoods-- the Annex, Islands, Cabbagetown, Davenport, the Beaches, High Park, Roncesvalles, the Danforth, Kensington, Bloor West Village, the west end. You can live with the up-and-coming yuppies in a modern high-rise at Yonge and Eglinton or relax in your own inner-city island cottage.

Toronto has multiple levels of urbanization, from the densely populated inner core, to the quieter inner suburbs, and of course the usual outer suburbs and fringe cities. Unfortunately, these suburbs go on and on-- Toronto has been accurately described as "Vienna surrounded by L.A." This problem is slated to get worse, unless either the relentless population growth or the insane reliance on cars drops off in the near future.

If it's greenery you're after, Toronto's got it. The city has fantastic parks galore. Some of them are made for quiet strolling, like massive High Park, while others are completely wild. Two of the famous ones are the Don Valley, stretching from the northern city reaches to the Lake Ontario shore, and the Rouge River Valley in Scarborough. These function like vast green urban lungs and are difficult to access, meaning that they're fresh and untramelled. Toronto is crossed by many river and creek valleys running down to the lakeshore from the North, from the Credit in the west to the Rouge in the east. Viewed from the top of the C.N. (Canadian National) Tower in summer, there hardly seems to be a city at all-- the entire place is subsumed under a beautiful canopy of green.

Unfortunately, due to a complex series of reasons which are difficult even for experts to fully understand, though it makes for hot debate between right- and left-wing politicians and "experts", the city has a catastrophic shortage of cheap accomodation. Rents and housing prices are notoriously high. It's a serious problem for people looking for decent apartments or houses to rent, or for young people searching for inexpensive starting properties to buy. There's been a fantastic boom in new construction in recent years, especially in townhouses in the downtown core and in now-abandoned industrial areas. Whole districts are being given over to condos converted from magnificent old Victorian, Georgian and art-deco industrial and office complexes. Abandoned industrial areas are also being redeveloped for high-density townhousing. This may help people looking to own, but renters are probably going to be left out.

Downtown properties are the hottest on the market, while the suburbs are finally starting to suffer. If the suburbs start to decline, then perhaps we can get rid of these infernal automobile-machines and ditch the modern self-destructive love affair with the stinky car.

Cars: The Bane of the Modern World

Cars don't get the narrow focus here that they do elsewhere. Alternate forms of transportation are widely promoted and supported. There's a constant struggle between the car-reliant suburbs and the car-avoiding downtown. It's a major source of political friction for local politicians.

Many things contribute to a people-friendly rather than a car-friendly atmosphere. This includes the difficulty driving downtown, which has by some reports been unofficial city policy for a generation, the deliberate lack of a comprehensive highway superstructure (unlike most American cities, which are choked by endless suffocating highways), and of course the high population and political mobiliztion of urbanites. Cars are always a contentious issue, and no-one likes traffic. Finding parking can be a major task.

Public Transport

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is an excellent, modern, clean, cheap and (usually) safe means of public transportation. It runs subways, buses, trolleys and Toronto's trademark-- a continuous maze of streetcars (light surface rail transport). It's fast, efficient and usually reliable. The bane of the system is the inability of fringe cities to co-operate on any subject, let alone public transportation. This is typical with competing jurisdictions, whose narrow-minded leaders are bent on promoting their own ill-considered short-term interests while ignoring common needs. Government of Ontario (GO) Transit, however, provides heavy rail and bus commuter access to a large region surrounding the city.

Ideally, what would surely be best is a fully integrated, well-funded, extensive and comprehensive transit system designed to help reduce and perhaps eliminate altogether the need for cars. As it stands, it's difficult to travel from one suburb to another or from the suburbs to the downtown core.

People Power: Bicycles Etc.

Toronto's a great place for cycling. According to Bicycling Magazine, it's the best city for cycling in North America. Bicycle paths stretch everywhere and the number of cyclists on the roads at any time defies the North American car-loving obsession. It's not just a form of recreation-- a huge number of people use bicycles for basic transportation, whether to work, school or shopping. Unlike in other cities, it's no mark of poverty or quirkiness for a business executive to ride to work in the morning on a bicycle. Cycling events are common throughout the city.

In addition to bicycles, there are other widely-used forms of ambulation. These include the numberless hordes of roller-bladers. Many people even use roller-blades as their transportation of choice. Tousists can take advantage of the many rickshaws piloted by strong-legged entrepreneurs

Woman shopping in Kensington Market, Toronto
>From my Photos Section.

Toronto is a foodie's haven. The city has the highest restaurant-to-people ratio of any big city in North America, and it's got to be one of the best cities for food in the world. If there's a cuisine somewhere, chances are it's represented here. All Toronto restaurants have fierce competition. The service is often lacking: there's no strong culture of service or servility in Canada generally, and visitors frequently complain about being given lackadaisical or outright rude service in many eating establishments and shops. But the range, quality and price make Toronto a restaurant-goer's dream. Limitless small, family-run restaurants make going out an adventure in gastronomic variety. A recent crackdown on health standards has resulted in a new health-reporting system. Soon, every restaurant will have to post the results of its last city inspection.

Good, fresh food is usually absurdly cheap. There are several open-air markets. Farmers' markets make their homes in several of the city's districts. At all times of the year, even in the depths of winter, (relatively) cheap fresh vegetables of every description are available.

Building the Spadina Streetcar in T.O.
>From my Photos Section.

The Toronto economy is diverse and intensively developed. Toronto is the undisputed economic heart of Canada. Many people on the fringes of the city work in basic manufacturing and create solid goods that are traded domestically and exported. Toronto is also the capital of the Canadian financial services industry, and the third most important financial services centre in North America (after New York and Chicago).

Most Canadian companies keep their head offices in Toronto, providing the city with a very high corporate profile. High-tech industrial development abounds throughout the Toronto area, from thousands of software development startups to aircraft design. As well as these new-wave economic engines, there are more traditional ways of modern life, such as farming, government employ and all kinds of services and management.

One of the most important industries in the Toronto area is the media. Magazines, newspapers (the city is served by 4 dailies and countless special-interest publications), television (up to 10 local stations in many languages), film, business communications, telecommunications industries and all kinds of production make Toronto the most important producer and most crucial media market in the country, and in turn one of the more important centres in the English-speaking world.

Forbes Magazine rated Toronto 8th-best in North America for investment and business. This is true despite the high taxes prevalent in Canada (used for extensive social programmes, including universal-access, high-quality medicare).

It's not necessarily a good thing to get onto this list, though. That Toronto was able to compete for this "rank" with economic powerhouses in the United States is remarkable. American cities often achieve their business-friendly attitudes at tragic cost to their populations. They win their ratings as a result of poor or non-existent planning, endemic poverty (resulting in high crime but artificially low labour costs), violent social tensions, decaying public infrastructure and corrupt municipal structures. Torontonians appreciate these differences: they don't want reductions in true "quality of life" for the vast majority of people.

Toronto is a major film production and distribution centre. If it's being released, chances are a film will be seen here before almost any other place. There's always the Toronto Film Festival in the late summer-- one of the biggest and most important film events in the world. Thankfully, non-Hollywood films often have very high profiles here, jusand Toronto's only ahop-skip away from the Hollywood-dominated U.S. market.

Toronto has a vibrant and active theatre community, enough to rival New York and London. There are mega-musicals, local playwrights making their way, small community theatres and professional companies all around the metropolis.

Music is a major component of Toronto's life. You can't count the number of bands playing in clubs throughout the city, and a few get big-- The Barenaked Ladies as an example. Some of Toronto's ensembles are world-reknowned-- Tafelmusik for a bit of baroque and excellent Mozart, The Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as many others.

Toronto has open-air markets teeming with fresh fish, produce, dry goods and clothing. Bookstores litter every major and many minor streets. Searching for that off-beat, rare book can be a joy in this town. There's always athletic activities-- skating in winter, cycling, or running.

University College, Toronto, Canada
>From my Photos Section.

The school system in Toronto is good. Almost everyone attends a public school of some sort or other. It's hard to say much about the system-- some experiences are great, others are bad, and the system is usually in a state of constant "reform" by one high-level interest group or another. Faddish educational philosophies come and go like water passing under a bridge. But the schools are basically well-run and do their job with an acceptable degree of success.

Private schools are numerous and some, like Upper Canada College, have historical roots as the select spawning grounds for the snotty, rich and well-connected. Some cater to both sexes (University of Toronto Schools), some are schools just for boys (Upper Canada College), some for girls (Havergal). There are, however, no private universities, as they are not permitted in Canada.

There are three huge universities. The University of Toronto is, by all accounts, probably the best (and certainly the largest) in the nation, depending on what you're looking for. Ryerson Polytechnical University has a staggering variety of practical programmes ranging from film to chemical engineering. York University is one of the country's most liberal institutions with a well-regarded arts faculty, though its 1960's architecture and remote, suburban location puts some people off. There are many good community colleges. Some of these have outstanding programmes-- like Sheridan College's Animation programme, recognized as possibly the best in the world. George Brown College has a good cuisine and cooking programme, and trains thousands of professionals in things like home renovation. There's Seneca and Humber Colleges, the Toronto School of Business, and a long list of other institutions serving the community.

Metro Toronto Police

One of the things that often surprises Americans and other visitors about Toronto is the absence of violent crime. In fact, Toronto has a significantly lower rate of violent crime than almost any other large American or even Canadian city. Vancouver has about six times Toronto's crime, Edmonton can be messy, Calgary has a higher rate, and both Ottawa and Montreal have bigger violence problems. Of course, no Canadian city has the problems endemic to other North American centres. The U.S. and Mexico are plagued by urban violence.

It's safe to walk the streets at night, to go outdoors at almost any hour, and there's no place in Toronto that's actively dangerous. The worst areas of Toronto are comparable to better areas in American cities.

This can be attributed to many factors. An activist welfare state discourages crime by supporting the poor and keeping them from violently acting out. Strict gun control contributes to an atmosphere of safety and personal freedom. The lack of an identifiable, permanent urban underclass means that Toronto escapes many of the problems encountered in places like Paris, London, Mexico City or American cities. The police in the Toronto region tend to be well-trained and efficient , if somewhat, ah, direct in their approaches to crime. These police forces include the Royal Canadian Mounted Polie (RCMP), controlled by the Federal Government, the Metro Toronto Police, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and other municipal forces in the surrounding region, such as the Peel or York Regional Police.

While violent crime is very low, car and bicycle theft are serious problems. Financial fraud is common and often can be very, very hard to attack. It's been said that Toronto is a major money-laundering centre for international drug and organized crime operations.

Protesting Ontario Premier
Mike Harris' right-wing
Government
>From my Photos Section.

Toronto is a very, very liberal place, in strangely Canadian fashion. Though it has most of the country's well-heeled elite and large concentrations of wealth, the mass of the population votes for socially and fiscally liberal candidates and supports a radically liberalized agenda, especially when compared to jurisdictions in the U.S.A.

For a rough approximation of Toronto's political attitudes, and to a lesser extent the rest of Canada, consider a cross between Scandinavian liberalism, peace-and-order-loving British persnicketiness and a healthy North American respect for individual rights and freedoms. Alternative lifestyles are found in abundance in the city and rarely come under public assault. Of course, because of Toronto's wildly diverse population, social generalizations are impossible and sometimes dangerous to make. Pretty much every opinion exists in this cosmopolitan place, but a general consensus on most issues does exist.

This liberalism is often in conflict with the more conservative rural areas of Canada, but the liberalizing effects of Toronto's influence are felt across the province and the nation.

The United Nations has called Toronto the most Multicultural City in the World. Over half of Torontonians were born outside Canada. Most of Canada's huge number of annual immigrants settle in the Toronto area, making it one of the fastest growing urban regions in the Western world. Toronto's linguistic, religious, ethnic and racial diversity defies easy categorization or description. Toronto has a large and prosperous Muslim population, Hindus, Baha'is, Orthodox and Western Christians, Buddhists of many descriptions, New-Agers, Zoroastrians, and the city is a major Jewish centre.

Toronto's languages are countless. The vast majority of people communicate with each other in English, but any stroll along a Toronto street or neighbourhood will reveal a host of other languages in common use. It's anyone's bet which language people will use at home. School classes may have as many languages represented as they have students. The people you meet on the street may have been born in Estonia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Ghana or Trinidad and Tobago. They could have parents from two formerly hostile nations on the other side of the planet. They could also be refugees, from Cuba, Bosnia, Guatemala or Zaire.

All of these diverse peoples live together with a minimum of social tension. There are, of course, occasional and recurring problems. While not to be ignored, these problems are minor compared to those of almost any other large, diverse city anywhere else in the world, whether in the U.S., Europe, India or Eastern Asia. What's more, Toronto's urban communities are integrated more effectively than other cities in North America or Europe. While identifiable communities do exist, people mix very freely and seemingly without any restraint.

The children of immigrants adapt quickly. It's not uncommon to see a stream of inter-ethnic and inter-racial couples everywhere you go. This isn't the result of government policy or propaganda, despite the official credo of "multiculturalism". No official body really deserves the credit for this developing racial and cultural interrelation, whether liberal or conservative. People just seem to want to get on with their lives, and modern Toronto isn't a town known to worship one tradition or ideology for any length of time.

Casa Loma.
Toronto's own castle.
>From my Photos Section.

Toronto has a short but exciting history. Settled first as a garrison-town by the British, occupation of the general region stretches back thousands of years. The city has kept many of its original features, including historic neighbourhoods and some impressive architecture. Though Toronto was far too cavalier about discarding its past until relatively recently, there's been a healthy renaissance in historical preservation and research. The history of the city is celebrated in many ways. It's not uncommon to find historic gems hidden among modern glass-and-steel towers or newer brick townhouses.

Toronto originally meant something like "Place of the standing sticks", or some such thing. It referred to the complex series of fishing weirs set up in LAke Simcoe to the north. Toronto sits on what was known for decades as the Toronto Carrying Place, the point where travellers started upriver to Lake Simcoe. 19th-century local historian Henry Scadding apparently stumbled upon another possible meaning for the name, "Meeting Place", a Huron term, but no evidence has ever been brought forward to back up this claim.

York (modern Toronto) was founded in the Province of Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1797, by Governor General Sir John Graves Simcoe. The site was chosen because the peninsula (now the Islands) offered a sheltered harbour; the islands still have a lighthouse dating back almost to the founding of the city, at a place on the Islands called "Gibraltar Point".

Toronto was invaded and burned by the Americans during the War of 1812, but they didn't stay very long before they were routed and lost the war: Canada wasn't incorporated into the U.S. Revolts against elitist corruption erupted in 1837 in both Upper Canada and Lower Canada (Quebec), and when the governor-general moved troops to Montreal to crush the revolt there, people from York (Toronto), under the leadership of Scottish-Canadian reformer Mackenzie King, marched on the barracks here. The revolt ended with a whimper, not a shout: the disorganized rebels were put to flight by a few desperate, poorly armed government defenders. But the revolt brought about reform, "Responsible Government" and Mackenzie King became the first mayor of the newly renamed city of Toronto.

It's from Toronto that the North-West Mounted Police (the modern Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP) set out to put down rebellions and insurrections in the Canadian west.

Toronto was home to many runaway slaves from the Unites States, fleeing racist oppression through the Underground Railroad. Torontonians actively participated in the Boer War, last "great" war of the British Empire, and Torontonians were until the 1940's embarassingly enthusiastic about the British Empire. Locals fought bravely in World Wars I and II.

More recently, Toronto was a major haven for American draft-dodgers and liberals during the United States' terrible Vietnam War. In Toronto's colourful past there has been political unrest, nasty religious violence, ethnic discrimination, riots, social reform and great contests of public will. Economic, development and political ideologies have taken hold of the soul of the city from time to time, only to pass when the need arose to address new problems.

Now, Toronto is home to a progressive and multi-ethnic population. Stable and prosperous, the city isn't without its problems. A not insignificant one is the weather; grey, cold and slushy in the winter, hot, muggy and humid in the summer. Torontonians can be cold and distant, though most are quite friendly. There's a growing sense of unease about the city's future in the corporate-ruled, abusive, lowest-common-denominator global economy. Overall, though, at this time, it's possibly one of the coolest and most pleasant places to live. It's one of the few really liveable large cities in the world. Toronto is a wonderful, exciting place to call home.