• zesty@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    People didn’t move to Toronto from Montreal because it’s more affordable. They moved because of the language laws that make English speakers second class at best in Quebec.

    • Mereo@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      It was more about the Quebec independence referendum. Before that, Montreal was the economic capital of Canada.

    • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      the language laws that make English speakers second class at best in Quebec

      Weren’t those passed in the 1990s? I thought businesses moved their headquarters out of Montreal in the 60s and 70s with the threat of separation (and FLQ bombings).

        • jcrm@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          “Like New York without all the stuff.”

          This line is said exclusively by people who walk down Bay Street and think that’s the whole city.

          Toronto has tonnes of its own character, and calling it “empty” makes me think you’ve never spent any time in it.

            • jcrm@kbin.social
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              9 months ago

              Killer music scene with the Horsehoe Tavern, Cameron House, Velvet Underground, Lees Palace, and tonnes of others. Amazing restaurants of all kinds in the city, largely thanks to the MASSIVE immigrant population here. Amazing architecture, including some of the best examples of Brutalism you’ll find anywhere in the world. The Toronto Islands are unlike anything I’ve seen in any other city. The largest streetcar network in North America that creates a very different streetscape vibe to anything else. Festivals like Taste of the Danforth and other street festivals highlight some amazing culture in the city, on top of TIFF being one of the largest film festivals in the world. And Kensington Market deserves a special shoutout for being unlike any neighbourhood I’ve been to yet.

              You can criticize Toronto for not doing enough to support local culture, which I would agree that the Tory and Ford years really did a number on it, but it’s outright wrong to say there is nothing special or distinctive about Toronto.

        • Splitdipless@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          If New York is the City that never sleeps, Toronto is the city that has a 11pm bedtime.

    • atomWood@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      I didn’t mean to claim that Toronto was more affordable than Montreal, simply that Toronto previous affordability allowed it to become what it is today.