Toronto/Montreal comparisons (ain't pretty...)

[Tewder]

So, go and enjoy!

I do... and thankfully my Ontario includes Toronto, warts and all!

 

[Thanos]

Montreal is and will always be better than Toronto and it has to do with the people living in the city. Toronto is probably the coldest, self absorbed city I've ever been to. Montreal has its faults, but people are much friendlier, more outgoing...a much more "chill" and relaxed atmosphere. Toronto is go-go-go, get out of my way, my time is more important than anyone else's.

Toronto is a nice city, but it's just far too cold and although it's "multicultural" I still see a lot of of division here. Not really a sense of community..but that's just my opinion.

Montreal is far more divided than Toronto ever has. Stop making an impression out of the Old Town and Downtown only. I can take you to severall neighboorhoods in the east and west and north where this will be fairly evident. Montreal's old town is far more impressive than Toronto's, however i'll take Toronto's vibrant downtown and it's neighboorhoods over Montreal's any day. As far as old towns in Canada go, Quebec City blows every city out of water. It's far more impressive then Montreal.
An the whole Toronto is full of cold people is so passe. Seriously get over yourself.
The way you act determines the people you attract. If you're snobbish then it will be easy to attract snobby people and you'll get the impression everyone is snobby and so on. So if you only notice the cold soulless people then maybe it's because that's what defines you.
I'm not trying to be an ass, just trying to point out a few things.

 

[RC8]

Impression I got was that most ethnic minorities in Montreal were miserable, segregated, and rude. In Toronto I'd say a big chunk of ethnic minorities are too (especially south asians), but it's significantly less apparent.

 

[TheKingEast]

Montreal is far more divided than Toronto ever has. Stop making an impression out of the Old Town and Downtown only. I can take you to severall neighboorhoods in the east and west and north where this will be fairly evident. Montreal's old town is far more impressive than Toronto's, however i'll take Toronto's vibrant downtown and it's neighboorhoods over Montreal's any day. As far as old towns in Canada go, Quebec City blows every city out of water. It's far more impressive then Montreal.
An the whole Toronto is full of cold people is so passe. Seriously get over yourself.
The way you act determines the people you attract. If you're snobbish then it will be easy to attract snobby people and you'll get the impression everyone is snobby and so on. So if you only notice the cold soulless people then maybe it's because that's what defines you.
I'm not trying to be an ass, just trying to point out a few things.

I said when it came to cities I've been to or lived in, Toronto was the coldest. Just my opinion. And just because I think the city is cold does not mean I haven't met friendly people here. I also wouldn't call Toronto's downtown "vibrant". Again, that's just my opinion.

 

[TheKingEast]

Impression I got was that most ethnic minorities in Montreal were miserable, segregated, and rude. In Toronto I'd say a big chunk of ethnic minorities are too (especially south asians), but it's significantly less apparent.

I think the only ethnic minorities who may be miserable in Montreal are Hatians. Segregation IMO is more apparent in Toronto.

 

[Thanos]

I think the only ethnic minorities who may be miserable in Montreal are Hatians. Segregation IMO is more apparent in Toronto.

I won't get into the Haitian topic as that is hot water in Montreal.
How about the Philipino community in CDN or the Morrocan, Lebaneese and Syrian communitees. How about the Greeks and Portuguese who all abandoned Montreal for Laval. In fact Laval is less segregated than Montreal is.

 

[Torontovibe]

I think the only ethnic minorities who may be miserable in Montreal are Hatians. Segregation IMO is more apparent in Toronto.

You obviously have never been to the east side of Montreal. I lived in the east end for about 5 years and I didn't see any non-white people in my building or neighbourhood. It was about as white as you can get. My building had about 25 apartments and not a single non-white person. (almost all Francophones too) That was around the year 2000. Has the east side of Montreal changed much since then? Not in my old building.

 

[TheKingEast]

You obviously have never been to the east side of Montreal. I lived in the east end for about 5 years and I didn't see any non-white people in my building or neighbourhood. It was about as white as you can get. My building had about 25 apartments and not a single non-white person. (almost all Francophones too) That was around the year 2000. Has the east side of Montreal changed much since then? Not in my old building.

You're using a 25 unit building full of white people to show that Montreal is segregated? Really?

Thanos: there's still a large contingent of Lebanese and Morrocans in Montreal. I don't know much about Philipinos, but lets not act like it's this mass exodus. You can say the same for Scarborough and Brampton which have a large contingent of Asian communities.

 

[Torontovibe]

You're using a 25 unit building full of white people to show that Montreal is segregated? Really?

Thanos: there's still a large contingent of Lebanese and Morrocans in Montreal. I don't know much about Philipinos, but lets not act like it's this mass exodus. You can say the same for Scarborough and Brampton which have a large contingent of Asian communities.

I'm just saying, that's not what I experienced living there or what I see when I visit my friends from that area today.

But you see, I'm not talking about large contingents, in one small section. I'm talking about the whole east end of Montreal being almost all white and Francophone. Once you go east of Papineau, it's almost all white and French. Have you ever shopped on the Ontario Promenade? I have many times and even have much video tape to remind me of it. It is almost exclusively all White. I'm not saying the people are racist or anything I'm just saying the east side of Montreal is where the traditional French Canadians call home. When you go to Cote Des Neige, it's a whole different story. The west/north part of Montreal is much more mixed. It's not like Toronto at all.

You can go east, west, north or south and all parts of Toronto is very ethnically mixed. Sure, places like the Pacific Mall area is mainly Chinese but the surrounding areas of north/east Toronto, are very mixed racially. Hell, even Markham has different ethnicities, though Chinese dominate.

The best way to see Toronto's mix is on public transit. You can take any subway, in any direction or any streetcar or bus, and you will not find any of them of one exclusive race. You probably can't say the same about any other city in North America, including NYC.

When I took the train to The Bronx, I and my brother, were the only white people on a pretty crowded train. (and that was just one stop from the Bronx Zoo) Some bus routes in Montreal are pretty much the same, almost exclusively white. There could be a few bus routes like that in Toronto too but it's VERY rare. People don't realize it, but Toronto is pretty unique when it comes to it's ethnic distribution/diversity.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The NO RIGHT TURN ON RED on Montréal Island is the same rule that New York City has. The rest of the province (and state) allow right turns on red. However, I have seen drivers (including those with Québec license plates) still go ahead and turn on the red in Montréal.

 

[themarc]

I'm just saying, that's not what I experienced living there or what I see when I visit my friends from that area today.

But you see, I'm not talking about large contingents, in one small section. I'm talking about the whole east end of Montreal being almost all white and Francophone. Once you go east of Papineau, it's almost all white and French. Have you ever shopped on the Ontario Promenade? I have many times and even have much video tape to remind me of it. It is almost exclusively all White. I'm not saying the people are racist or anything I'm just saying the east side of Montreal is where the traditional French Canadians call home. When you go to Cote Des Neige, it's a whole different story. The west/north part of Montreal is much more mixed. It's not like Toronto at all.

You can go east, west, north or south and all parts of Toronto is very ethnically mixed. Sure, places like the Pacific Mall area is mainly Chinese but the surrounding areas of north/east Toronto, are very mixed racially. Hell, even Markham has different ethnicities, though Chinese dominate.

The best way to see Toronto's mix is on public transit. You can take any subway, in any direction or any streetcar or bus, and you will not find any of them of one exclusive race. You probably can't say the same about any other city in North America, including NYC.

When I took the train to The Bronx, I and my brother, were the only white people on a pretty crowded train. (and that was just one stop from the Bronx Zoo) Some bus routes in Montreal are pretty much the same, almost exclusively white. There could be a few bus routes like that in Toronto too but it's VERY rare. People don't realize it, but Toronto is pretty unique when it comes to it's ethnic distribution/diversity.

I would agree - until you have gone somewhere else (for a while) then come back you have no idea what a pleasant and distributed ethnic mix Toronto has.

 

[Torontovibe]

^^^ Montrealers are the craziest drivers! (the pedestrians are pretty crazy too) I was almost hit by cars so many times. I saw so many cars go right through red lights and even the pedestrians go through red lights on a constant basis. I do it now too, after living in Montreal for 10 years. You just kind of go with the flow. Screw the rules.

 

[TheKingEast]

I'm just saying, that's not what I experienced living there or what I see when I visit my friends from that area today.

But you see, I'm not talking about large contingents, in one small section. I'm talking about the whole east end of Montreal being almost all white and Francophone. Once you go east of Papineau, it's almost all white and French. Have you ever shopped on the Ontario Promenade? I have many times and even have much video tape to remind me of it. It is almost exclusively all White. I'm not saying the people are racist or anything I'm just saying the east side of Montreal is where the traditional French Canadians call home. When you go to Cote Des Neige, it's a whole different story. The west/north part of Montreal is much more mixed. It's not like Toronto at all.

You can go east, west, north or south and all parts of Toronto is very ethnically mixed. Sure, places like the Pacific Mall area is mainly Chinese but the surrounding areas of north/east Toronto, are very mixed racially. Hell, even Markham has different ethnicities, though Chinese dominate.

The best way to see Toronto's mix is on public transit. You can take any subway, in any direction or any streetcar or bus, and you will not find any of them of one exclusive race. You probably can't say the same about any other city in North America, including NYC.

When I took the train to The Bronx, I and my brother, were the only white people on a pretty crowded train. (and that was just one stop from the Bronx Zoo) Some bus routes in Montreal are pretty much the same, almost exclusively white. There could be a few bus routes like that in Toronto too but it's VERY rare. People don't realize it, but Toronto is pretty unique when it comes to it's ethnic distribution/diversity.

I hear what you're saying. I still think you can go to certain areas of Toronto and find predominantly whites there. I never said Montreal was more multi-cultural, Toronto takes that crown. I just think although Toronto tends to be multi-cultural, you see a good amount of segregation....so although you may see people on the subway together, there's really little to no interaction between them besides sharing public transit, work and that's about it. Just my observation.

 

[Lansdown]

I hear what you're saying. I still think you can go to certain areas of Toronto and find predominantly whites there. I never said Montreal was more multi-cultural, Toronto takes that crown. I just think although Toronto tends to be multi-cultural, you see a good amount of segregation....so although you may see people on the subway together, there's really little to no interaction between them besides sharing public transit, work and that's about it. Just my observation.

Do you interact with people on the subway a lot? lol.

 

[tkip]

This notion that Toronto's ethnic communities all mix and don't live in their own enclaves is mystifying. Groups interact in public but their communities is another matter.

One only has to travel around the city and see firsthand that the groups indeed tend to group and live together in their own communities. I live up in the St Clair/Christie area and it's nearly entirely white. Hell, just a visit to the gay village will show that it's predominantly white as well. I moved from the lower beaches several years back and it was almost all white.

I always lived in white neighborhoods. Probably wasn't even a conscious decision on my part. The Portuguese still tend to live in the same area as do the Greeks and Italians and so on. It's human nature to be surrounded by those you best identify with. So it's obvious that groups of people based on cultural/ethnic identities will live in separate communities for the most part.

Hell, just come to my work and see how all my co-workers automatically form their little groups at break time and you'll see the the whites in their groups, the Filipinos at one table, the Portuguese gather and so on. And all these groups instantly slip into their native tongue too and you can't understand understand what they're saying. Which I always found rude.

It's called human nature and Toronto is no exception. We just have a greater number of groups that have learned to tolerate each other.