Comments on: Toronto’s Challenge in The Great Reset

By: Alex Sirota

Alex Sirota — Sun, 30 May 2010 14:53:06 +0000

Nice to see the discussion continue. Having said all that I said above, there is a way for Canada to differentiate and succeed. And that is being a source of talent and ideas that are commercialized elsewhere. We’re very good at the idea-ation part of the equation. The lifestyle of living, the wide open space and the opportunity to reflect makes people super creators of ideas, concepts and innovations. We just suck at selling them across the world. And as Wil says above, as soon as someone comes knocking from the US we sell out.

Look at how many singers, artists and companies have sold to Americans.

We’re a great farm team and if we can leverage that opportunity and become even better at being a farm team and develop many more I think lots of value will come back to this large, mostly undiscovered country of ours.

Not only that we can be seen as perfect early adopters and “beta” testers of ideas that can jump to the late adopters stage elsewhere. Even though we’re conservative, we do like to try new ideas out and improve tried and true concepts.

By: Wil

Wil — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:53:09 +0000

As an America who has lived in Canada for twenty years, I agree with the earlier poster, “Alex”, the reset you envision is something that will not occur in Canada. Canadians are not entreprenurial people, they are timid, and conservative. Generally speaking. The goal of the founders of enterprises here is to retire. In contrast, in the US people start up businesses to explore new ideas, or build an empire. I am in the most progressive part of Canada, which is BC. Most older Canadians dream of retiring here, and many younger ones seek the “west coast lifestyle” in Vancouver , which is Canada’s decaffinated, watered down, anemic version of California.

There are good things about Canada, but entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation are not on the list. For innovation you will need to look to the western states of the USA, because that is the world capital of innovation, and creativity.

By: Daniel Carins

Daniel Carins — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:25:07 +0000

This is relevant from this side of the Atlantic:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/may/24/inverness-popular-destination-relocation

By: Fred

Fred — Sun, 23 May 2010 03:13:00 +0000

Something does not compute for the Toronto mega-region numbers. Using the figures in the above article, the Toronto region has a per capita GDP of $24,000 Using the America2050.org mega-region data for 2000 population and 2005 GDP I find a range from $32,000 for Piedmont Atlantic to $52,000 for the Northeast. I can’t believe Toronto is that much lower than the least productive US mega-region.

My guess is that the population but not GDP for US portion of the Toronto mega region was included in the above figures

By: Alex Sirota

Alex Sirota — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:04:20 +0000

Mr. Florida,

Living in Toronto for 3 years does not classify you as an expert on this region. I like you an immigrant from the US, and have lived here for almost 14 years.

There are a few major things that you promote that simply do not work in Toronto, and maybe even all of Canada:

1. Financing is much more conservative in Canada and especially in the financial capital of Toronto. So you don’t have entrepreneurship at the scale that you do in the US. We have to do more with less, which can be a good thing. The constraints involved dictate that people will do what they want to do without the involvement of too much capital, and that means capital intensive projects won’t fly in Canada. Thus infrastructure projects will be slow in coming and will have lots of government involvement, all the time.

2. A reset requires constructive destruction, and Torontoians love the status quo. We especially love how our houses continue to skyrocket in value too. A reset would alter that landscape and cause many of us to flee or at least to be unsure of what happens next. I am not sure people want that.

So in summary The Great Reset is not a very Canadian way of doing things, I am afraid. Stay around for another 10 years and see how things are done here. From one American to another — this ain’t the US.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 22 May 2010 16:55:04 +0000

Well said. Toronto has great advantages, and can provide an example of how a reset happens over 15 years (from the early 1990s great recession in Toronto to today).

But going forward it’s a huge disadvantage for Toronto that the suburbs are not connected to the downtown core by rapid transit. And, not just because doing this would help create a wide range of walkable, urban communities all over the GTA.

Business too is impaired by the fact that it takes so long to get from downtown to suburban nodes like Mississauga or Markham because of heavy traffic.

When visiting Toronto as a business person, I find it frustrating that I need to spend $70 each way on cab fares to go between meetings in our Downtown and Mississauga or Markham operations. (Renting a car is cheaper, but takes time, which I often don’t have.)

A new, efficient rapid transit would also allow for greater connectivity between businesses in different nodes, increasing collaboration and productivity. Right now, a branch office or customer/client in a distant suburb might as well be in another province or country, it takes so long to get there that you don’t go very often.