Wowzers. I sent this article to a friend of mine, and this is what he responded: (note: none of the following views reflect my personal thoughts on Toronto!)
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I saw this article when it was published. It might as well be called "Enron's Annual Report" because it is absolute fiction - littered with so many omissions it would make a born-again virgin blush on her wedding night. If you think Toronto isn't in decline, you're in denial. I suppose this line of thinking is the only thing keeping the author from throwing himself off of the Bloor/Danforth via duct. Oh, I have to tell you how safe I felt walking home from work last night to the sound of gun fire at Yonge and Dundas. Ah, yes... Toronto: the nicest American city I've ever lived in.
1) Jobs are leaving Toronto.
Look no further than Imperial Oil leaving for Calgary. In fact, Calgary just surpassed Toronto as the most expensive commercial real estate market in the country. According to a recent Canadian Business study, Toronto ranked at the bottom of the list highlighting "the best cities to do business in" (37th out of 40). Toronto scored lower than surrounding GTA cities such as Oshawa, which ranked 23, and Mississauga, which held the 17th spot. Markham was the GTA’s best ranking at eighth. GO MARKHAM! Actually, the only Ontario city ranked lower than Toronto was Kingston (placed 39 out of 40). So, why is this guy's head firmly lodged up his anal crevasse? He seems to not grasp the fact that Toronto has the highest rate of business property taxes in North America. Business property taxes don’t depend on profit. They pay per square foot whether or not they made money last year or not. As Ice Cube would say: Like a 28" Zenith. Believe it. I actually know a mutual fund manager who makes >$2 million/yr who just moved from Toronto to Calgary because he was sick of the taxes here (municipal, provincial, and the 'effing prices at the pump!).
2) Toronto is a city in decline
Affirmative, we're in a flat spin headed out to sea. Have you been to the Wal-Mart at the Scarborough Town Centre on a Saturday (this covers his other line about a "wasteland")? Here's how that looks: your white face among a sea of others with some serious pigmentation who don't speak English. It is a fact. I defy anyone to say otherwise. Why is this troubling? Because, literally, something on the order of 50% of new Canadian immigrants come to Toronto. They're part of the more than 100,000 new residents who come to the city each year. The double-whammy is that these folks, for the most part, do nothing to maintain or raise the standard of living for the rest of us. They pay lower taxes - you try getting a job when you can't speak English - plus they suck on the socialist teat and clog up the infrastructure more than a quarter-pounder in Clinton's arteries. Did the author go to business school? In fact, has he ever owned a lemonade stand? He should know that revenue = price x quantity. The city's revenue - its tax base - is a function of the number of residents and the amount of tax they pay. More Torontonians who pay less tax and use just as much of the infrastructure as the current residents makes for a system on its way to a collapse. Period.
3) Traffic is terrible
Yes, it is. And it's not just a suburban problem. How about the 58 minutes it took Angela to go from Bay and Bloor to Yonge and Eglinton last week? What about the 43 minutes it took me to go from Bay and Charles to Bloor and Sherbourne on a Saturday? My buddy, who drives a 2006 Porsche, was nearly in tears last night as he described the 30 minute-plus drive (read: crawl) from Yonge and Dundas to his condo at Yonge and St. Clair last night. Too many people. Not enough capacity on the streets or on public transit. The city is choking. I walk to work every day, and I am paralleling motorists who are on University Ave as I cruise up the sidewalk. Sad, buddy. Just sad. Even worse when you see someone in a GT Carrera who is doing 12 KM/hr.
4) Toronto is ugly.
Has anyone told the author to look in the mirror? I guarantee he is part of the problem. Ugly people. No style. A city that is a total vacuum for anything even remotely world-class when it comes to fashion and design. Unless, of course, you count all of these panicked attempts at building something that will bring tourists to the city. The dirty little secret in Toronto is that SARS decimated the city's hospitality and tourism industry. Tens of millions have been spent to lure people back: some Euros are coming (+20% from pre-SARS levels because we fly our Anti-American flag so high), but the Yanks stay home (-33% from pre SARS levels for much the same reason as the Euros are here). Go figure, eh? Last time I checked, America is home to the consumers who keep the world economy moving. I have noticed this new attempt at branding neighbourhoods in the city. Guess what? There will never be a SoHo or Tribecca in Toronto unless it is under the guise of a condo development's moniker. I think every single cool neighbourhood in London and New York now has a condo project under construction in the Toronto with a "borrowed" name (see the authour's other drivel about condos). Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but innovation is the harshest form of criticism.
5) The Island Airport
We've already established the authour knows nothing about business, so this doesn't even merit discussion.
