AudioCircle
Community => Regional Audiophiles => Toronto Area Audio Society => Topic started by: Bill on 11 Feb 2009, 03:56 am
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Will someone put the "Toronto Audio Society" circle out of its misery. Please!
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Maybe you should attempt to put yourself out of misery and stay out of Circles that aren't to your liking? :thumb:
Cheers,
Robin
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At Last! Some excitement in the quiet peacefull Great White North. :lol:
Thanks Bill and Robin. :D
Best Regards
Igor
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At Last! Some excitement in the quiet peacefull Great White North. :lol:
Thanks Bill and Robin. :D
Best Regards
Igor
HEY no problem Igor,,, that's how I roll. It pains me to see Bill suffering so while coming to this Circle so I simply gave him the same advise I take for myself. :rotflmao:
Cheers,
Robin
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I dig Toronto (really, I do). One of the finest 5-or-so cities I visit in the world (I don't visit everywhere of course, but I get around).
But, I've told Canadian Tire & Zeller's (customers of mine) us California boys won't visit from November thru March. They took it pretty well and with good humor, actually (I'm not sure they realized I was dead serious :lol:)
Just trying to get some lovin' action injected into this topic :)
John
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I can roll with that John,,,, I'm a little (but not too much) embarrassed to admit it but even tho my heritage is Canadian (my grandfather was from Quebec) and I only live 85 miles from the Canadian border, I have never been to Canada. :oops: It only seems right that before I die I should cross the border and visit the land of my ancestors. :thumb:
I only wonder tho,,,, would my visit to Canada be as boring as this Circle? :o I jest. :jester:
Good Morning Canada! :thumb:
Cheers,
Robin
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Robin, you gotta' make tracks to Canada, me boy :thumb:
Really, it's a fine place to visit...as much European in feel and sentiment as it is North American. All the influx of immigrants over the last couple decades has really livened up Canada for the better, too (food is excellent...always has been in Quebec, of course :wink:)
Toronto and Vancouver are world class cities....it's been too long since I've been to Montreal now (and the Laurentians) and I want to visit Calgary one day, too. I go to Ottawa about once a year (Costco Canada is there) and that town is still a bit sleepy :sleep:
What are ya' waiting fer, boy? It's right next door to ya'.
John
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It only seems right that before I die I should cross the border and visit the land of my ancestors. :thumb:
The only parts worth seeing are Quebec City and British Columbia. Everything east of the Rocky Mountains is FLAT. In much of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, you watch your dog run away for three days. Ontario is my least favorite place on the planet. Never been to Atlantic Canada, can't get past the accent.
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That's not really fair. I think it depends on what you're after. If you want wilderness (like many Europeans do) I agree that BC is the place to go. You can golf, ski and fish the same day, nuff said. Although northern Ontario and the Laurentian mountains of Quebec ain't too shabby on the nature front.
Never tell anyone from BC that it is anything but perfect. You're in for a fight even if they've never been anywhere else.
If you want culture and urban excitment - go Toronto and Montreal. Toronto is a lot like Chicago, if I had to pick a close American city. If you don't like Chicago, you won't like Toronto. I have not been out east, but everyone I know who has loves it - particularly Halifax. Quebec city is old world beautiful, but the old core is small (like Boston) so I wouldn't plan to spend too much time there.
In a perfect world, I'd wake up in BC where I'd spend the day, magically appear in Toronto around 5 p.m. where I'd have dinner and go out, then end up in Montreal from about midnight to 4 a.m. where I'd have dinner again and go out again. And repeat.
Montreal is a wild place. People are truly crazy fun and anything goes. At night it is what New Orleans pretends to be. People in Montreal really care about culture. If you go out for dinner in Toronto, you will overhear people talking mostly about money; in Montreal people talk about music, food, art... it's like being on AudioCircle. If yo go out in Vancouver, you won't hear anyone unless it's before 11 p.m. - they will be talking about camping and rollerblading. If you go to Montreal, make sure to visit Coup de Foudre - an audiophile Mecca.
The thing that seems to strike people most about Toronto is the extent to which it is a multicultural city with an international outlook. You really need to talk to locals (real locals) to figure out where to go because it is a bit of an acquired taste and the fun places are not clearly laid out for tourists. If you stick to the tourist strip near the convention center, you will leave with the impression that the city sucks, unlike some places where the things to visit are easy to determine and clearly laid out.
My two cents.
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It only seems right that before I die I should cross the border and visit the land of my ancestors. :thumb:
The only parts worth seeing are Quebec City and British Columbia. Everything east of the Rocky Mountains is FLAT. In much of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, you watch your dog run away for three days. Ontario is my least favorite place on the planet. Never been to Atlantic Canada, can't get past the accent.
That is just a 'flat' retarded post, except for watching your dog run away for 3 days :). Were abouts do you live and what parts of the world or Canada have you really seen?
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Wind might be chasing his tail, but:
...you watch your dog run away for three days
made me laugh out loud. :lol:
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Toronto is a lot like Chicago, if I had to pick a close American city. If you don't like Chicago, you won't like Toronto
Bingo...I love Chicago (cannot with to be there in late March again) and Toronto is really a good proxy (or definitely better in as many ways) of it.
And BC really is near perfect...except I'll take the 20 degrees F better weather here in SF the other 8 months. I'll take the truly more adventurous food/gastronomy of BC (Vancouver, Richmond, at least) over San Fran's resting laurels any day tho :thumb:
For that matter, Portland and Seattle beats SF for food and genuine liveliness (not to be confused with worthless picketing and protests here), too :wink:
Hey, isn't John/Wind Chaser a Canuck? His is a curious post, if so :scratch:
John
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Hey, tho we haven't talked one iota about audio yet...at least this circle isn't as boring anymore !
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What if I told you the reason this forum is quiet is we are too busy listening to our systems and enjoying the music :green:
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If you're an outdoor lover the Canadian Rockies & Cape Breton Island are awesome !
How does Vancouver Island compare to these places ? I'm planning on going there next .
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I AM Canadian. I've lived most of my life in Alberta and can state with authority - Calgary SUCKS. I've also live in Ontario and Quebec but now reside in the Okanagan Valley of BC, one of the most desirable places on all of Canada.
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:D most of Canada is boring,the simple life if you must.i did not know Montreal was wild-side ?? what the heck is Coup de Foudre ???? :D i heard Ottawa is a fun place to visit.... :D
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I like the outdoors of New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia. But really only in the summer.
Montreal, on the other hand, is a city I will never tire of in any season. :thumb:
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Hey Bill,
Now that you know how to post pictures, why don't you post some of Canada's wilderness....or maybe your system? aa
Bob
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I AM Canadian. I've lived most of my life in Alberta and can state with authority - Calgary SUCKS. I've also live in Ontario and Quebec but now reside in the Okanagan Valley of BC, one of the most desirable places on all of Canada.
Well I can understand you thinking that the rest of Canada doesn't compare to the Okanogon, except Northern Ontario at the top of the great lakes is stunning. much more beautiful than the Okanogon, or the 1000 Islands on the St. Lawrence River, or Georgian Bay. I've lived in the Okanogan and have a dealer there too, so see it often and watch it going downhill with all the comercialization. I've also travelled most of Canada by car many times, Quebec City is a great place, if you can get past the accent !!!. Guess you didn't get out much while you lived in Ontario.
Calgary sucks? I've lived here for almost 3 years now and it's an amazing city, on any given night I can go choose from at least 40 live bands !! to go see. Try that in any other place in Canada. Great people and the most beautiful blonds on the planet :) I guess you think Banff sucks too, suburbia Calgary or do you think Banff is in BC?
Grew up in Toronto. guess you've never made it to the 'beach' in Toronto either.
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Toronto is a beautiful city and I agree it reminds me a lot of Chicago (especially for Jazz). I have extended family in and around Toranto and holiday there in the fall every year. The folks in the area are very friendly and warm hearted. What amazes me is how much they know about everything USA. It was a little embassinging since I knew so little about Canada. Over the past few years I have made it a point to get smarter on what happens to our neighbors in the north. Last year, I even bushed up on their elections while they picked my brain about our election. OBTW, they are just as concerned about our economy as we are.
IMHO, Toronto rocks! :rock:
Lou
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That did it. New or used, I'm never buying another GF product ever again.
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Two of my kids and I spent a day and a half in Vancouver two summers ago. We all agreed it was one of the most beautiful places we'd visited. Plan on spending more time there one day . . .
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Well most of Canada might be boring, hell so is Vermont, but is the power there as clean as the flowing water in it's streams? To my way of thinking, the less distractions there are, the more I can focus on music. I would rather live in a place where music lives in harmony with nature that say a place like NYC where music is an escape from one's outside environment. Long live Canada's environment... unless they have crappy power too. Then I'll stay where I am.
How's that for an audio spin on things? :lol:
Cheers,
Robin
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i've never been to any of the praire provinces which im sure are beautiful if you like that sort of life, but i've been born and raised in toronto and love it. after recently being to nyc, the only thing i can say is that toronto is the same only somewhat smaller. same clubs, music, traffic, stores, etc. i do laugh insanely however, when some of my american cousins call me and ask how my neighbous in the igloos are doing. and the funniest part is that they are serious. :banghead:
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I've always been amazed by the view, particularly in BC, that it is perfect, everywhere else sucks, how dare anyone suggest otherwise, and Torontonians are the arrogant ones - usually followed by "what do you mean culture?"
Let's face it, if you like mountains don't go to Toronto. If you like buildings older than you are, nightlife past 11pm, opera houses and Frank Ghery buildings - don't go to BC. It's not rocket science. To each his own...
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i do laugh insanely however, when some of my american cousins call me and ask how my neighbous in the igloos are doing. and the funniest part is that they are serious. :banghead:
What do you live in to protect you from the elements then?
:lol:
John
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I can roll with that John,,,, I'm a little (but not too much) embarrassed to admit it but even tho my heritage is Canadian (my grandfather was from Quebec) and I only live 85 miles from the Canadian border, I have never been to Canada. :oops: It only seems right that before I die I should cross the border and visit the land of my ancestors. :thumb:
I only wonder tho,,,, would my visit to Canada be as boring as this Circle? :o I jest. :jester:
Good Morning Canada! :thumb:
Cheers,
Robin
Hey Robin, isn't 85 miles equivalent to a grocery store trip for you?
You gotta go, its just a day trip. We had to go to Ottawa for a visa renewal a few years and loved it, a cross between the US/Scandinavia & Scotland.
When I lived in Europe I used to joke that local news was Pittsburgh, national news was PA and international news was the US - wrong! In reality local news is my township, national news is Pittsburgh and international news is PA. Bottom line - Americans need to get out more.
NB
They might have some good coffee for you!
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I can roll with that John,,,, I'm a little (but not too much) embarrassed to admit it but even tho my heritage is Canadian (my grandfather was from Quebec) and I only live 85 miles from the Canadian border, I have never been to Canada. :oops: It only seems right that before I die I should cross the border and visit the land of my ancestors. :thumb:
I only wonder tho,,,, would my visit to Canada be as boring as this Circle? :o I jest. :jester:
Good Morning Canada! :thumb:
Cheers,
Robin
Hey Robin, isn't 85 miles equivalent to a grocery store trip for you?
You gotta go, its just a day trip. We had to go to Ottawa for a visa renewal a few years and loved it, a cross between the US/Scandinavia & Scotland.
When I lived in Europe I used to joke that local news was Pittsburgh, national news was PA and international news was the US - wrong! In reality local news is my township, national news is Pittsburgh and international news is PA. Bottom line - Americans need to get out more.
NB
They might have some good coffee for you!
Yea, I know Phil. I've always wanted to take a trip to Montreal or a journey thru Maine to New Brunswick. 8)
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To Bob in St. Louis
I don't have any wilderness pictures of Canada but I have lots of New Mexico where I live.
To Everyone Else
I'm happy to incite some passion in this otherwise moribund Circle. I have always thought Canada to be a land of hockey rinks and donut shops eh?
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To Bob in St. Louis
I don't have any wilderness pictures of Canada but I have lots of New Mexico where I live.
To Everyone Else
I'm happy to incite some passion in this otherwise moribund Circle. I have always thought Canada to be a land of hockey rinks and donut shops eh?
To you Bill
I always thought of New Mexico to be nothing but desert, full of illegal Mexicans and loading with taco stands. :lol: Maybe you should start an equally boring New Mexico Circle so's to keep the Canadians company? You could moderate it yourself and maybe build up your post count to say 35 from such a Circle, all as equally boring posts as your last couple, eh? :o
Cheers,
Robin
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Satfrat
You're taking this way too seriously. I'm not sure why this is such a sensitive issue for you. I'll take the bait on your comments on NM. First of all, it is not desert in the true sense. It is mostly mountainous with high desert mesa. Secondly, there aren't too many illegal Mexicans. They can be found primarily in Texas, Arizona and California. Not many Taco stands here either.
Maybe you're just using irony with benign intent with your missives. Maybe then, I need to relax.
Go Leafs Go ( if they make the playoffs)
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Satfrat
You're taking this way too seriously. I'm not sure why this is such a sensitive issue for you. I'll take the bait on your comments on NM. First of all, it is not desert in the true sense. It is mostly mountainous with high desert mesa. Secondly, there aren't too many illegal Mexicans. They can be found primarily in Texas, Arizona and California. Not many Taco stands here either.
Maybe you're just using irony with benign intent with your missives. Maybe then, I need to relax.
Go Leafs Go ( if they make the playoffs)
No bait Bill, sorry you feel that way. I was simply addressing your sarcasm with some of my own. Or are you the type that can dish it out but can't take it, eh? :lol: No worries mate. 8) Go Bruins!
Cheers,
Robin
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Go Leafs Go ( if they make the playoffs)
:rotflmao:
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I like Montreal! Had some porkchops with a prune sauce (doesn't sound too tasty, huh) in a Russian restaurant with some buffalo grass flavored Vodka. Never saw that on a menu before. A place on the west side. On my long walk back to my hotel encountered some hemp in the air passin a couple of cribs. Had a drink at a bar where the girl tending bar spoke only French. Lucky for me, she let me mix my own drink (the place was near empty) and brothers, she was totally beautiful! I got a memory for details.
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Somewhere on this thread, it was stated that Toronto is like NYC only smaller. By the same reasoning, is that like saying Hamilton is like Toronto, only smaller?
Just wonderin'
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Toronto is a nice place to visit but I don't know that I could live there..my friends do currently. Many people are forced to live in tiny apartments/condos because everything costs too much...so I'd liken it to living in japan...without as much cool stuff...and ninjas.
I haven't seen a city I'd like to live in after having toured most everywhere...but many beautiful places to visit. Then again, I think living anywhere with snow is unnatural...and I live in Michigan haha..
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Toronto is a nice place to visit but I don't know that I could live there..my friends do currently. Many people are forced to live in tiny apartments/condos because everything costs too much...so I'd liken it to living in japan...without as much cool stuff...and ninjas.
I haven't seen a city I'd like to live in after having toured most everywhere...but many beautiful places to visit. Then again, I think living anywhere with snow is unnatural...and I live in Michigan haha..
Toronto isn't anywhere near the priciest city even in North America.....NYC, San Francisco and likely, LA, Boston, Washington DC and a bevy of small cities in California are as or more costly (measured as % of average income going to rent or mortgage costs)
One of the reasons Toronto is NOT expensive is because their banks (curiously not emulated by their impoverished southern neighbor :wink:) typically loan 75% of a home's value and actually do exhaustive credit checks. Imagine that - banks that due their due diligence and minimize bad credit risks :roll: ...at the same time don't fuel home pricing escalation by 'juicing' the process. Something the US could learn a lot from (as our new President has accurately pointed out last week in meetings there)
Tokyo, Paris, London and probably a few others I'm not mentioning have NYC-like, nosebleed costing.
John
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I have lived in pretty well every area of Canada west of Montreal (gotta get out to the maritimes some day!) and I would say that every place has it's highs and lows: BC has those beautiful mountains (but "BC is sooo beautiful" arrogance), Alberta has the wonderful mid-winter chinooks (but too many Albertans!), Saskatchewan has wonderful sunsets and super-clean air (but damn it's cold in January), Manitoba has...ummm...Winnipeg (don't knock it unless you've been there - it's truly a wonderfully vital and multicultural city, with many great musicians having hailed from there), and Ontario has just about everything else (including high real estate prices and INSANE traffic in toronto!).
That being said, this circle is pretty boring and I only heard about this thread because a member of my local audio group turned me onto the dissing of the circle - otherwise, there has been nothing but tumbleweeds rolling through here (like downtown Calgary after what, 5pm?)
cheers,
B
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Let's see... Go Jays Go ?
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Perhaps Montisory could hook us up with his local audio group. Then, we could all be boring together. Or not.
I think it's high time that we either participate in this circle or set it free...
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To Bob in St. Louis
I don't have any wilderness pictures of Canada but I have lots of New Mexico where I live.
To Everyone Else
I'm happy to incite some passion in this otherwise moribund Circle. I have always thought Canada to be a land of hockey rinks and donut shops eh?
Some different Places in Ontario and BC. I actually have A bunch more "nicer" Pics of the rockies when Backcountry camping but they were taken with a film camera. I have been to 75 percent of US States and IMO Canada is much................MUCH nicer.
My Lonnie and 2 cents eh..........Pass me a Donut.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1018/722771773_8eda106c9f_m.jpg)
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/327872919_219fba5192_m.jpg)
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/72/202922391_5e1795b0e0_m.jpg)
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/327872916_f8aa9f3b0f_m.jpg)
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/60/202922386_a6806aefea_m.jpg)
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You're #15 Toronto....second in North America after Vancouver....you simply can't be too boring given that :thumb:
Note one of the highest ranking cities in the US is San Francisco at #29 (where I live), but were it not for the milder climate and my citizenship, I'd probably love living in Toronto :) Instead, I satisfy myself with a 2x yearly trip there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Most_Livable_Cities
Now Ottawa on the other hand I have found quite boring...perhaps I hadn't seen it's wilder side yet? (beyond the nudie bars which I've seen already :o) That one making #19 was surprising...maybe the schools are good and the crime is low?
Canada (and Australia), you got all your major cities as most livable on this list. Good going 8)
John
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I'm from up by James Bay.
Up there you can really sit there and watch cow plop dry in the sun (in the short summer) and that's bout as exciting as it gets. I have also actually heard paint crack and peel on a house before. I would have shot myself to relieve the boredom that I figured that was one way street and I'd have never get a chance to something as exciting as that again (no, you can't fool me!).
Toronto has it's own comparable boring aspect. If you want quiet and confused looks when you try and talk to people, then North of Toronto is a good place to go.
A thread was started on the Canuck audio forum about 'starting a show' in the TO area. I came down on them pretty darned hard. Ian was there, I'm sure he remembers it. I was trying to clarify why Montreal is cool and fun, and how Toronto is as boring as a bag of fungi rocks posing as rotting potatoes. I even told them exactly what they have to do- to make it happen.
We'd like to try, but what is needed in the T-O area is one thing. Either a small group of people to the tune of maybe three folks. Maybe even one really ornery and determined person. Those folks or persons NEED and MUST have a determination and will to push the livin' crap out of things so they really happen. This person also must have tremendous foresight and 'finish what they start' skills..and the ability to make/inspire people to do what they need to do. Hell, manipulation works just fine too, if it gets things done. And this person must be willing to do this for, oh, at least ten years straight with no breaks.
Then we could begin to have a workable audio group and shows in the T-O area.
If you read that thread on the Canuck forum, I accuse (Accurately) the entire Toronto area of having no gumption, no drive, no personality and no character. This, compared to Montreal.
For example, if I walk down the street in Toronto and smile at a woman, I get a sneer or similar. Always been that way. In Montreal, if you smile a t a woman--you get a smile back. Very, very different and a very fundamental thing.
You can get bored by the very idea of traveling to Toronto. You can have a ton of fun just walking down the street in Montreal. Montreal has character and culture. Toronto has, uhm..plastic. Plasticized sumpthin'. Plastic I dunno what kind exactly... but it sure coulda been done better. A nice uncluttered multicultural boring and neutral grey.
Toronto is like some kind of place where boring people who search out boredom go to die a slow protracted boring death.
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[rant on]
One of the biggest issues in the TO area is that in the TO area, we have the world's most crowded and used freeways. Period. # world dominator when it comes to cluttered/overused highway sections. Then we have the total crap where the Harris government sold about 110 BILLION dollars worth of work (the areas for the 407 highway where procured beginning from about the mid 70's- about $100 billion went into it as an end tally) to some consortium for about $3B (A 99 year lease on over $100B of work? that is more than the effective life of the highway, so it's obviously an 'inside job')--and that consortium is holding Toronto's capacity to grow ---into an illegal 'ransom' system. A photo enforced toll road system. ie they are using 'remote observation without a warrant' (wholly illegal in Ontario-this is the VERY specific reason we don't have photo radar)
The reality is that the Illegal Toll road which was SUPPOSED to be Toronto's future and expansion and life, 'verve' -if you will..was stolen and given to a faceless foreign consortium for a pittance, all because Harris was on the side and in bed with globalists who want to create a North American Union. Now the proposed 'toll highway' to be sold to some other globalist consortium is headed for creation-in the Niagara to Hamilton corridor. Pay attention people, you are being set up 10-20 years ahead of time! This is no joke. It's the same thing that is going on down in Texas, with the NAU trans highway corridor. Except that- it actually happened -- here-- in Ontario.
Except it is real, it is done -and it is in our backyard. This toll highway is something that the average folk with a car cannot afford to be using-it was supposed to be FREE ACCESS--and this would have revitalized the Toronto area into something alive-again.
But no, some globalists found a point they could bleed us on-so the moved in and the fascistic Harris (our golf-pro ex-premier of Ontario) went with it - as he was told to.
This is why Toronto is boring.
It's blood flow is checked by the bad highways (tie to travel-road clogging-to spread out). It seems like an over simplified analysis, kinda myopic --but people are kinda myopic in their unconscious underbellies-and that road was a critical point that was supposed to ~FIX~ Toronto. Remember, they KNEW this in the 70's. They KNEW it was going to be a serious problem. So the Globalists came in and choked it-at the last minute. This is why Toronto is screwt.
More importantly, we have a private toll highway with photo enforced fines and use, which is absolutely illegal in Ontario as only a governmental police organization (specifically individual officers) can use a photo system to levy fines and enforce laws..and they have to be PHYSICALLY PRESENT each time it is used-each individual use requires the exact and real presence of a police officer-at a minimum (remember-this is the reason we don't have photo radar-remove viewing without a warrant is wholly illegal in Ontario).
Now, this system is being used to stop people from getting their licenses for their cars if they do not pay fines for using the toll highway without a 'transponder' on their car. So we have the government of Ontario-enforcing Ontario laws on private land (private land does not have traffic laws in Ontario-same as parking lot at an Ontario mall) - for a foreign corporation-on a highway which was supposed to revitalize the Toronto area-which was sold to this corporation in the dead of night-for a few dollars-all outside of the people of Ontario's full knowledge...and thus Toronto has been killed in it's potential for growth and vitality.
So, Toronto people and Ontario people-are you angry yet? You should be. and you should force the Ontario government to cancel the contract for that highway-so Toronto can come back to life and grow again.
Think about it.
[rant off]