Everyone seems to think that Calgary is awesome—and Toronto is not

25 thoughts on “Everyone seems to think that Calgary is awesome—and Toronto is not”

1. I’ve lived in both cities and am floored that Calgary beat T.O. Public transportation sucks in Calgary — really. Anyone who complains about the TTC needs a swift kick in the pants and a reality check — try relying on Calgary transit for one week.

   Culture, things to do with kids, you name it, T.O. is head and shoulders above Calgary.

2. sorry – am heading west myself. even the ‘cultural’ aspect of toronto is now 20 years behind. the way some people talk makes me think they confuse london, madrid, berlin, amsterdam etc with toronto. the quality of life here has dropped through the floor – if it hadnt you wouldnt have time for all the ‘7 million reasons to love toronto’ lists.

3. peachy – toronto may not be in the same league as the cities you mentioned, but it’s definitely better than calgary in every respect. are you headed to calgary in particular?

4. I spend a lot in both cities and both have a lot of pros and cons, but seriously… comparing the multiculturalism and entertainment factor – not to mention the waterfront, museums, restaurants that Toronto offers, which are non existent in Calgary – is ludicrous. OK, maybe TO’s mayor is a bit of a joke, but don’t compare Calgary to Toronto. If you want to say Calagary is a better city than Orillia or North Bay, OK, I’ll give you that.

5. Justin Trudeau goes to Calgary and uses the term “red neck cowboy” as an insult ? He’s not ready to be the leader of the Liberal party .

6. This “best city in Canada” bullshit? It’s divisive, simple and pointless.

7. Love Justin comparison… He is not ready to b ethe leader of the liberal party, he is ready to be PRIME MINISTER over red neck cowboy Stephen Harper!!! oh, btw…Calgary sucks! Great for shopping and less taxes but after spending 3 months in the palliser hotel working, bizarre city indeed. Yawn. TO rocks but please stop comparing TO with London, Madrid, NYC—> we are sssssssoooo way behind those great cities! lets compare Calgary with Edmonton – thats where the comparison belongs!!!

8. I’ve lived in both cities and would have to agree Calgary is a fabulous city. Its easy to see why Cowtown is topping the charts … living in a major metropolitan yet having of view of the mountains each and every morning is pretty incredible, the quality of living, solid employment statistics, low taxes. The list goes on.
   Personally, my husband (which is also from Toronto) choose Calgary because we feel its a great place to raise a family (we have our first on the way) and make a very decent living. We feel safe here and have really come to love the ways of western living.
   Yes, Toronto is also a lovely city … in fact we visit often … but my heart now belongs to the west :)

9. LOL @ Toronto being behind Calgary, culturally, by 20 years

10. Personally I could care less which city is better we are a country of great cities and great people. Stephen Harper plays to the masses. next he’ll say Ottawa is the best city in the country or whereever he is. . The point to keep in mind here as well is that his base is here, he chose to live here he obviously fell in love with our mountains and friendly everyone is a friend attitude.

    The fact that Justin is not even trying to get his facts straight tells me he is not ready to be the leader of a national party. FYI the only reason Harper keeps getting in is because there is no other viable option for leadership at this time.

    Nenshi by the way was born and raised here!

    just another Calgary dweller who thinks Calgary rocks but it’s the people that make it so not the buildings,

11. This whole comparison thing is annoying. I live in Calgary, and I love it, but every city has it’s issues. Mayors are one thing, arts & culture, public transit, minority rights… all another. Let’s stop this stupid comparison crap, this is not a popularity contest, it’s a bloody democracy.

12. Mrs. O – you need a reality check,particularly with regard to your comment about raising kids here (in Calgary). Unlike Toronto which has numerous options for activities with the kids close by or a quick TTC ride away, Calgary has nada – unless you live in the suburban wasteland and are willing to drive. I’m glad my oldest is in kindergarten now and I can stop pulling my hair out trying to find places to take him…

13. LOL Mrs. O (Does O stand for oblivious?)you must work for the City of Calgary’s marketing/promotional department, but a view of the mountains does little to enhance your quality of life when day to day reality in this city sucks.

    If you are telling the truth and have actually lived in both cities, then you are full of it if you think Calgary is ahead in what matters to most people: transportation system, health, culture, entertainment, recreational amenities (besides skiing in Banff)- for kids and adults. In Toronto, everything is at your fingertips or a quick subway ride away. I have a feeling that you are anti-transit anyway and take your gas guzzling mini-van everywhere anyway , but I think I’ve made my point.

14. Geez, Jim. Restaurants and museums are not “non-existent” in Calgary.

    Calgary is a city of 1.2 million that gives you pretty much what you would expect, culturally, from a city that size, i.e., a lot, if not quite as much as a city of 2.5 million.

    And yes, it’s very suburban—but so is Toronto, really. Toronto is simply lucky enough to have had a 100 year jumpstart, but the trade-off is that it doesn’t have quite the dynamism and energy of Calgary.

    Bottom line, both are eminently livable and enjoyable places. It’s a matter of preference, but this notion that Calgary is some backwater is outrageously dated.

15. monica – will ski and hike in likeable calgary but vancouver is our last attempt at acquiring an acceptable ‘lifestyle’ in this fair country. toronto is yuck, the good lord only knows how it lost its way so quickly, and if van proves unduly lame we’re leaving for europe and wont be coming back. the canadian in me might be bereft so hope it doesnt come to that – canada just needs to pull it out and get on with it. it can be done.

16. Lived in both cities myself. Gotta say, I love Toronto. The number of activities, concerts, cultures, etc. blows Calgary out of the water.

    But Toronto has nothing when it comes to nature. People claim you can go to cottage country, but battling traffic both ways on long weekends is ridiculous. And everything is way too developed, popular, or sold out. Nothing beats driving to the mountains and going hiking on a trail where there is zero other people.

    I’d say that Toronto has better summers, Calgary has better winters (not in terms of weather)

17. Nenshi was indeed born in Toronto but far from “raised” there. His family moved to Calgary when he was 1.

    grace, you can’t move to a suburban hellhole like Arbour Lake or Evergreen and then complain that there’s nothing for your kids to do. You could live in a vibrant, urban neighbourhood like Bankview or Sunalta or Mission or Sunnyside or Mt Pleasant or Inglewood or Cliff Bungalow or Hillhurst or Altadore, among dozens more, and your kids could WALK to school and have easy access to the pathways and downtown (via bike, feet, bus or C-Train). They also would be able to attend Western HS. On foot.

18. John M. you make me laugh!!!! That’s so hilarious that you would ASSume I live in the surburban wasteland. In actual fact, I live in Mission/Cliff Bungalow and no, my child is bussed to his designated school and unless we want to go to “Sarajevo Safeway” @ 25th Ave., we have to drive to get basic groceries.

    Don’t even begin to compare the pathetic C-Train to the TTC!!! 3 cars per train — how pathetic. Biking trails and paths are all over the place in T.O. … Martin Goodman trail, Don Valley, etc.

19. Oh, and John? Western Canada is a highschool. My kids have several years to go yet.

20. ive liveed in both citys….and so far ive got nothing good to say about calgary. all the things people say that make calgary better than toronto havnt proven true for me- especially the ‘everyones a friend’ attitude people always speak of, as soon as i mention im from ontario ( i grew up in a small town) people think im a torontonain and instantly dislike me never minding the fact that its that exact attitude towards me that inclines me towards calling myself torontonian- at least they dont care where youre from.

21. i go to western— its not actually as good as the hype and the people who say its the best school in the country have aparently not been to many other schools. theres mjore to a school than just the rating, theres also the people in it. just a heads up

22. I live in Calgary, in fact I was born here and I can honestly say this city is run by complete ignorant morons. The flood is a perfect example of the level of incompetence
    in the Mayor’s and aldermanic offices. The city was simply not prepared. In 2005 the city flooded and the city’s response was to do nothing and now you can already see the city once again shuffling to avoid doing anything yet again. A lot of finger pointing and
    complaining about funding but really no decisive action except to replace pathway’s that will no doubt wash away yet again in a few years.. And when the next flood hits, the city leaders will again blame someone else or pat themselves on the back for a job well
    done. There was also a litany of other mistakes made from the city parking authority handing out parking tickets in flooded areas during the cleanup to the assigning of more than thirty trucks in the community of Discovery Ridge during the flood in an area where the houses were not flooding while in another area they were going under water without any help to the city turning off power to sump pumps in areas not under water causing even more damage. Or to today where the city has decided to completely block off an under repair flooded community so that an elite few can participate in a bike race instead of moving it to a non-flooded area of the city. Of course the media doesn’t report on these negative events because they are so far up Nenshi’s butt I’m surprised they
    are still breathing. There has, to date never been a single negative news story about the Mayor and yet you can’t go far without someone with a complaint about the city but then taking responsibility in Calgary doesn’t happen, it’s always someone else’s fault. If there is one thing Calgary knows now it’s how to climb on a bandwagon and overstay their welcome or to make one up where there isn’t one. None is bigger than the Neshi wagon. The truth is the Calgary of pre1988 is long gone and dead. Narcissism and ‘let’s paint up pigs as pretty as we can’ is now a way of life in Calgary along with ultra competitive attitude so prevalent anywhere but in particular in driving. Welcome to the new Calgary.

23. I lived in Calgary for six years and am now living in Toronto. I’ve been here for seven years and can truly say that you are FULL OF SHITE!

    Transit in Toronto is a joke, even if you live in the city.

    If you happen to live outside in the gta, your daily average commute goes from 30 minutes to well over an hour. I live in markham and it takes me well over 2 hours to get to downtown near queens park. And yes, that includes a subway ride of 45 minutes.

    And given that torontos city council is made up of a bunch of self-serving morons, who spend more time flip-flopping to spite one another, rather than develop good public policy, Toronto can’t even claim to be a well run city.

    And let’s see, what else did you claim? Oh yes, Toronto is ahead in health? Really? Do I need to remind you where SARS began? And Why don’t we talk about the overly hot humid summer days where the temperature is 30 degrees, the humidity makes it 45 degrees and the smog warning is in the moderate to high range? Yes, very healthy. Looks like you are the oblivious one.

24. The mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi is NOT an immigrant. He was born in Toronto.

25. Comparing Calgary to Toronto is about as relevant as comparing Calgary to Tokyo. Calgary is about the size of Mississauga (if that). I know cause I live here,

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