G2OMG: Toronto momentarily not hated by rest of Canada, fabric of reality at risk

If there’s one thing Canadians outside of the GTA know, it’s that Toronto sucks. Critics say that this city is crowded, loser-filled and mean. This conviction, along with health care and the railroad, have built the nation into what it is today. So the fact that the G20 mess has upright citizens reconsidering this basic tenet of the universe should be cause for concern.

Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail is the most forthright, saying “pity Toronto” in his column yesterday:

Central Toronto is already looking like a fortress, with concrete barriers and high fences. When the summit begins, office workers will be sent home, GO trains disrupted, expressways blocked, streets cordoned off. The Blue Jays will be vacating the Rogers Centre, playing a “home” series in Philadelphia.

These are among the uncounted hidden costs, to be added to the price tag that already exceeds $1-billion for the G20 in Toronto and the G8 in Muskoka. By no rational standard is the importance of these meetings worth that cost.

The London Free Press echoes the lament, noting that the entire summit seems to be shaping up to be a disaster. The Hamilton Spectator prints a sympathetic letter from Caledonia. And then there’s the endless amount of complaints from media about the costs, which, if not outright sympathetic to Toronto, at least imply that something imposing has taken over Hogtown.

This must stop. Much more than just national unity is at stake here: if Toronto isn’t hated, if even our fellow Ontarians aren’t ready to show us the door, then what are we?

• Pity Toronto. It’s stuck with an unnecessary, bloated summit [Globe and Mail]

• Leaders should teleconfrence [Hamilton Spectator]

• G20 a counterproductive, un-Canadian, visionless mess [London Free Press]