Why Canadians hate Toronto?

I spent the last two weeks in Western Canada where I got a chance to visit Banff, the Rocky Mountains between Alberta and British Columbia, and finally Vancouver. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and unfortunately many Canadians are unaware of the natural beauty in our own country.

The people in Western Canada are proud Canadians. In fact, I found they show their patriotism more openly than Canadians in Toronto. I am not saying that Torontorians are not proud Canadians, it’s the massive diversity in Toronto which reduces the amount of open patriotism.

One common theme among Western Canadians is the hatred for Torontorians. A perception exists among Westerners that Torontorians are arrogant and don’t respect other cities in Canada, although Quebec is the exception since the Quebecois feel inferior to all Canadians ;-) The anger stems from the fact that the majority of the high paying jobs are in Toronto, scheduling of television shows do not take into account the time difference, and the major sports league with the exception of hockey are in Toronto. Western Canadians cheer for their local hockey teams and cheer against Toronto. There was a general happiness when the Toronto Maple Leafs failed to make the playoffs this year, although Torontorians cheer for other Canadian teams.

As a fellow Torontorian, I did not take this hatred to heart because I do think there is some truth to the arrogance perception. However, if you ask someone outside Canada to name a city in Canada, you know that Toronto would be at the top of the list … so sometimes you have to call it how it is. Like it or not, we are the main economical city in this country, but the question is for how long … hello Alberta.