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Toronto, Capital of North America?

astroturf said:
Guess I'm part of the brain drain. As a 30 yr old professional, born & raised in Toronto, I moved to LA for work (multinational corp) 2.5 years ago. From my experience so far, I'll find it hard to return back as the advantages far outweigh the cons. My income tax rate is about the same (yay california!)...however the dollar definitely goes a lot further down here. Retail taxes are lower, clothing and other wants are cheaper, eating out is cheaper on average, gas is cheaper, and so on and so forth. Rental prices are comparable though (if you stay on the highly desirable westside of LA...in comparison to downtown TO). The biggest factor though is there just is a LOT more capital flowing through here, and that makes a HUGE difference if your above average and really want to make a good living for yourself. Plus business risk taking is part of the US culture, whereas it feels like our Canadian clients are penny pinching grandmas. Oh and winters in a tshirt. Enough said.

I think Toronto still has quite the growing up to do - definitely excited to see where it is 15-20 years from now.
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I knew this was gonna happen on this thread. A unknown-to-me expat forumer was going to gleefully spill the beans that he now lives in LA (where else?) and have two pages following glorifying that city on a forum that was supposed to glorify Toronto. Canada cannot win...
 
Irishmonk said:
Western Canada is growing much faster the East and is quickly supplanting Toronto as the destination of choice for immigrants - who are the only reason Toronto is growing at all.
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Um, Toronto grew by more than Vancouver and Calgary combined...and almost as much as Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton combined.
 
kkgg7 said:
When Toronto is more expensive than Chicago, it is because Toronto is more desirable.
When New York City is more expensive than Toronto, most Canadians stop using this same logic and claims quality of life in NYC sucks.
You just can't have it both ways.

To be serious, Chicago is affordable because the restriction on land supply is loose. If you compare the land supply for housing development in Chicago vs. NYC and San Fran during the past few decades, it is significantly higher.
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When people speak of NYC they only talk about Manhattan which is not a reflection of the cost of living in Greater NYC. Check out this link and scroll down...the median house price in metro NYC is $349,500, right on par with the GTA. Yes, metro NYC is much, much larger, but apples to apples comparisons are rarely made when looking at real estate.

http://www.deptofnumbers.com/asking-prices/
 
Transportfan said:
I knew this was gonna happen on this thread. A unknown-to-me expat forumer was going to gleefully spill the beans that he now lives in LA (where else?) and have two pages following glorifying that city on a forum that was supposed to glorify Toronto. Canada cannot win...
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This is a larger problem isn't it. Canada needs to compete better. Western Canada gets this. Ontario is in debt. Deep in it. Toronto had little natural growth and is relying on immigrants who live once they get their money or get stable. This is a forum for debate and discussion of issues, not necessairly glorification. I talk to someone like Thanos, and I enjoy learning from him because he is an intelligent guy.

This all has to do with it. Toronto is clearly not the capital of north america until it can get its stuff together, especially on transit.
 
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denfromoakvillemilton said:
Because of immigrants. Who will leave and go to Calagry or Edmonton.
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I totally and completely disagree, and if you truly believe that Calgary and Edmonton are going to absorb Toronto half a million new immigrants every five years, you're living in a fantasy land.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
This is a larger problem isn't it. Canada needs to compete better. Western Canada gets this. Toronto had little natural growth and is relying on immigrants who live once they get their money. Ontario is in debt. Deep in it.
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Every Canadian city relies on immigrants. Where have you been for the past half century?
 
ACT7 said:
I totally and completely disagree, and if you truly believe that Calgary and Edmonton are going to absorb Toronto half a million new immigrants every five years, you're living in a fantasy land.
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Did I say that. I said more and more are leaving for out west with lower taxes and more money.

ACT7 said:
Every Canadian city relies on immigrants. Where have you been for the past half century?
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And Toronto relies on them more then others.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5585493&highlight=immigration+toronto#post5585493

Read this entire thread. Populated mostly by people who work at StatCan.
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I'm not really sure what your point is. First of all, how do you most of the posts are from StatsCan employees. The posts would seem to suggest otherwise. Second of all, there was one general comment about immigrants landing in Toronto and then heading out west. The population data doesn't suggest that at all. No one's arguing that taxes are lower and incomes higher on average in Alberta, but that census shows net growth in population. So if Toronto grew by more than Calgary, Vancouver and almost Edmonton combined, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that most immigrants who land here stay here.
 
denfromoakvillemilton said:
This is a larger problem isn't it. Canada needs to compete better. Western Canada gets this.
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The only thing western Canada gets is oil and gas and a natural geographic position well suited to trade with Asia. Central Canada, OTOH, doesn't have those resources and is better suited for trade with the United States and Europe, which by the way aren't doing so well right now. Sure we can learn certain things from cities out west, like with transit or streetscape design. But the good fortune of the west right now is entirely because of happy accidents, not anything they understand that we don't.
 
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ACT7 said:
I'm not really sure what your point is. First of all, how do you most of the posts are from StatsCan employees. The posts would seem to suggest otherwise. Second of all, there was one general comment about immigrants landing in Toronto and then heading out west. The population data doesn't suggest that at all. No one's arguing that taxes are lower and incomes higher on average in Alberta, but that census shows net growth in population. So if Toronto grew by more than Calgary, Vancouver and almost Edmonton combined, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that most immigrants who land here stay here.
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http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5585674&postcount=188

One general comment? People move here. Save money. And they stay or leave. Toronto needs to do more to keep people born here here.
 
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