QUOTED: Councillor Peter Milczyn, on Montreal versus Toronto

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“You can drink in Toronto in any number of languages, and no one is going to complain if the sign is in another language—beer, bier, cervaza.”

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—Councillor Peter Milczyn, chairman of Toronto’s planning and growth committee, responding to Montreal mayor Denis Coderre’s mocking of Toronto and its pitiable 2 a.m. last call. Milczyn, of course, was making a light-hearted jab at Quebec’s language laws, which many view as needlessly autocratic.

His joke, however cutting, was much more diplomatic than comments offered by Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong who, according to the Post, snipped that “most people left Montreal because of economic and political instability and they stay away because of government corruption and bridges that are falling apart.” Who says the Montreal/Toronto rivalry is dead?