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I don't live in Toronto, nor do I live in Canada, however I do like to pay some attention to other countries politics. I've read and have seen that Rob Ford's comments are causing quite a controversy up there in Toronto.
So what's everyones take? Do you citizens in Toronto feel immigration is bad or good for the city? Do you think immigration laws need to be stricter?
With a projected 1 million immigrants coming into Toronto in the next 10 years, is that a bad or good thing for the city??
Any thoughts?
I've considered moving to T-Dot in the near future, so this is all kind of interesting.
I actually met this guy about 2 weeks ago, I didn't like the vibe he was giving off, now I know why, lol.
Rob ford is an Idiot, there is nothing he can do about people moving into the city. Immigration is a Federal Issue, not a city one.
I think Toronto can handle another one million people over the next ten years, but Toronto needs to get it's act together. Public Transportation is a major issue and under Ford's plan there will be no major changes to the current infrastructure.
I completely agree with what he's saying. The city's infrastructure can barely hold the current population we have right now.. let alone if we were to add 1-2 million people over the next 30 years.
Our suburbs are exploding with people, conjestion on all the major highways is among the worst in North America, and this sprawl is disgusting. Let's take care of the population we currently have, rather than taking in even more people.
There's currently 50,000 people in the city in need of housing (meaning there's absolutely no where for them to live). And most of these people are recent immigrants which are demanding social/affordable housing to be built in order to facilitate their "rights".. is this really where we want to be heading?
Our subway has not improved/grown since the 1970's as well, we have to fix the huge amount of problems we're currently facing in regards to transportation before allowing the floodgates to burst open. The more people on our conjested roads/highways equates to even higher car insurance costs, increased pollution, longer work days, higher gas prices, and conjestion like none other.
And let's not forget to mention all the inter-migration within the country to Toronto, people often forget to realize that. Immigrants are not the only source of people... why not put Canadians first for once, Toronto?
Last edited by ThroatGuzzler; 08-19-2010 at 09:27 AM..
I agree largely with what Ford says. He is just being honest and practical, instead of always saying sweet things to win votes. It is easy for anyone just to say immigrants contributed substantially to the city and therefore we will continue welcoming them... but if the city itself is not in an ideal position to accomodate more residents, what good does it do in welcoming them in the first place?
Toronto's public transit is one of the worst among all large cites, with insufficient funding and inadequate services. Roads are in bad condition. Commuting is horribly long because the exiting highways can't handle so many cars already. Medical services are not enough for the population resulting in long waiting.
It is easy to say Toronto welcomes immigrants, because it sounds politically liberal and nice (so does the proposal for the government just to give everyone $1million for free). But if it comes at the cost of deteriorating quality of life of existing residents, not to mention lack of jobs for new comers, what's the point?
Right now, Toronto's infrastruture is ideal for a city of 1-1.5 million probably, and we already have 2.5. What do we do with another 1 million, just let them in and see how it goes?
Do you guys see that the street cars on Queen, College etc are so crowded during rush hours that people can't even get in? Subways too. For God's sake, we are not in Tokyo. For a medium size city it is not supposed to happen at all!
More people is a bad idea unless something is done. Otherwise, life quality will simply drop. There are enough people who commute for more than 3 hours on the road everyday already!
Do you guys see that the street cars on Queen, College etc are so crowded during rush hours that people can't even get in? Subways too. For God's sake, we are not in Tokyo. For a medium size city it is not supposed to happen at all!
More people is a bad idea unless something is done. Otherwise, life quality will simply drop. There are enough people who commute for more than 3 hours on the road everyday already!
I work in southern Etobicoke, one of my co-workers that works in Ajax has to commute for 4 HOURS a day, he tells me the 401 is literally a giant parking lot on the way back. I used to take the 427 north to get back home and I no longer can do that any more. There's simply too much congestion, so I just stick to the already packed side roads. I'll try to experiment offroad sometime soon and get back to you on that.
Toronto's a city built for 1.5 million max, we are WAYYY overcrowded, and if anyone thinks differently they need a reality check. I can picture us becoming the next Tokyo where people fight for their lives in order to squeeze into less than a square foot of space on the subway. What a life....
Yea, i agree with the dude. Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world. Maybe we should pull that back a bit and help out the people already here.
Immigrants come here, hoping for a better life, and what do they get? a 2 bedroom apartment in Jane and Finch or Regent Park that they live in for 30 years because they cant get anything better. Maybe we should be helping out the people already here. If we really need immigrants, why not send them to Winnipeg or Saskatoon. Get some growth in those markets.
Although i DONT agree with people saying the city is overcrowded and only meant for 1.5MIL people. Thats BS. Toronto is NOT that congested. Maybe you shouldnt add to the problem by working in Toronto and living in Ajax. Were pretty normal when it comes to population size and space. Vast areas of the city have almost all low density. I think the real problem is the idiots who live 4 hours away from where they work.
Yea, i agree with the dude. Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world. Maybe we should pull that back a bit and help out the people already here.
Immigrants come here, hoping for a better life, and what do they get? a 2 bedroom apartment in Jane and Finch or Regent Park that they live in for 30 years because they cant get anything better. Maybe we should be helping out the people already here. If we really need immigrants, why not send them to Winnipeg or Saskatoon. Get some growth in those markets.
Although i DONT agree with people saying the city is overcrowded and only meant for 1.5MIL people. Thats BS. Toronto is NOT that congested. Maybe you shouldnt add to the problem by working in Toronto and living in Ajax. Were pretty normal when it comes to population size and space. Vast areas of the city have almost all low density. I think the real problem is the idiots who live 4 hours away from where they work.
Yeah, I've always kind of wondered about that, especially since Ford's comments. I'm not going against what anyone says, especially since I've never been to Toronto, let alone live there. Here in the states, NYC has about 8.3 million people (#1 most populated city) and even our 4th most populated city (Houston with about 2.3 million) has about the same amount as Toronto, yet they all seem to deal with it well. So, like I said, I can't go against what anyone says who lives there, but I wonder if Toronto just doesn't know how to deal with a population like that, or if residents just aren't used to a population like that since that is the most populated city and not too many others in Canada have that kind of population, thus they make it seem like it's more of a problem than it is.
Again, I'm not criticizing what anyone says or going against it. Just making conversation lol.
Yeah, I agree with Ford! Let's stop growing, because stagnant growth does great things for cities! Just look at Cleveland and Detroit!
But since they're coming whether we like it or not, lets build the infrastructure to support them! We can raise the funds for it by cutting taxes! Rob Ford is a genius!
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