The Maple Leafs Suck, So Does Toronto

I was browsing through Youtube for various Russell Peters videos and I stumbled across a clip of the George Strombolopolous show with Rick Mercer as a guest. It was a special for Canada Day, and they were talking about Canadian stereotypes. Personally, I like watching things about what people think about Canadians - or in this case, what this particular Canadian thought about what other people thought about Canadians (Awkward phrasing?). It was interesting to see that Mercer was frustrated with a few stereotypes, more specifically, the stereotype that all Canadians hate Toronto and its inhabitants.

I was totally taken aback by this to be honest. As a Torontonian I was slightly offended. Does that make me "soft"? Weak? Closed-minded? Other...things? Mercer went on to say how that was one stereotype that irritated him the most, and this stereotype in general made me go and Google why Canadians supposedly do not like Toronto and/or Torontonians. There was a forum that posted the question but the answers didn't tell me much, and a lot of them didn't really care or loved Toronto. That is, until I found a Facebook discussion page where there were a lot of people posting long paragraphs. I must say, I was disappointed to see that majority of the people used the Maple Leafs as a valid reason for hating Toronto. Yes, I said "hating". To base your "hate" for a place on their hockey team is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's like me saying I hate Vancouver because I don't like the Canucks (But I don't, just an example). I saw one or two more reasonable replies where they stated that Toronto is treated like its the "Centre of the Universe" and is probably the most prominent city in Canada.

In all honesty, it probably is the most prominent city in Canada. Does this make me sound like some stuck-up Torontonian bitch? If it does, what can I do, because it's true. We're one of the big cities in Canada, hence a lot of the business goes down here, in Toronto - namely in Downtown Toronto, in the business district. What with Rob Ford in the picture, we've become so much more of a business rather than an actual city as a friend has pointed out to me. I live in the more eastern part of the GTA, so I must vouch for myself against these Toronto-haters, because I don't live in the part of Toronto that they hate so much.

There was also an argument in which a poster had pointed out how Toronto blew everything out of proportion on the news. Well I'm sorry sir, but what news channel doesn't blow things out of proportion? It's annoying as hell, but what can we do but trust our own judgement. We all know that the news can either be biased or wrong, but still informative (depending on the news channel). All in all, this bit was a stupid back-up to their argument.

I probably sound butthurt and a little melodramatic, but I never actually realized how much hate my poor city gets - and I don't even live in the heart of Toronto. Spread the love, Canada is supposed to be made up of nice people, no use hating on each other.