Outrage of the week: Niagara takes out ads slamming Toronto, Toronto takes offence

Any Torontonian wondering what he or she should be angry about next, wonder no longer: the Niagara Parks Commission has released a couple of ads suggesting that there might be some downsides to spending the summer in the city, and that some of us might enjoy a weekend away. George Smitherman, with “simmering anger,” lays down the law in a Cnews piece: nobody but nobody talks about his city that way.

The candidate says in the letter he once served in the provincial cabinet and worked hard to build links between Niagara and Toronto, pointing to investments the McGuinty government made to GO Train service, a new convention centre and the NPC’s People Mover shuttle buses.

“Niagara Falls is a great city, but hardly without fault,” Smitherman wrote. “Imagine if Toronto turned the tables and played to Niagara Falls’ perceived weaknesses. Do the right thing and immediately abandon your ill-advised, immature advertising campaign which serves nobody’s interests.”

Colour us un-enraged. A slapfight between Toronto and Niagara Falls over whether Toronto might be crowded or suffer from the occasional incident of property crime is the kind of thing that makes a mayoral candidate—and a former deputy premier—look silly. Shouldn’t Toronto be above this?

Besides, everyone knows that Niagara Falls is tacky.

• Smitherman calls Niagara ads “immature” [Toronto Sun]
• With ‘simmering anger,’ Smitherman goes to Niagara [Globe and Mail]
• Niagara tourism ads ridicule, rile Toronto [CBC News]
• Smitherman comes to Toronto’s rescue [National Post]
• The Niagara they show. The Niagara we know. [Toronto Star]