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Seven ways to make Toronto a world-class city again

Thanks for posting, very interesting perspectives here! 'City of blue glass condos' and 'city of falling glass' stood out for me as among the more unflattering impressions. Over all it was a positive discussion but I get the sense that these dudes were really just shocked to discover that Canada is not just a country in name only but actually different to the U.S.A in ways less subtle than they may have assumed.

They describe visiting the Distillery, Yorkville, the ROM, the UofT campus and the CN Tower... oh and it's hilarious when they talk about 'Mississ-ou-ga' though I think they're likely talking about Hamilton (They reference a population of 500K). They also loved the unique streetcar network.
 
Tewder said:
Over all it was a positive discussion but I get the sense that these dudes were really just shocked to discover that Canada is not just a country in name only but actually different to the U.S.A in ways less subtle than they may have assumed.
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That's a tad disturbing from a bunch of social scientists.

AoD
 
Really bizarre podcast. Especially the part about the falling glass and construction. A lot of weird misinformation.

EDIT: To clarify, I don't think they are idiots or something. It's nice that they enjoyed the city and it is interesting to hear the perspectives of others. Just sometimes you hear someone make a statement and wonder what led them to that conclusion.
 
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Some headscratchers from that podcast...

-The side of Niagara Falls that has the water on it is the American side. Huh?
-They were really harsh on the tacky touristy Canadian side, which is understandable, but were silent on how deserted and decayed the American side is.
-No humidity in Ontario. Granted it's been a pretty cool summer, but wow that first impression was way off of the usual.
-Amazement at another country's flag being everywhere. Well, duh. These guys were talking like people who had never been outside the United States before.
-The "Canadian Tower". I suppose this is half accurate considering what CN stands for, but is it so hard to get the name right?
-Most universities in the US don't have UofT's old stone buildings look. Oddly, American universities in movies almost always look like that.
-"The worst traffic that has ever existed in all of Canadian history". Yeah, sounds about right!

Their experience at the poutine place with the singing theatre students seems quintessentially Toronto.
 
Yeah I though some of the observations were weird too, it does just go to show how 'unknown' to Americans - or ignored - we are... these guys were from freakin' Ohio by the way which is only about a 4 hour drive!

I thought it was odd that they considered Niagara Falls to be part of the midwest? The comments on the Canadian accent were priceless though.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
These midwestern social scientists seem to have really enjoyed themselves the week they were in Toronto: http://midwesternsocialscientists.podomatic.com/entry/2015-08-17T05_46_47-07_00

The part about specifically Toronto doesn't start until about 30 mins in. But the whole show was worth listening to.
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Pretty bizarre in an entertaining sort of way. I enjoyed when they referred to going to Yorkville as the "far north". Or commented on the nature component of the flag as unique... presumably unaware of the tree on the Lebanese flag.

And I just got to the point where they credit California as originating "bobba tea" (???). It's spelled "bubble" guys. And is from Taiwan.
 
JGHali said:
Pretty bizarre in an entertaining sort of way. I enjoyed when they referred to going to Yorkville as the "far north". Or commented on the nature component of the flag as unique... presumably unaware of the tree on the Lebanese flag.

And I just got to the point where they credit California as originating "bobba tea" (???). It's spelled "bubble" guys. And is from Taiwan.
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I get the feeling that the pair hasn't stepped foot outside the United States before.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
I get the feeling that the pair hasn't stepped foot outside the United States before.
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It's funny though, i have friends and family in the US who are well traveled. They've been to exotic destinations and are informed and respectful urban tourists. They just have this enormous blind spot where it comes to Canada. Most of them are truly shocked and delighted when/if they do venture here, as these Ohio lads demonstrate.
 
Tewder said:
It's funny though, i have friends and family in the US who are well traveled. They've been to exotic destinations and are informed and respectful urban tourists. They just have this enormous blind spot where it comes to Canada. Most of them are truly shocked and delighted when/if they do venture here, as these Ohio lads demonstrate.
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Yeah but these are not typical Ohio lads.

AoD
 
oh for sure, i'm not excusing them. It's just that even the most educated and liberal Americans sort of take us for granted.
 
I've been asked some pretty amusing things by well-educated Americans during my time here in Amsterdam.

"Do you have cheese fries in Canada?"
"Does it ever get warm in Canada?"
"Do you have black people in Canada?" (on two separate occasions, by two different people)
 
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