Toronto named best place to live.

[Boges]

6 minutes ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

As an ignorant outsider, I would rank Ottawa ahead of both. There's more to do, it's got more history and it's better value for money. I considered moving to Burlington as I have friends and relatives there but house prices are mental now. The lake is grim enough in winter and blarney about the escarpment and wine-growing region are overdone. 

The cool thing about Burlington is that it does actually have a modest little urban portion with lots of summer festivals .http://burlingtondowntown.ca It also has all the suburban things that people love (Costco, Walmart, Ikea etc). 

It's the same lake as people in Toronto have. You're close to Hamilton which is actually going through a Brooklyn like gentrification. 

Best of both worlds. 

Now Oakville is mostly for rich people. 

[SpankyMcFarland]

14 minutes ago, Boges said:

The cool thing about Burlington is that it does actually have a modest little urban portion with lots of summer festivals .http://burlingtondowntown.ca It also has all the suburban things that people love (Costco, Walmart, Ikea etc). 

It's the same lake as people in Toronto have. You're close to Hamilton which is actually going through a Brooklyn like gentrification. 

Best of both worlds. 

Now Oakville is mostly for rich people. 

It's the place I know best in Ontario (not very well at that) but look at the difference - 794k vs 472k for a house in Ottawa. That's too much in my book.

Edited May 11, 2017 by SpankyMcFarland

[Boges]

7 minutes ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

It's the place I know best in Ontario (not very well at that) but look at the difference - 794k vs 472k for a house in Ottawa. That's too much in my book.

Well yeah, Real Estate in the GTA is absurd.

But other than as a Civil Servant, is the employment situation the same? There's also much more snow in Ottawa. 

[Argus]

1 hour ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

It's the place I know best in Ontario (not very well at that) but look at the difference - 794k vs 472k for a house in Ottawa. That's too much in my book.

Those prices don't take into account the actual price discrepancy between houses. The average price of a house is not $794 in Toronto. That's including the cost of condos, which are cheaper, but have large monthly fees. The average house price in Toronto is a million dollars. You can get a nice little detached bungalow in Ottawa fifteen minutes from downtown with a reasonably large, private, fenced back yard for $350k.

[Argus]

1 hour ago, Boges said:

Well yeah, Real Estate in the GTA is absurd.

But other than as a Civil Servant, is the employment situation the same? There's also much more snow in Ottawa. 

Real estate prices aren't the only problem with Toronto. Getting around, particularly during rush hour, can be a nightmare too.

[SpankyMcFarland]

2 hours ago, Argus said:

Those prices don't take into account the actual price discrepancy between houses. The average price of a house is not $794 in Toronto. That's including the cost of condos, which are cheaper, but have large monthly fees. The average house price in Toronto is a million dollars. You can get a nice little detached bungalow in Ottawa fifteen minutes from downtown with a reasonably large, private, fenced back yard for $350k.

The 794k price referred to Burlington. Ottawa has some decent hills and incredible parks close by as well. Didn't realize until now it was as vulnerable to flooding, though. I'll be keeping an eye on that.

Edited May 11, 2017 by SpankyMcFarland

[Argus]

1 hour ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

The 794k price referred to Burlington. Ottawa has some decent hills and incredible parks close by as well. Didn't realize until now it was as vulnerable to flooding, though. I'll be keeping an eye on that.

Ottawa is not really vulnerable to flooding. The areas along the river which have flooded have not, for the most part, been flooded for decades. And they are RIGHT by the Ottawa river. There are some areas along the banks of the Rideau which also have occasional flooding. But you're talking about maybe 1/10th of 1% of the city.

[-TSS-]

These best cities to live in-surveys seem to always include the Austrian, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian cities.

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 5/13/2017 at 4:02 PM, -TSS- said:

These best cities to live in-surveys seem to always include the Austrian, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian cities.

Good places to visit, or to live in if money is not a problem. Even with those criteria added, I don't see how Toronto would head the pack. Its transport infrastructure is not impressive and it's an ugly place.

 

 

[Boges]

1 hour ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

it's an ugly place.

That's pretty subjective. 

A lot of Toronto's appeal is the small quaint neighbourhoods. 

[SpankyMcFarland]

7 hours ago, Boges said:

That's pretty subjective. 

A lot of Toronto's appeal is the small quaint neighbourhoods. 

Prettier than Ottawa? It certainly can't hold a candle to any of the more photogenic European cities on looks. Too much concrete. And don't get me started on the subway 'system'.

 

[Boges]

1 minute ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

Prettier than Ottawa? It certainly can't hold a candle to any of the more photogenic European cities on looks. Too much concrete. And don't get me started on the subway 'system'.

It's a pretty new metropolis. The Boom has been in the last 30 years so, of course, you're not going to have old structures like in Montreal or Quebec City. But Toronto has plenty of unique beautiful areas. 

The Subway system is poop, but there are other alternatives. Are there successful cities that don't have traffic problems? 

[SpankyMcFarland]

2 minutes ago, Boges said:

It's a pretty new metropolis. The Boom has been in the last 30 years so, of course, you're not going to have old structures like in Montreal or Quebec City. But Toronto has plenty of unique beautiful areas. 

The Subway system is poop, but there are other alternatives. Are there successful cities that don't have traffic problems? 

I wouldn't blame any city for traffic. Calgary was a great place to drive in after the oil bust in the Eighties left the city with too few cars.

Maybe I expect too much from Toronto and I should probably get out and visit the neighbourhoods more. High Park is a lovely spot. For some reason, I find the ever diminishing view of the lake from the Gardiner Expressway particularly depressing and it's something I nearly always see when I go. On the other hand, it's a sign of success too.  

 

[BuzzKillington]

Back in the day when I lived in Toronto, I would say it was a very nice place to live. 

Not too sure about now. 

[taxme]

On 7/13/2016 at 3:27 PM, Archduke al-Qaddafi said:

Toronto is a great city, but not a good place to live. And it's suburbs are absolutely vile. I always found that the best places to live in Canada are the mid-sized cities just outside the GTA, places like Kitchener, London, or even Barrie. Nice little cities in their own right, and it is never a big deal if you want to go spend a weekend in TO and enjoy all it has to offer.

All is well for those mid size cities for now. But Toronto is coming their way soon and it will be taking over those cities. They are not going to get off scot free. If you want more immigration it is going to happen. Get ready now and prepare for the invasion. Then you may not need to go to Toronto anymore as Toronto will be bringing it all too you. Have fun and enjoy your peace and quiet for now, small city dweller.  

[taxme]

On 7/24/2018 at 1:23 PM, BuzzKillington said:

Back in the day when I lived in Toronto, I would say it was a very nice place to live. 

Not too sure about now. 

Do you think that massive immigration may have something to do with Toronto not being all that nice a place to live anymore by chance? Just asking. 

[taxme]

14 minutes ago, triss said:

This is sad.

You can thank your dear leader politicians for the mess that Toronto is in. One can only hope that Doug Ford changes all of what the liberals and socialists have done to that once great city and province. Ford is probably Toronto's and Ontario's last hope for survival as Toronto once was several decades ago. 

[turningrite]

On 9/6/2018 at 4:25 PM, taxme said:

Do you think that massive immigration may have something to do with Toronto not being all that nice a place to live anymore by chance? Just asking. 

It's certainly impacted housing availability and costs. Look at the problems of those displaced by the 650 Parliament St. fire, many of whom have nowhere to move to but shelters. And there was an article in today's Toronto Star about a senior with cancer who's been on the assisted housing waiting list for years. Seniors and the seriously ill and disabled apparently don't rank on the priority scale where public services are concerned. I believe the British economist Sir Paul Collier has noted that one of the impacts of large scale immigration in developed economies is to generate greater competition among the disadvantaged for ever scarcer social services, leading eventually to a decline in social cohesion as well as withdrawal of public support for sustaining these programs. That's where we are in 2018, folks. The safety net is gone. Why keep paying for it?

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/09/06/even-terminal-illness-wont-guarantee-a-spot-in-torontos-subsidized-housing.html

[taxme]

2 hours ago, turningrite said:

It's certainly impacted housing availability and costs. Look at the problems of those displaced by the 650 Parliament St. fire, many of whom have nowhere to move to but shelters. And there was an article in today's Toronto Star about a senior with cancer who's been on the assisted housing waiting list for years. Seniors and the seriously ill and disabled apparently don't rank on the priority scale where public services are concerned. I believe the British economist Sir Paul Collier has noted that one of the impacts of large scale immigration in developed economies is to generate greater competition among the disadvantaged for ever scarcer social services, leading eventually to a decline in social cohesion as well as withdrawal of public support for sustaining these programs. That's where we are in 2018, folks. The safety net is gone. Why keep paying for it?

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/09/06/even-terminal-illness-wont-guarantee-a-spot-in-torontos-subsidized-housing.html

Canada needs to get out of the immigration business for a very long time. Immigration is the cause of just about all of our problems today in Canada from housing, assaults on our social and medical services, infrastructure and environment. More immigration is not what is needed but less immigration. 

With the possibility of 160,000 jobs disappearing in the automotive sector if the trade deal goes sour, it is high time for our stunned political leaders to get with the bloody program. With 300,000 thousand more immigrants every year coming to Canada and with another 160,000 Canadians possibly having to look for a new job where is the common sense and logic in bringing in another bunch of people who are not needed nor wanted here. Canada is so screwed up these days thanks to our politicians who appear to be totally clueless as to what is going on or will go on or they all are trying to promote an agenda of trying to turn Canada into a have not country full of have not people. What else can be said. 

[Rue]

I am not sure blaming Immigrants makes your case. No doubt though from reading past posts, you feel comfortable pointing out people with sun tans and big noses are problematic.

 It certainly can be said that anyone in Toronto who is not properly qualified to work and is unemployed creates socio- economic challenges to the city. Whether that is only the result of immigrants and not non immigrant Canadians  as well remains the question. The problem with your argument is it ignores all the non immigrants who are unemployed and blames people when you don't know the individual circumstances of their situations that may be preventing them from working and whether it is caused by their negligence or something beyond their control. You have no statistics that can show the problems of Toronto are caused only by immigrants let alone are the fault of these immigrants. However again I do concede sun tans and big noses do seem to bother you and I appreciate that. Myself I think big lips can be problematic but I am thinking more of collagen injections and not any particular ethnic group.

That said obviously when it comes to Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, they are magnets to immigrants who come to be with their fellow immigrants and feel safe in same culture ghettos in those cities.

Assimilation into Canadian culture is delayed by ghettoes and may delay entry into the greater Canadian mosaic and therefore jobs. It may on the other hand through these ghettoes set up networks that help these people jet jobs as well.

I think Toronto has many issues. One is the after-effects of  policies implemented by the past Liberal governments and I believe those policies have hurt all cities and economic zones in Ontario not just Toronto.

The fact that 1 of every 5 Ontarians is dependent on a source of income derived from selling something in the US does not help either. It makes us vulnerable to trade interest policies that are not in our best economic interests.

The current City of Toronto has a dysfunctional system of voting and for the last 15 to  20 years discussions because  of it are time consuming and water down and compromise beneficial business policies.

The province and federal government have also passed laws over-taxing Ontario and Toronto assuming Toronto has an unlimited threshold for paying taxes.

One of Toronto's most serious issues is its failure to address the subway issue and create a proper subway system across the GTA to Mississauga or even Kitchener to he West, Barrie to the North  and Oshawa to the East.

Its also been inexcusable in how it destroyed its water-front with no thought to condominium condensation.

Toronto can't innovate because its current municipal government can't agree on a damn thing.

Toronto is also technically bankrupt. It's spending went out of control years ago.

In regards to the greater Ontario context, the only way Ontario as a whole makes more jobs and grows is to diversify and stop depending on the auto industry and US buyers. It has to  look to Europe, South America, Pacific nations to trade with.

One last thing. Before you shee-yat too much on immigrants...need to be reminded... our province and Toronto have become addicted to immigrants when they are students. These students  pay roughly  20 to 30 thou a year as elementary, high school, college and university students. Their money now funds all our schools, public and private let alone colleges and universities. They fuel the academic and education sector and create a spin off effect with their purchases and renting rooms in peoples' homes.

Don't kid yourself. No one is complaining in our universities and colleges or towns making financial gain from enrolling and housing these students.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Rue

[turningrite]

2 hours ago, Rue said:

I am not sure blaming Immigrants makes your case. No doubt though from reading past posts, you feel comfortable pointing out people with sun tans and big noses are problematic.

It certainly can be said that anyone in Toronto who is not properly qualified to work and is unemployed creates socio- economic challenges to the city. Whether that is only the result of immigrants and not non immigrant Canadians  as well remains the question. The problem with your argument is it ignores all the non immigrants who are unemployed and blames people when you don't know the individual circumstances of their situations that may be preventing them from working and whether it is caused by their negligence or something beyond their control. You have no statistics that can show the problems of Toronto are caused only by immigrants let alone are the fault of these immigrants. However again I do concede sun tans and big noses do seem to bother you and I appreciate that. Myself I think big lips can be problematic but I am thinking more of collagen injections and not any particular ethnic group.

That said obviously when it comes to Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, they are magnets to immigrants who come to be with their fellow immigrants and feel safe in same culture ghettos in those cities.

Assimilation into Canadian culture is delayed by ghettoes and may delay entry into the greater Canadian mosaic and therefore jobs. It may on the other hand through these ghettoes set up networks that help these people jet jobs as well.

I think Toronto has many issues. One is the after-effects of  policies implemented by the past Liberal governments and I believe those policies have hurt all cities and economic zones in Ontario not just Toronto.

 

Sun tans and big noses? Huh? In any case, the problem with immigration in cities/urban regions like Toronto and Vancouver is simply numbers. Canada now accepts roughly 320K immigrants a year (and growing), half of whom end up in Ontario and a majority of these end up in the GTA. Now, you take a city of almost 3 million and an urban region of 6 million, in each case with infrastructure and resources sufficient for two-thirds that many. And then you add roughly 120K newcomers to the region year after year, and you add hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and tens or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of foreign students, and, voila, you have a recipe for a lot of very unhappy people. I imagine that Vancouver and its urban region face the same population stresses. Is it any wonder that polling indicates that people in these two cities/urban regions are the unhappiest in the country? (See link to G&M article, below.) It's not rocket science. That nobody in officialdom seems to have figured this out is utterly beyond rational belief.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-why-are-people-in-vancouver-and-toronto-so-unhappy/

[Cannucklehead]

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5394032

I know it's a waste of paper but I still kinda want one too.  

[SpankyMcFarland]

As a serial immigrant myself I can hardly condemn the practice entirely, but numbers do matter and the communities most affected by it should have a disproportionate say in how much is tolerable which is certainly not the case at the moment. 

 

[taxme]

On 9/13/2018 at 9:46 AM, Rue said:

I am not sure blaming Immigrants makes your case. No doubt though from reading past posts, you feel comfortable pointing out people with sun tans and big noses are problematic.

 It certainly can be said that anyone in Toronto who is not properly qualified to work and is unemployed creates socio- economic challenges to the city. Whether that is only the result of immigrants and not non immigrant Canadians  as well remains the question. The problem with your argument is it ignores all the non immigrants who are unemployed and blames people when you don't know the individual circumstances of their situations that may be preventing them from working and whether it is caused by their negligence or something beyond their control. You have no statistics that can show the problems of Toronto are caused only by immigrants let alone are the fault of these immigrants. However again I do concede sun tans and big noses do seem to bother you and I appreciate that. Myself I think big lips can be problematic but I am thinking more of collagen injections and not any particular ethnic group.

That said obviously when it comes to Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, they are magnets to immigrants who come to be with their fellow immigrants and feel safe in same culture ghettos in those cities.

Assimilation into Canadian culture is delayed by ghettoes and may delay entry into the greater Canadian mosaic and therefore jobs. It may on the other hand through these ghettoes set up networks that help these people jet jobs as well.

I think Toronto has many issues. One is the after-effects of  policies implemented by the past Liberal governments and I believe those policies have hurt all cities and economic zones in Ontario not just Toronto.

The fact that 1 of every 5 Ontarians is dependent on a source of income derived from selling something in the US does not help either. It makes us vulnerable to trade interest policies that are not in our best economic interests.

The current City of Toronto has a dysfunctional system of voting and for the last 15 to  20 years discussions because  of it are time consuming and water down and compromise beneficial business policies.

The province and federal government have also passed laws over-taxing Ontario and Toronto assuming Toronto has an unlimited threshold for paying taxes.

One of Toronto's most serious issues is its failure to address the subway issue and create a proper subway system across the GTA to Mississauga or even Kitchener to he West, Barrie to the North  and Oshawa to the East.

Its also been inexcusable in how it destroyed its water-front with no thought to condominium condensation.

Toronto can't innovate because its current municipal government can't agree on a damn thing.

Toronto is also technically bankrupt. It's spending went out of control years ago.

In regards to the greater Ontario context, the only way Ontario as a whole makes more jobs and grows is to diversify and stop depending on the auto industry and US buyers. It has to  look to Europe, South America, Pacific nations to trade with.

One last thing. Before you shee-yat too much on immigrants...need to be reminded... our province and Toronto have become addicted to immigrants when they are students. These students  pay roughly  20 to 30 thou a year as elementary, high school, college and university students. Their money now funds all our schools, public and private let alone colleges and universities. They fuel the academic and education sector and create a spin off effect with their purchases and renting rooms in peoples' homes.

Don't kid yourself. No one is complaining in our universities and colleges or towns making financial gain from enrolling and housing these students.

 

 

Toronto was once known as " Toronto the good". The population was made up mainly of people from western countries like Britain, Europe and Australia. We did not see all the gun violence and shootings in the streets and all the drugs and drug violence plaguing this once great city called Toronto the good that we are seeing going on in Toronto today and for decades now.

It all changed when our Canadian immigration policy was changed back in the sixties. After that it was all down hill and it was full speed ahead with the liberal socialist program and agenda of forcing of massive 3rd world immigration and multiculturalism and diversity on a people who never dam well asked for it. Those three were shoved down the throats on the rest of the country also. There is not one person with an ounce of brains can say that massive third world immigration has been all that great for Toronto or for the rest of the country, and the main reason why Toronto is not so good anymore. Just what has massive 3rd world immigration done to Canada that is making it so great? Go ahead, Rue? 

Toronto is a great place to live if one is into multiculturalism and diversity and cannot wait to see the people from the 3rd world start to take over Toronto the bad now. And thanks to our dear leftist socialist political brainless leaders CANADA will never be the same anymore. Matter of fact, in another couple of decades from now Canada will not look like Canada anymore as It once did before the sixties. It will be a country made up of dozens of religions, languages, cultures, traditions, heritages, and other ways of life that are not culturally compatible with Canada's past and what is left today. All that will be left now is division. 

Assimilation will never happen in Canada. The only thing that will be happening is that there will be way too many different cultural ghettoe tribes springing up everywhere in Canada and separation will take place and all will be fighting for a piece of the turf. When a country has decided that it wants to commit cultural suicide than all that is needed to do so is to bring on in programs like massive 3rd world immigration, multiculturalism and diversity. Those three will do the job. It is for sure that kid Trudeau wants it that way just like his old commie man wanted to do. They both hated this western looking nation. The kid hates the country that made and gave him what he has today. Go figure, eh?  

[Moonlight Graham]

On 5/11/2017 at 1:43 PM, Boges said:

The cool thing about Burlington is that it does actually have a modest little urban portion with lots of summer festivals .http://burlingtondowntown.ca It also has all the suburban things that people love (Costco, Walmart, Ikea etc). 

It's the same lake as people in Toronto have. You're close to Hamilton which is actually going through a Brooklyn like gentrification. 

Best of both worlds. 

Now Oakville is mostly for rich people. 

Hamilton is a sh!t-hole.  It smells like those disgusting steel mills on the lakefront that emit garbage into the air out of their smokestacks.