Friday, November 03, 2006

Hating Toronto?

Hating Toronto

It seems to be the national pastime in this country to hate Toronto. Or at least resent it. There are plenty of reasons why, it seems to be the attitude of many Torontonians that the rest of the country is superfluous. That all decisions in this country come out of Bay Street.

The resentment seems even more severe in Western Canada, especially in Alberta, where it is particularly rabid. Albertans seemingly believe THEY should be the center of the universe.

I like most Canadians have spent time in Toronto, and of course have relatives there. Indeed I have been there numerous times; in fact I have been in Toronto twice in the last few months.

As you are probably aware if you visit this Blog, I am a professional fire fighter. I recently visited Toronto for the International Association of Fire Fighters convention. During this time I was able to get a good look at downtown Toronto and meet quite a few people

To be honest I was amazed at how well we were greeted by the City. The people were much friendlier then I expected, however I was aghast at the number of people living on the streets.

I presume, in the final analysis that Toronto, like all big cities is a contradiction in terms; a large friendly booming city, relatively crime free. Yet one that tolerates many, many unfortunates sleeping in the street.