;)
― Kim, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mike Hanley, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Toronto is a really fun city, esp. for Americans with their strong dollar. There's a pretty large club and bar scene, good shopping, repertory movie theatres, good concerts, musicals, public transit, the whole shebang. It's a good place to live, certainly has its share of pretentious motherfuckers but so does any other large city you'd care to name. And the reason everybody else in the country hates it is the same reason everyone in the South hate New York, and why everyone in New York hate people in California, etc.
― Dave M., Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Just kidding...love it whenever I can get the opportunity to skip out over here and hop up to Vancouver. Toronto and Montreal are both nice places. Never been disappointed by Canada.
― Joe, Wednesday, 25 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Gale Deslongchamps, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Scott, Tuesday, 14 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― anthony, Tuesday, 14 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Cold weather, I am ready for ya'
― danielle g. (danielle g.), Friday, 19 September 2003 04:37 (twenty years ago) link
― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Friday, 19 September 2003 07:39 (twenty years ago) link
'Rx drugs from Canada.We have some of the l0west prices for drugs in the world.'
― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 19 September 2003 08:04 (twenty years ago) link
― Dave M. (rotten03), Friday, 19 September 2003 08:21 (twenty years ago) link
C'mon, Anthony, even if you don't want to visit Quebec, at least do it for your wife.
― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 19 September 2003 13:53 (twenty years ago) link
― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 19 September 2003 14:11 (twenty years ago) link
― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 19 September 2003 15:06 (twenty years ago) link
i've been to toronto several times and have had a great time every tim. my demands re music are pretty high and the bars and reastaurants are great. i can't fault the place. would move there tomorrow...
― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Friday, 19 September 2003 15:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Friday, 19 September 2003 15:52 (twenty years ago) link
There's nothing I hate more than people who move to Montreal from Toronto, start cheering for the Canadiens, and start calling their hometown Tore-on-tow as opposed to Toronno (that's the way it's supposed to be pronounced damnit!!) in an attempt to sound all cool-like.
― cybele (cybele), Friday, 19 September 2003 16:06 (twenty years ago) link
As for anthony's irrational hatred for Toronto, I keep trying to convince him that there's a lot of good stuff here, and I'm sure he'd love a lot of it. When I still lived in Manitoba I had the fear about Toronto and thought I'd hate it, but it's actually pretty cool all around.
― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Friday, 19 September 2003 16:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 19 September 2003 16:40 (twenty years ago) link
Lake effect, has a real name but I forget it. If your from Engerland you might find it a bit harsh but Toronto winters are nothing compared to the rest of the country aside from BC supposed winters and Windsor/Sarnia.
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 16:41 (twenty years ago) link
― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Friday, 19 September 2003 16:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 16:57 (twenty years ago) link
(the fact that this thread entitled "canada" ended up largely about toronto should be evidence of why the city is so resented in canada, it's a ballhog not a tugboat)
― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 19 September 2003 17:30 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 17:37 (twenty years ago) link
Someone else can do the west.
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:06 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:09 (twenty years ago) link
gale is stretching the truth up there - spring and fall only happen every 3rd year-or-so in QC, and last about six hours each
― jones (actual), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:13 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:13 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:14 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:17 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:20 (twenty years ago) link
That 16 lane east-west highway is an apocalyptic thing; I'd love to see it at rush hour!
― Kris (aqueduct), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:21 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:21 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:22 (twenty years ago) link
― cybele (cybele), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:29 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:29 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:41 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:42 (twenty years ago) link
Well, I'm still aiming at being there the last week of November.
― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:46 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:47 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:48 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:51 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.sasktourism.com/images/ser_fg_2003vacation_57x74.gifA woman being hugged by two men. One raises a fishing pole in glee.
http://www.sasktourism.com/images/ser_fg_2003events_28x65.gifFootball fans. One is wearing a cheese hat and one is making a blowjob face. (Pass.)
http://www.sasktourism.com/images/ser_fg_maggie_125x80.jpgShe is waiting for your call to get these booklets. If this woman isn't hitched then there is something wrong with the world. We love you, Maggie!
― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 19 September 2003 18:58 (twenty years ago) link
-There is apparently a cabal of just maybe four grocery stores that set the prices, which are really high. Like, $9 a peanut butter, $20+ dollars for chicken breasts, that sort of thing.
True. Although those prices are slightly overstated, the primary grocery store company (Loblaws, CEO Galen “I’m A Fuckin Piece Of Shit” Weston) publicly tried to justify a generalized 15% hike on all food goods, and now his days are decisively numbered up here
-Lending practices are bad and so tied in to the housing market that the flipping industry dominates and drives up prices (sounds familiar).
True; the housing market was less-hit by the 2008 crash and it is the Wild West of flipping and Air BnB’ing and all major and minor city centres are essentially rent-uninhabitable, purchase-impossible. Toronto and Vancouver recently overtook HK in terms of rent-to-income quotient.
-Fabled one-year maternity leave is super stingy, so much so that in this person's case it's just not worth it.
Depends on your employer. My apologies to your friend :(
-There are only two government-approved cell phone companies, and neither of them offer unlimited internet, so people tend to just get American plans with Canadian coverage.
True, Rogers and Bell. Both companies are garbage grifter get-the-guillotine bullshit. I myself had an American plan for years, a 646 NYC number that went undetected as being illegitimate by AT&T for years (because I was regularly travelling to USA), but once I relocated from LA back to TO they wised up and cancelled it on me.
I think I’ve screamed “I literally don’t give a fuck about collection agencies, you can sodomize my credit rating all you want, I am a permatenant and I secure my dodgy residencies with wads of cash up front” in the face of over a dozen overcharges from Rogers, you literally have to scan your bill every month because they’ll slip in the most fucked up shit. “Oh, did you take the train down the St Laurence and drift too close to the American border? Yeah we auto charged you for a day’s roaming fee for the 30 seconds you were accidentally on a foreign network.”
There are no unlimited data fees here. It is literally cheaper to carry a cell phone in Norway
― (the poster formerly known as Twitter) (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 11 October 2023 00:59 (six months ago) link
Yeah my sister when she lived thee thought eating out was cheaper than groceries. She’d go across the border and load up on Trader Joe’s.
― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 11 October 2023 01:02 (six months ago) link
you literally have to scan your bill every month because they’ll slip in the most fucked up shit. “Oh, did you take the train down the St Laurence and drift too close to the American border? Yeah we auto charged you for a day’s roaming fee for the 30 seconds you were accidentally on a foreign network.”
preach
― flopson, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 06:28 (six months ago) link
it's possible to shop at cheap and quite wonderful grocery stores if you live in a central neighborhood of montreal, toronto or vancouver. but some suburbs you're stuck with the big chains and they're pretty expensive. driving across the border to trader joe's doesn't really make sense due to the exchange rate (unless you're getting paid in usd, but then canadian groceries are cheap in purchasing power parity terms...)
― flopson, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 06:33 (six months ago) link
Josh, what city & province did this person live in?
per usual Quebec is an exception to some of this, afaict. e.g., I have QC-based Videotron phone + internet service; the internet plan is unlimited, though the phone isn't (which I wouldn't remotely need anyway). It is expensive, but I've never met a single person here with an American plan.
I've never heard a complaint about parental leave (also day care is v cheap aiui), but I mostly know academics so it could vary by employer here too, not sure.
Generally speaking though—again afaict, flopson could clarify here I'm sure—Canada does have a pretty bad monopoly problem in various industries (news media being the one I'm familiar with) and apparently little regulatory appetite for doing anything about it.
I've heard about people going to the US for groceries, but unless they're lying to the border guards, you'd have to pay customs on everything you bought (assuming <24 hours trip), so I don't really get it
― rob, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 16:13 (six months ago) link
Tbf, I do know several (five?) people with American phone plans who predominantly reside in Canada, but they also work regularly in USA and/or are partnered with an American, and divide their time between the two countries
― (the poster formerly known as Twitter) (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 11 October 2023 16:18 (six months ago) link
Quebec is the exception when it comes to grocery monopolies, but god protect you if you ever need an emergency room
― (the poster formerly known as Twitter) (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 11 October 2023 16:19 (six months ago) link
yeah funnily enough we went with Videotron when we moved here because they had a now-discontinued plan where your phone worked the same in the US as it did QC (but using it in ROC meant roaming lmao)
the QC health care system is indeed a disaster
― rob, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 16:41 (six months ago) link
Toronto, I believe.
The specifics of the paid maternity leave scheme, iirc, was something like $35k for the year, which the person we know said wouldn't cover their rent.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 19:04 (six months ago) link
Yeah as a single income that would be below the poverty line in Montreal, hence unimaginable in TO
― rob, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 19:09 (six months ago) link
yeah in Quebec, the provincial govt gives you paid maternity leave also, which combined with the federal contribution comes to (iirc) 70% of your yearly salary or 80k, whichever is lower. Which I think is pretty good as far as North America goes.
― silverfish, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 20:20 (six months ago) link