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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Out of the big three in Canada, which city do you prefer the most?
Setting/Location
Removed - see the room sticky about skylines - again!
Mass Transit
Culture
Food
Nightlife
Climate
Economy
Education
Recreation
Roads/Highways
anything else.....
I ask the mods to keep this in City vs City, rather than move it to Canada for the sake of not being overlooked and getting an American as well as Canadian perspective as many Americans have traveled to these cities and would offer a broader perspective in feedback. Thanks
Last edited by atlantagreg30127; 09-28-2011 at 09:24 PM..
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,721 posts, read 23,642,132 times
Reputation: 14561
Setting/Location: Vancouver no doubt with its gorgeous setting on the Pacific only a stones throw from impressive mountain peaks and Seattle three hours down the road. Montreal isn't too shabby either within a reasonable distance to Boston & New York, with Ottawa, Vermont and Quebec City very close by. Toronto has a nice setting on Lake Ontario and close to Niagara Falls but the province of Ontario doesn't do much for me, I prefer BC and then Quebec.
Removed - see the room sticky about skylines - again!
Mass Transit: All three are very good, but I love Montreal's metro trains, same as Paris running on rubber tires with a smoother ride. Vancouver's seems to be improving a lot.
Culture: All three are very cultural, Vancouver has a huge Asian presence, so does Toronto, but Toronto has the lion's share of diversity with every part of the world represented there. My personal preference in Montreal with its European flare. Montreal also has a lot of good looking people that dress very dapper.
Food: Vancouver - the seafood selection, west coast produce, BC wine, and variety of Asian food makes it an exceptional dining city
Nightlife: Definitely Montreal. I started visiting when I was 18 and was enamored with the nightlife there. It definitely has a pulse and doesn't have hang ups with things considered taboo elsewhere. Toronto's nightlife is fun, Vancouver's is weak, very weak.
Climate: Not a big fan of weather anywhere in Canada, but if I had to choose it would be Vancouver. Though it's grey and cloudy much of the year it's a lot balmier than Toronto or Montreal in the winter....brrrr!
Economy: Not familiar enough to make this call. I'm not sure exactly what cities’ like Vancouver produce to keep up with the high cost of living there. I know Toronto is a huge financial center and Montreal has a lot of biotech. Other than that, not sure.
Recreation: All three have ample opportunties and great parks, Vancouver has it in great abundance, no competition here. Stanley Park is the best city park I've ever seen anywhere, the mountains and the ocean right there being Vancouver's best asset.
Roads/Highways: Toronto, no competition. Toronto has freeways that can compete with LA and Houston including the up to 16 lane wide ON Highway 401, it's astounding. Montreal does have a good and well conected freeway network. Vancouver has next to nothing and perhaps the only city in North America with a lack of freeways, and that's how they like it.
Last edited by atlantagreg30127; 09-28-2011 at 09:24 PM..
Setting/Location: two different things, really. Vancouver's setting is hard to beat, not just by Montreal and Toronto but by any city in the world. As far as locations though, I prefer Montreal and Toronto - equally.
Removed - see the room sticky about skylines - again!
Mass Transit: very slight edge to Montreal over Toronto.
Culture: Montreal for sure for me, although I am a French speaker so I can take advantage of everything Montreal has to offer in that language, plus in English. Montreal in French AND English is miles ahead of any city in Canada in any single language. Any day.
Food: Vancouver and Toronto top Montreal is some specific cuisine genres, but I think overall, for stumbling on a good meal in any place you walk into, Montreal is the best.
Nightlife: Montreal
Climate: I don't like cool rainy weather so Vancouver is out plus Toronto winters are too slushy for my taste. If it is going to be cool it may as well be snowy. Plus Montreal summers are sunnier and warmer than Vancouver's and about the same as Toronto's.
Economy: Toronto
Education: Slight edge to Toronto over Montreal, though depends on your field of study.
Recreation: Vancouver with Montreal 2nd. Vancouver offers four-season recreation without having snow in the city. Hard to beat that.
Roads/Highways: Toronto for sure
Last edited by atlantagreg30127; 09-28-2011 at 09:24 PM..
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,721 posts, read 23,642,132 times
Reputation: 14561
Quote:
Originally Posted by Code Lyoko
I don't have any beef with Montreal, just wish it had a bit more of the scenery (like the B's), the climate, or the size or potential size (like the A's or C's). It's a great city, very very very cold though and I start getting uncomfortable below 70 degrees. I can let it slide if the city is just, massive to the core and modern.
Believe it or not, Canada with Montreal included has a warm season. It's called summer.
Not to sound shallow but there are only three things I care about in a city, at this stage in life (so scenic places reserved for later down in life can hold off for another 40 years when I'll have time to care for them as primaries).
1. Aesthetics
2. Size
3. Technology
I can forgive a city for having crime. That's natural, no where is going to be utopia for all it's inhabitants. I can forgive a city or it's lack of diversity, because people are people. Skin color isn't important but the quality of their personality is, although admittedly, I care for only the foods that come as a product of diversity. I can forgive a city for weather, it's not in anyone's control. Which is why I am open to seeing as many places as I can before my times up but I cant say I'm as open to living in the extremities of brute cold. I can forgive a city for politics, I'm FAR left/heavily liberal and Green Party, my political affiliation is a stark minority anywhere in the United States. So I could honestly not care less, I'm used to my political views being pushed aside for what I consider hick wars between the bi-partisan manipulation machines feeding the incompetence of Congress. Our federal government, while it has it's charming success sometimes is a mess, a very hick and dysfunctional one. I can forgive a city for being "sterile" and "bland" because honestly, having a doctor's office-clean look goes further for me than character driven grit and fatigue, which I've always interpreted as code for banged up and blighted (the word character) but also genuine and hardworking. Still not my style but I can respect that, I suppose.
The only thing I cant forgive a city for is being ugly. I like clean and modern, that's an absolute must, clean enough to where you can take an egg out of your pocket, throw it on the curb, let it heat up in the sun and then dare yourself at the possibility of trying it. Grit, character, stuff like that, not my style.
I'm uniform, I like the look of a soulless populace without people actually lacking soul, just FAR more on the empathetic side of the tide. People living a serene, quiet, predictable, organized, functional, but also open to the future lifestyle. Everyone interacting but doing so in a non-emotionally driven way. Just fast paced. Just cold. Just moving on with their lives. Keeping to their reads and quirks, be it on an iPad on the subway or checking email every few seconds on the sidewalk while walking. I like places that innovate technology, no not like the Bay Area with the F500's but places that take it on their wings to LED their city core up (Yes Gangam, Dundas, Times Square type of places ARE a start but I'd like even more). Bluetooth services, make things faster, make them better, make then so beyond cutting edge.
Somewhere like Randstad is clearly an anomaly for me but it's one of the rare few "cultural gems" that I cant deny liking. Love it really. Places like Toronto, Singapore, Vancouver, and Frankfurt, are they ugly, boring, sterile? Sure, to some, not me. They're 21st century to me, that's where I like my preferences in cities to overwhelmingly be. In the here and now and tomorrow. Not the yesteryear's of electric kite flying and feather ink pen signings. I can read about history in a book but I have the chance to witness the future unfold in person and I'm always a future over past in every way type to be honest.
It all just comes down to the eye of the beholder. I know, I'm strange in what I like but I cant help liking what I do.
Sounds good to me. Definitely doesn't factor in much of what I consider to be important, but what's the fun in everyone being the same. In regards to the specific comparison in this topic, Montreal does have a lot of modern construction (such as that amazing new library) and "futuristic" distinctive construction from the mid 20th century on (most notably the biosphere, the olympic stadium and its tower, and various skyscrapers).
Montreal may not be a hypercity, but its of fairly respectable size and growing at a pretty reasonable rate--more evident from the ground experience though is that Montreal's urbanity is also packed in pretty close together in comparison to many North American, specifically American, counterparts so it does have a lot of active life.
In terms of cities not just involved with technology as part of its economy, but also evident within the city and its infrastructure, Montreal does pretty well with its appropriately-sized and overall impressive subway system and the gigantic engineering feat that is the Underground City/RESO (not actually all underground--just encased, so daylight does come through) to deal with the harsh winter which seems to me an intelligent municipal response to the environment that cities with milder winters should implement as capably.
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