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No I went to Berlin for 8 months working for our EMEA division, and now I am planning a move to Montreal because our company is permanently moving our Canadian corporate head offices from Toronto to Quebec along with 1500+ white collar positions. No offense to Toronto but you aren't the "center of universe" for all multinationals based in Canada. Some of our largest corporate clients like Bombardier, Air Canada, SNC Lavelin, and Canada's largest pension funds are based in Montreal so naturally we are moving there. A big part has to do with transport, cost of living, and livability - most of our U.S. and European-based expats simply prefer working and visiting Montreal over Toronto (the results part of an internal company wide survey on relocation preferences) because of lower housing cost / lower office leasing cost, much better access to rapid transit throughout Montreal island/Old Port/Downtown with attractive (and equally affordable) neighborhoods like Plateau, Mont Royal, and Quartier de Spectacles, as well as other intangibles like the rich culture/history, relaxing pace of life (aka work-life-balance in corporate speak), and French language, not to mention access to new bilingual talents from McGill, HEC Montreal, University of Montreal, and UQaM (we are planning a big recruiting campaign in these universities for new graduates starting in September)
So to answer fusion's question, yes I am actually moving to Montreal along with 820+ of my Toronto-based colleagues/European/U.S. expats and 700+ more local hires in Montreal.
But of course.
The Dot could learn a lot from Montreal if the people here would just open their minds bit.
No I went to Berlin for 8 months working for our EMEA division, and now I am planning a move to Montreal because our company is permanently moving our Canadian corporate head offices from Toronto to Quebec along with 1500+ white collar positions. No offense to Toronto but you aren't the "center of universe" for all multinationals based in Canada. Some of our largest corporate clients like Bombardier, Air Canada, SNC Lavelin, and Canada's largest pension funds are based in Montreal so naturally we are moving there. A big part has to do with transport, cost of living, and livability - most of our U.S. and European-based expats simply prefer working and visiting Montreal over Toronto (the results part of an internal company wide survey on relocation preferences) because of lower housing cost / lower office leasing cost, much better access to rapid transit throughout Montreal island/Old Port/Downtown with attractive (and equally affordable) neighborhoods like Plateau, Mont Royal, and Quartier de Spectacles, as well as other intangibles like the rich culture/history, relaxing pace of life (aka work-life-balance in corporate speak), and French language, not to mention access to new bilingual talents from McGill, HEC Montreal, University of Montreal, and UQaM (we are planning a big recruiting campaign in these universities for new graduates starting in September)
So to answer fusion's question, yes I am actually moving to Montreal along with 820+ of my Toronto-based colleagues/European/U.S. expats and 700+ more local hires in Montreal.
This post seems rather well - convenient but Good for you nonetheless! Montreal has a large and fantastic gay community. You'll feel right at home
As for the economic prowess of Montreal, I for one never dismissed its importance to Canada. Its the second largest city in the country with the second largest city economy - of course its important! We can all be mature adults about things and say Toronto obviously is the largest and most important city economy in the country while at the same time acknowledging it isn't the economy of the country. The centre of the universe nonsense is just silliness but I digress - we all like to get our cheap shots in....
I always told you living in Etobicoke so far from the gay villiage here wasn't a good move, especially for a young person. It also didn't make sense that working primarily DT that you wouldn't live close to work and close to the gay community. I recommended that to you so that you would enjoy your time here more. Its too bad you didn't take my advice but you are young and there is lots of time for you to make the most of where you live in the future.
Life is too short to be unhappy where you live and also not to be open about who you are. I think any city is best served by people who actually want to see it succeed instead of being tinged with bitterness and resentment for the place and also bitter about not feeling comfortable enough to be open about their true self. There is just no point living in a place that doesn't gel with you so I think its a great move. The last thing you want is to become 40 and 50 years old in C/D complaining about how much Toronto sucks like some in here! That is just sad so you're putting your money where your mouth is and I respect you for it - if only others bitter and angry had your courage. Hopefully you can live a more open and free life in Montreal but do keep expectations in check even regarding life there lest you could become quickly disappointed there as well. Good luck - bonne chance!
The Dot could learn a lot from Montreal if the people here would just open their minds bit.
As Montreal could learn a lot from Toronto. Both cities are expected to do well in 2016. Montreal's real GDP is expected to grow 2.3 percent while The Dot is expected to grow 2.8 percent
Prospects are good for both cities in the next few years. Especially when you choose to live in the city you want to live in... I'm where I want to be, open about who I am and living with who I want....Life is good!
No I went to Berlin for 8 months working for our EMEA division, and now I am planning a move to Montreal because our company is permanently moving our Canadian corporate head offices from Toronto to Quebec along with 1500+ white collar positions. No offense to Toronto but you aren't the "center of universe" for all multinationals based in Canada. Some of our largest corporate clients like Bombardier, Air Canada, SNC Lavelin, and Canada's largest pension funds are based in Montreal so naturally we are moving there. A big part has to do with transport, cost of living, and livability - most of our U.S. and European-based expats simply prefer working and visiting Montreal over Toronto (the results part of an internal company wide survey on relocation preferences) because of lower housing cost / lower office leasing cost, much better access to rapid transit throughout Montreal island/Old Port/Downtown with attractive (and equally affordable) neighborhoods like Plateau, Mont Royal, and Quartier de Spectacles, as well as other intangibles like the rich culture/history, relaxing pace of life (aka work-life-balance in corporate speak), and French language, not to mention access to new bilingual talents from McGill, HEC Montreal, University of Montreal, and UQaM (we are planning a big recruiting campaign in these universities for new graduates starting in September)
So to answer fusion's question, yes I am actually moving to Montreal along with 820+ of my Toronto-based colleagues/European/U.S. expats and 700+ more local hires in Montreal.
Awesome. Good luck on the move. It is fun to do all this hopping around while you are young. Plus Montreal is a delight.
Speaking of Montreal, the area of the city is quite small, like half of Toronto's. There was mention of the sprawl of Chicago but what about the sprawl of Toronto compared to Montreal. Imagine how big Montreal would be if it's area was the same size as Toronto, or God forbid Ottawa?
Speaking of Montreal, the area of the city is quite small, like half of Toronto's. There was mention of the sprawl of Chicago but what about the sprawl of Toronto compared to Montreal. Imagine how big Montreal would be if it's area was the same size as Toronto, or God forbid Ottawa?
Toronto is ultra-sprawly, it just isn't as sprawly as most American cities. Canada has very sprawly, car dependent cities compared to almost all first world nations excepting the U.S.
That's why it's silly when we get these lectures about how some random American sprawl-town needs to adopt the "Canadian way". The two countries are extremely similar in terms of spatial building patterns, and very unlike those in Western Europe or East Asia.
Toronto is ultra-sprawly, it just isn't as sprawly as most American cities. Canada has very sprawly, car dependent cities compared to almost all first world nations excepting the U.S.
That's why it's silly when we get these lectures about how some random American sprawl-town needs to adopt the "Canadian way". The two countries are extremely similar in terms of spatial building patterns, and very unlike those in Western Europe or East Asia.
Ottawa is 1,073 mi², bigger than Jacksonville 885 mi² but not as big as Anchorage 1,969 mi².
This post seems rather well - convenient but Good for you nonetheless! Montreal has a large and fantastic gay community. You'll feel right at home
As for the economic prowess of Montreal, I for one never dismissed its importance to Canada. Its the second largest city in the country with the second largest city economy - of course its important! We can all be mature adults about things and say Toronto obviously is the largest and most important city economy in the country while at the same time acknowledging it isn't the economy of the country. The centre of the universe nonsense is just silliness but I digress - we all like to get our cheap shots in....
I always told you living in Etobicoke so far from the gay villiage here wasn't a good move, especially for a young person. It also didn't make sense that working primarily DT that you wouldn't live close to work and close to the gay community. I recommended that to you so that you would enjoy your time here more. Its too bad you didn't take my advice but you are young and there is lots of time for you to make the most of where you live in the future.
Life is too short to be unhappy where you live and also not to be open about who you are. I think any city is best served by people who actually want to see it succeed instead of being tinged with bitterness and resentment for the place and also bitter about not feeling comfortable enough to be open about their true self. There is just no point living in a place that doesn't gel with you so I think its a great move. The last thing you want is to become 40 and 50 years old in C/D complaining about how much Toronto sucks like some in here! That is just sad so you're putting your money where your mouth is and I respect you for it - if only others bitter and angry had your courage. Hopefully you can live a more open and free life in Montreal but do keep expectations in check even regarding life there lest you could become quickly disappointed there as well. Good luck - bonne chance!
Chillax dude. I sincerely thank you for the entirely unsolicited personal, relationship, and apartment rental advice, and your other therapy advice on about "how to find one's place in life" and "how to find happiness in life". Umm, thank you? I point out aspects of Toronto that need actual improvement - areas that are lagging far behind other global cities - and you respond "not knowing your place in life". I mean, I don't want to turn this into a Dr. Phil show and you are most definitely not my therapist so let's just leave it at that? And I think it's simply unacceptable to divulge someone's personal life details on a public forum, not because I'm afraid to be who I am, but because it's a breach of confidentiality that I have placed in you when we talked about those things in person. Again, I would've written this as a private message for you, but this is already the 2nd time you've brought up something up that attacks the personal integrity and personal lives/relationships of other posters. I'm not exactly sure how else to respond.
Another assumption of yours - that I am somehow "angry" at Toronto or even "hate" Toronto - just because I wrote a few posts critiquing Toronto's actual shortfalls in transit infrastructure and housing affordability - all backed up by cited sources from CBC and stats Canada - and somehow that makes me a Toronto hater. Sure, I and others could just say nothing and pretend that Toronto's doing wonderful in the transit portfolio and that everything is on track, on schedule, on time, on budget, and we will for sure get our Downtown Relief Line in 10 years. Even John Tory and Justin Trudeau can't make that kind of grandiose promises because they know just how hard and convoluted it is to get anything major done in this city. Toronto had a fully-funded, shovel-ready Transit City master plan from 2007 that envisioned SEVEN rapid transit and LRT lines throughout the city by 2017. SEVEN. Look how many actually got built - ONE, the Eglinton Crosstown that won't open until 2023, and this only got done after a years of tooth-pulling and kicking and screaming by transit advocates on City Council.
And before that, we had the Eglinton West Subway, a fully funded, shovel-ready project of 15 subway stops. And guess what happened? Surprise surprise the government decided in 1995 to flip flop and REFILLED the subway tunnels under ground with concrete. I mean, what kind of short sighted small-minded idiots would do such a thing?
So you can understand my current hesitation with regards to Toronto's transit portfolio and future city planning. Not because Toronto is not a great city - it is the top city in Canada in terms of livability, economic viability, population growth, ethnic diversity and tolerance, and increasingly getting noticed on the world stage - but because of the myopic, small minded idiots who continue to plague this city on a municipal and provincial level. Just read The Star today and you'll know bump into pages and pages of bickering over a fully-funded, shovel-ready one-stop subway/7-stop LRT/3-stop Smarttrack, whatever version the politicians decide to dream up with while prolonging the years of political incompetence.
The Guardian article summed it up the best: Toronto is one of the most well-functioning cities in world that is run by idiots. I have a feeling that the vast majority of Torontonians would agree with me on this one, until we all come to a tipping point realization that this current status quo of myopic governance is simply unacceptable and appalling for a city wanting to increase its global stature.
Last edited by bostonkid123; 07-11-2016 at 11:43 AM..
Toronto is ultra-sprawly, it just isn't as sprawly as most American cities. Canada has very sprawly, car dependent cities compared to almost all first world nations excepting the U.S.
That's why it's silly when we get these lectures about how some random American sprawl-town needs to adopt the "Canadian way". The two countries are extremely similar in terms of spatial building patterns, and very unlike those in Western Europe or East Asia.
I agree with you 100% on this. Canadian cities are in general a bit better in terms of sprawl compared with American ones, but on the grand scheme of things, they are all quite bad. I mean, miles and miles of low rise residential, garages, driveways and their soul suckingly boring "mainstream" middle class life.
Last edited by botticelli; 07-11-2016 at 01:25 PM..
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