May 10, 2009

Montreal VS Toronto

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History

Since I’m young the rivalry between Montreal and Toronto have been going on. It’s started a long time ago, actually in 1960. Both Montreal and Toronto where living enormous growth. The population of the cities where growing at a rate around 20% in the 60s and 30% in the 70s. At the time, Montreal was economic capital of Canada and was surpass by Toronto when we could count the loss of many headquarters and the departure of a large business.  Today, we can count a population of about 3,5 Millions people in Montreal urban area and 5,2 citizens in the Toronto area (it’s the 46 biggest city in the world).

Usual comments about Toronto in Montreal

I’m doing this little post on Toronto because I was always hearing the Montrealers bashing Toronto not only on the hockey ring, but has a city: ”Toronto c’est dull!!” (Toronto is not fun!!), ”Toronto ça pas de culture” (Toronto has no culture) or ”Toronto la bouffe est pas trop bonne ” (Toronto has no good restaurants).

I had the chance to visit the city 3 times since I’m young and lately, I had to go back for work. Currently, I have a few of my very good friends who lives in Toronto mainly for work. I took the time during my trip to visit them and share experiences during my stay.

Toronto beats Montreal for:

Montreal currently beats Toronto for:

Montrealers, take a look at Toronto, you could learn a LOT!!

I would strongly recommand Montrealers to pay themself a little trip to Toronto. They could learn a few important things: things the citizens of Montreal haven’t understand. First, Toronto will soon surpass Montreal for culture by investing strongly in culture true the film festivals and other important figures. The economy rocks and the real estate industry have really nothing to do with the one in Montreal. Toronto sees BIG and you can feel it. The city has a strong vibe and things are happening.

In Montreal, lately we just need to think about the following projects to see and understand :

• Casino of the Cirque du Soleil
• The Grand Prix F1
• The Expo
• The unsuccess of the Montreal Film Festival, wars between camps insteed of uniting
• The 10 years of CHUM construction, no construction yet
• Giving money to GM and Hyundai
• The removal of the electric trams in the streets of the city
• The City du Havre Project (it’s never going to see the light, there again asking for money from the goverment)
• Waste management & recycling (it’s everywhere in Toronto)
• Reduing the ”Échangeur Turcot” with the vision of the 60s

Conclusion

Montrealers, go to Toronto, learn about them and try to improve the future of Montreal. My stay was very exiting, the people I’ve met where very nice and I can’t wait to go back…

By Benoit Martel Editorial content 2 Comments