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Toronto/Chicago comparisons

That's what I was thinking too. Toronto has a lot of rich people, but somehow it's not in the Canadian psyche to go out and drop 5,000$ on a dress. Having said that, things have changed a lot in the past 20 years. Bloor had pretty much nothing on it as far as luxury is concerned.
Chicago feels more grand. Grand boulevard, the river, the waterfront. I can't compare it with Chicago. Even though I've heard some Chicagoans say that toronto reminds them of Chicago without the history.
 
vatche said:
That's what I was thinking too. Toronto has a lot of rich people, but somehow it's not in the Canadian psyche to go out and drop 5,000$ on a dress. Having said that, things have changed a lot in the past 20 years. Bloor had pretty much nothing on it as far as luxury is concerned.
Chicago feels more grand. Grand boulevard, the river, the waterfront. I can't compare it with Chicago. Even though I've heard some Chicagoans say that toronto reminds them of Chicago without the history.
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Yep I agree but it still pales in comparison with the US, and I believe income breakdowns do show there are much folks in the higher income groups in the state then here, where we have more in the middle ground.
 
Well i think the city of Toronto overtaken the city of Chicago in terms of people living within its border. Canada's biggest city Toronto in now the fourth largest in North America but Toronto is 12% more expensive then Chicago.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
Tiger, just curious, what do you think of Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, etc as you like the liveable city rather then the exciting one.
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Speaking of Australian cities, I see a lot of similarities between Canadian and Australian cities. They seem to have a similar vibe and quality of life. Both Sydney and Melbourne make good comparisons to Montreal and Toronto. Comparing Toronto to Sydney or Melbourne, may be a more fair comparison than Chicago. (in every way except for weather) I like the quality of life and the relaxed vibe of Aussie cities. There newer buildings seem quite similar to what we build here. I noticed that they also have a lot of new grey spandrel/glass buildings. Thank god they have the sunshine and blue skies to balance that out a bit.
 
I've always felt that Melbourne seemed the most similar to Toronto out of any city in the world.

I'll have to visit one day to confirm that notion though. :)
 
Torontovibe said:
Speaking of Australian cities, I see a lot of similarities between Canadian and Australian cities.
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I've always said that Australia is what Canada would be if it were located on the opposite side of the globe. People often like to compare the USA and Canada, but from what little I know about the countries I feel that Canada and Australia are far better analogs for each other.
 
Torontovibe said:
Speaking of Australian cities, I see a lot of similarities between Canadian and Australian cities. They seem to have a similar vibe and quality of life. Both Sydney and Melbourne make good comparisons to Montreal and Toronto. Comparing Toronto to Sydney or Melbourne, may be a more fair comparison than Chicago. (in every way except for weather) I like the quality of life and the relaxed vibe of Aussie cities. There newer buildings seem quite similar to what we build here. I noticed that they also have a lot of new grey spandrel/glass buildings. Thank god they have the sunshine and blue skies to balance that out a bit.
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TheTigerMaster said:
I've always said that Australia is what Canada would be if it were located on the opposite side of the globe. People often like to compare the USA and Canada, but from what little I know about the countries I feel that Canada and Australia are far better analogs for each other.
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I think the Australian cities are better the American ones for the most part. No snow, little violence, clean, friendly, etc, etc.
 
I dont think that being better than an American city isn't exactly a challenging feat. :)

That said,Australian and Canadian cities are certainly among the best of the best cities to work and live. I dont think its a coincidence that large cities in those two countries are consistently cited as the world's best. They've obviously been doing many thing right.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
Tiger, just curious, what do you think of Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, etc as you like the liveable city rather then the exciting one.
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Those three Australian cities along with Vancouver and Toronto are basically the only five cities on my short list if I had to pack up and move tomorrow. The only three cities remotely interesting on that list are Toronto, Sydney and maybe Vancouver. But I think that most people will agree that excitement is overrated. I've had the pleasure of visiting many of the world's "exciting" cities, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to live there. In most cases it made me appreciate a "boring" city like Toronto even more :cool:. I guess the exciting life isn't for me.

And I have to take issue with calling Toronto, Sydney, Vancouver (etc..) unexciting. I'd say that their far more interesting than 90% of the cities people live in. They only become unexciting when comparing them to the apparent "great" cities of the world. Personally I think that these reflects well on these cities.

Anyways from what I know about these cities they are all very safe and socially liberal with great healthcare, education, social services (etc...). I don't what more I could ask for out of a home.
 
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TheTigerMaster said:
Anyways from what I know about these cities they are all very safe and socially liberal with great healthcare, education, social services (etc...). I don't what more I could ask for out of a home.
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Though, these qualities aren't really even municipal issues. That doesn't detract from the reality that Melbourne is safer than Baltimore, for instance, but these livability surveys are mostly comparing national socio-welfare systems. It's not Chicago's fault, per se, that the US is a very unequal society, for instance.
 
The minimum wage for those 20 years old and older is 16 dollars an hour and even people on Welfare get around 1400 dollars a month, so I'm sure that helps their quality of life. Minimum wage here is 10.25 and people on Welfare guy less than half of what Aussies get. If you're down on your luck, it's probably the best place to be.
 
Another reason Canadian cities are a lot like Aussie cities is due to both countries having relatively small populations spread over a huge geographical area, leading to governments being much more interested and focused on not screwing up the few cities they do have. Cities in both countries are really gathering places. In the US large cities are a dime a dozen, so it doesn't really hurt the economy if one of them begins to fail (eg. Detroit).
 
middeljohn said:
Another reason Canadian cities are a lot like Aussie cities is due to both countries having relatively small populations spread over a huge geographical area, leading to governments being much more interested and focused on not screwing up the few cities they do have. Cities in both countries are really gathering places. In the US large cities are a dime a dozen, so it doesn't really hurt the economy if one of them begins to fail (eg. Detroit).
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Imagine if Toronto or Sydney were to fail in a fashion similar to Detroit. It would have catastrophic effects on the nations.

Torontovibe said:
The minimum wage for those 20 years old and older is 16 dollars an hour and even people on Welfare get around 1400 dollars a month, so I'm sure that helps their quality of life. Minimum wage here is 10.25 and people on Welfare guy less than half of what Aussies get. If you're down on your luck, it's probably the best place to be.
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It still amazes me that student minimum wage here is $2.35 higher than the general minimum wage in the United States. If the Americans had the willpower to raise the minimum wage to a livable rate it would do wonders for their communities.
 
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