Living in Toronto, Ontario
Environment :: Transport :: Where to Live :: Business :: Jobs :: Pros and Cons
Location and Climate
Toronto is Canada's largest city and is North America's fifth most populous municipality - with a population of 2.7 million people.
It lies on largely flat land, with little in the way of hills. The Greater Toronto Area, usually called the GTA is home to 5.6 million people. Canada's government expects the GTA's population will reach 7.7 million by 2025.
Toronto sits in Southern Ontario's Golden Horseshoe. 8 million people - over one-quarter of Canada's total population - live in this densely populated region.
Toronto's latitude - 43 degrees north - is similar to Bordeaux, France and - in the southern hemisphere - Christchurch, New Zealand. Although Toronto's climate is somewhat moderated by its Great Lakes location, it is more extreme than Bordeaux's and Christchurch's, with somewhat hotter summers and considerably colder winters.
Character
Toronto's motto is "Diversity Our Strength". Known as one of the world's most multi-cultural cities, Toronto prides itself on its wide range of cultures, languages, food and arts. Almost half of its population are immigrants.
In Canada's elections, a majority of Toronto's voters have traditionally supported left of centre political parties.
Business and Jobs
Forbes Magazine tracked the "World's Most Economically Powerful Cities" and included Toronto in its top ten list.
According to Forbes, powerful cities such as Toronto attract investment due to the size of their economy, their projected future prosperity, cost of living and quality of life. Forbes describes Toronto as lying at the economic heart of one of the world's wealthiest countries, projected to keep humming through 2020.
The other top ten most economically powerful cities identified by Forbes were London, Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo, Chicago, Seoul, Paris, Los Angeles, and Shanghai.
Toronto is Canada's banking/financial capital and the home of its principle stock exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Toronto has North America's third largest concentration of private IT companies, bettered only by San Francisco and New York.
In addition to IT and high finance Ontario's plentiful natural resources, such as hydroelectricity and raw materials, have helped Toronto and its surrounding municipalities to become major industrial centres, producing more than 50 percent of Canada's manufactured products.
From the perspective of today's more troubled economic times, Canada's banks never extended themselves as unwisely as some of their American and European counterparts and have relatively strong balance sheets.
Figures published by Statistics Canada show that 86,800 net full-time jobs were created in the Toronto region in 2010; 42,100 net part-time jobs were also created. As a result of these new jobs, the unemployment rate in the Toronto region fell to 7.7% in the first quarter of 2011. In early 2012 the unemployment rate for the Toronto region had risen to 8.6%.
Where to Live in Toronto
Suburbs such as North York, Markham and Richmond Hill (north, east) and the Halton region (Oakville and Milton for example) are favoured by families and are among the best places to live in Toronto.
Single men and women tend to prefer the downtown core, where the condominium market has exploded over the last decade.
Government housing is prominent in some parts of west Toronto and higher crime rates are recorded in these areas, such as Jane & Finch, Lawrence Heights, and parts of Etobicoke such as Rexdale. In downtown Toronto, Parkdale, St. James, Regent Park and Moss Park have high crime rates. To the east of the city, parts of Scarborough such as Malvern also have higher crime rates.
Overall, the city of Toronto's crime rate is low compared with many North American cities, including Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Halifax and Winnipeg.
The crime rate in parts of the Greater Toronto Area is lower than the city's; areas such as Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Oakville and Burlington enjoy crime rates less than half that of the city.
Education
The University of Toronto is one of the world's most prestigious post-secondary institutions, ranking 24th in the Academic Ranking of World Universities. There are three different campuses, located in the Downtown area as well as the west (Mississauga) and east (Scarborough).
Toronto is also home to two other universities, Ryerson and York University as well as several community colleges.
Ontario's school teachers are amonst the highest paid teachers in Canada. Unfortunately, the supply of teachers in Ontario exceeds the demand, and finding work is not easy. Indeed, it's common for Canadian trained teachers to move overseas to gain experience.
Environment and Getting Around
Toronto is one of the very few North American cities in which people can choose not to own a car without suffering major inconveniences. This is largely due to The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) - North America's third largest public transit system.
The TTC's far-reaching and reliable network of buses and streetcars are interconnected by an extensive underground subway system. The buses are newly manufactured hybrid-electrics, introduced to reduce air pollution.
The transportation corridor image on the left shows a choice of transportation methods leading to and from downtown Toronto - road, bike-path, railway, and the Don River.
Toronto also has Zipcar, a membership car-sharing service that is billable by the hour. This service is most frequently used in the downtown.
Ontario operates a rail and bus system called GO Transit, connecting the TTC and the Greater Toronto Area. The surrounding regions (York, Peel and Durham) also have transit systems that connect with the TTC, making travel with the public transit system nearly seamless.
The 400 series highways all merge in Toronto's core. The 401, which is North America's busiest highway, is the spine of Ontario and Toronto's infrastructure.
The rapid growth in the Golden Horseshoe's population has in turn led to an explosion of the number of vehicles on the road which creates significant gridlock at rush hour periods on most if not all major highways.
Toronto's air quality is not as good as Canada's other large metropolitan cities; it has been compromised by the large number of vehicles in the city. Despite this, Toronto still achieved 21st position in the Top 50 cleanest cities reported by Forbes Magazine.
Toronto's city-wide Green Bin program has been acclaimed for its approach to waste management.
What to do in Toronto
Toronto is well-known for its healthy arts scene, numerous sporting events, a vibrant nightlife, and restaurants, bistros and eateries featuring cuisine from just about any nationality one could think of.
The Art Gallery of Ontario and Royal Ontario Museum are popular with both tourists and residents.
Toronto is a major performing arts centre, with more than fifty ballet & dance companies, six opera companies and two symphony orchestras, performing in many notable venues including Roy Thompson Hall, The Hummingbird Centre and The Centre for the Performing Arts.
The city is also known for its many amusement parks; the best-known of which is Canada's Wonderland.
Toronto has 6 major sports teams in Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, Football, Soccer and Lacrosse.
The major venues for sporting events are the Air Canada Centre, Rogers Centre and BMO Field.
Summing Up
Toronto is one of the world's most multicultural cities, famous for a diverse choice of food, arts, festivals and weather patterns! Smaller suburbs surround the large city offering options for people who prefer to step back from big city life.
For those who love the big city feel like of places like New York and Los Angeles - but with less crime - Toronto is a great fit.
Toronto's Negatives
Oversized and ever growing population.
Somewhat cold winter.
Constant influx of traffic and vehicles on the road.
Pollution - not the cleanest city.
Expensive housing compared with most Canadian locations.
Toronto's Positives
Prestigious schools, from elementary to tertiary.
The art scene and leisure options.
Surrounding suburbs to get away from the big city.
Transit system that spans a large area.
Opportunities for the educated.
Canada's financial, IT and manufacturing hub.
Long, hot summers - too humid for some people.
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