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Toronto is 'city of the future'

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billy corgan

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From The Star

Toronto finishes second in North America behind Chicago

Apr 27, 2007 11:23 AM
Curtis Rush
Staff Reporter

Toronto has been named runner-up in a British financial magazine's ranking of North America's Cities of the Future.

Chicago was named the top major city by Foreign Direct Investment, the business magazine of the Financial Times of London.

Researchers took more than six months to assess cities on their potential to attract investment projects.

Chicago was selected for its ambitious development plans, massive infrastructure development, reasonable location costs and energetic regional economy.

Toronto scored high for its good affordable housing, low crime levels, strong health and education sectors and falling unemployment.

Cities were grouped in four categories, according to population, and rated on seven criteria: Economic potential, cost effectiveness, human resources, quality of life, infrastructure, business friendliness and development and investment promotion.

Toronto was selected as the top major city for quality of life, ranked fourth for best development and investment promotion, ranked fifth for best human resources and fourth for best infrastructure.

The overall winner is the city that scored the most points across all seven categories.

One other Canadian city made the top-10 list. Montreal came in at No. 7 behind Chicago, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Guadalajara, Mexico, and Baltimore. After Montreal came Mexico City, Boston and Miami at No. 10.

Windsor was named the top small North American city of the future, beating out Huntsville, Ala., for cities with populations between 100,000 and 500,000. London, Ont., was No. 4 and Waterloo came in at No. 5, while Chatham, at No. 9, and Saskatoon rounded out the top 10.

The only Canadian city on the top 10 list of large cities, with a population between 500,000 and 2 million, was Edmonton at No. 4.

However, two Canadian cities made the top-10 list of micro cities of the future - those with a population under 100,000.

Sarnia was No. 3 and Fredericton, N.B., was No. 8. The winner in that category was Zapata, Texas.
 
City on the edge of banruptcy. City of the future.

The Star can leave you with an impression that we are living on a knife edge.
 
Mississauga Recognized for Economic Potential

Mississauga Recognized for Economic Potential

Apr 26, 2007


The City of Mississauga took second place for "Best Economic Potential in North America" in the "North American Cities of the Future 2007/2008" competition. Foreign Direct Investment (fDi) magazine, a Financial Times Business publication, analyzed the top 10 cities of all sizes, with the best strategies and resources for economic development. Researchers took more than six months to select the top 10 cities in a number of categories. Mississauga, with a population between 500,000 and two million people, was ranked in the "Large Cities" category.

"The City of Mississauga has the opportunities and stable infrastructure to support foreign direct investment," said Mayor Hazel McCallion. "We are pleased to have received international recognition from such a prestigious business publication. With 57 Fortune 500 companies, and 51 Global 500 companies with head offices in Mississauga, we know that our city has great potential for investment. Now the world knows."

The short-listed cities scored high in the following categories: economic potential, cost effectiveness, human resources, quality of life, infrastructure, business friendliness and development and investment promotion.

"fDi magazines’s City of the Future rankings reflect an independent panel of judges' views on each city according to seven selection factors," said Courtney Fingar, editor of fDi magazine. "As part of the selection process, nine judges reviewed the nominations from 108 cities on more than 60 criteria designed to assess cities’ potential to attract business investment projects."

The April/May issue of fDi magazine, which features the winners including Mississauga, will be distributed at a number of business conferences including BIO 2007, the Middle East World Economic Forum, Cityscape China, Cityscape Abu Dhabi and the Financial Times Global Outsourcing and Off Shoring Conference. In addition, fDi magazine has a circulation of 15,000 internationally.

Mississauga is Canada's sixth largest city with a population of more than 700,000. With well-established infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities, the City is considered to be an employer of choice, delivering quality municipal programs and services to its citizens. Mississauga is a dynamic, diverse and progressive municipality, known for its economic strength and for being Canada’s safest city.

-30-

Louroz
 
Hydrogen said:
City on the edge of banruptcy. City of the future.

The Star can leave you with an impression that we are living on a knife edge.
Click to expand...

We are. That's what makes the city's current situation so utterly absurd and outrageous - TO being 'bankrupt' is a complete illusion brought about entirely by upper levels of gov't. It's simply a scam, bearing no resemblance to financial reality whatsoever.

"Montreal came in at No. 7"

This is a pleasant surprise - good for them! Vancouver nowhere to be seen, natch - not the least bit surprising. Ditto Calgary. Let this stand as a reminder to those who have lost sight of just what a true up-and-comer TO is, and of just how piddly those perceived domestic rivals really are. This isn't 'arrogance' talking, it's just reality, of which this country needs to be force-fed a massive, involuntary industrial-strength dose.
 
^I agree with you, the issue of being bankrupt is a complete scam: it is a manufactured situation based on funding arrangements that are selected by the province and the federal government. If the city is to handle its affairs with more responsibility (a demand that is so often made) then hand over the capacities and cash in order to be more autonomous to manage those responsibilities. If that is not to happen, then fund programs and services properly.
 
The city has this power now, with the taxing powers provided under the City of Toronto act. Whether it has the guts to use these powers is another questions altogether. What needs to happen is to have the province pick up their share of costs downloaded to the city by Harris.
 
Toronto is going to be a "City of the future" reguardless of the financial troubles its going through right now, what needs to happen is the Provincial/Federal Governments are going to have to stop shafting the major cities in Canada, especially Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. the cities are were the nations power resides, and our future, and as for the projects that Chiacago has right now, all things in time, I believe sooner rather later you will see some really nice supertalls go up it Toronto.
 
I agree but the way our political system is structured in which there is disproportionate representation given to areas outside of the big cities (based on pop. distribution) politicians will not be overly inclined to dole out money to the big cities.
Plus, in Ottawa we have a government that, let's be honest, has a rural undercurrent to it. They have little representation in the big cities relative to the other parties.
 
Just goes to show how lists can change depending on the criteria. Calgary, who's economy is often discussed in the media, and Vancouver, who seems to be topping a lot of these lists these days are down on the list.
 
Calgary is a one-trick pony. Strip away the oil & gas and there is not much left, whereas Toronto's economy is much more broad-based and therefore not as susceptible to downturns.
Vancouver is driven to a large extent by the natural resources industry...not something that drives long-term growth given the increasing focus on the green economy.
 
The city has this power now
Click to expand...

Not in all cases. The city, in some circumstances, can add additional taxes on top of exisitng provincial taxes. The province could invest in Toronto more effectively with the monies they collect, or hand over that portion to Toronto.
 
Anyone else surpised that 4 of the top ten cities between 100,000 and 500,000 are in southwestern Ontario? That doesn't sound reasonable to me... I mean, Chatham?
 
Windsor and Chatham? This study would put Ontario in great shape if it held true. Did the star article forget that Mississauga was a city in Canada in the same size category as Edmonton or are these two completely different studies? The whole study looks pretty damn promising. We better get the the high-speed rail corridor up and running to link these top list locales.
 
Interesting to consider, too, that Chatham's a 100-500 thou "city" only because it amalgamated w/Kent County back in Mike Harris days...
 
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