Come On! You Have To Be Kidding

Toronto Detested? It sounds like sour grapes to me. Look at how successful we have been in the last three years under the guidance of Mayor Miller; we have shared our garbage woes with the people of Michigan and those Ontarians that live along the 401 and we plan to take Michigan out of our plans; we protected the jobs of a group of workers in Thunder Bay (TTC contract) while fighting to reduce the number of workers in Toronto (Fighting Porter Airlines & potential purchase of new aircraft); we are going to make it easier & faster for those using TTC on St. Clair Avenue and we did this despite the majority of business owners were opposed; when visiting the city we have made life more interesting and colourful by allowing visitors to have complete contact with panhandlers and to take in our colourful homeless people; it has to be exciting for visitors to know that if they visit our entertainment area they might witness reality tv; ie: shootings, knifings, etc.; and the list goes on and on.

to sell the detested city
Toronto's mayor must think about improving the image of a city that other Canadians love to hate, by Gordon McIvor

Nov. 14, 2006. 01:00 AM
GORDON MCIVOR

We have all lived through a scene like the following: Toronto is pitted against other Canadian cities in a national awards ceremony and does not take first place. The winning proponent stands at the podium and declares triumphantly that "whipping Toronto's ass" in this competition has brought him to new heights of ecstasy. The crowd bursts into thunderous applause, and the evening ends on a high.

The Torontonians in the crowd slink out of the room listlessly, often consoling themselves that what occurred was nothing more than blatant jealousy, and the reference to Toronto was, in fact, some warped form of respect.

Too bad it's not true.

The hatred of Toronto is often said to be one of the few unifying forces in the highly fragmented nation we live in. This is hardly new: Albertans seeking funding for oil exploration seven decades ago were turned down by Bay Street and had to go to Wall Street to get their funds.

In the 1970s, Toronto head offices began to refer to the rest of the country as "regions" and the concept of "the centre of the universe" was born.

The exodus from Quebec toward the end of that decade led to a mentality of entitlement and the only rare moments of modesty came when we compared ourselves to places like New York City and cheerfully began to refer to our city as "the Little Apple."

Fast forward to 2006.

The "engine of the nation" has a hard time convincing anyone out there that what is good for Toronto is also good for the country.

Our inadequate transportation system has created gridlock and a new race of miserable commuters.

Tourism is languishing, and other Canadian cities such as Victoria, Vancouver and Quebec City now appear on "desirable cities" lists in travel magazines with Toronto nowhere to be found.

Gun violence has become so common that only when innocent young victims are shot do we even register the event as significant. The thousands of homeless living in our streets stare up at us with eyes devoid of any hope, as we walk by.

Do Torontonians care about this highly unfortunate turn of events, which has led to a loss of our bragging rights? The answer is most definitely "yes," and there are legions of caring individuals and agencies who are working hard to make this city what it once was: a model North American metropolis that Americans envied and all of our thousands upon thousands of immigrants marvelled at.

The problem is NOT in Toronto. The problem, as anyone who travels across this great land of ours can attest to, is that other Canadians don't care in the slightest that Toronto is going through hard times.

They are often, in fact, quite jubilant about it and see this as some form of divine retribution for the years of unbridled egotism and a disregard for all those Canadians who did not live in Toronto.

If we buy the conventional wisdom that "no man is an island," we must by extension accept that "no city is an island" and that we all need friends and partners to prosper.

We can't go on from failure to failure, whether it is head offices moving to other cities or major theatrical productions closing down after barely getting started, and not call in a few favours.

This is where Toronto needs to work on its image and let Canadians see this city as we see it — as the most successful experiment in diversity, tolerance and cultural richness that this continent has ever produced. And what we have in no way detracts from the beauty of Vancouver, the exotic charm of Montreal or the warm, down-home attitudes of St. John's, Newfoundland.

This is a most serious challenge. If we are to turn this city around, Toronto's mayor must be ready to step back and rebuild our relationships across the country.

Let Toronto be seen as an ally, a friend, a partner and a respectful large city that takes the time to understand other people's mindsets. Call it rebranding if you will, or perhaps public relations, but start at least by acknowledging that we have a major optics problem right now that leads to many of our fellow countrymen celebrating our defeats.

By stepping back and building these new alliances, be they commercial, social or cultural, we can stop trying to sell the "hated city" and begin to market the largest, most dynamic metropolitan area in the country as an open-minded partner in progress with the other great cities of this nation.

Gordon K. McIvor works for a national company based in Toronto and spends much of his life travelling across Canada.