I went to Toronto last summer for a couple of days, the area by the water was fairly nice, but aside from that it felt very oppressive - lots of roads, flyovers, and cars with priority.
I know Canadians like to think of themselves as "different", but I could see more difference between the three cities I'd visited in the previous couple of weeks - NY, DC and LA than I could between Toronto and anywhere else in the US
Perhaps I didn't stay long enough, but if I compare with other cities, like Berlin, Rome, Lisbon, London, Singapore, Nairobi, Sydney, Delhi, Tokyo, etc, Toronto just felt like a typical North American city.
Edmonton is my home town. There's better options here in the Toronto area and our winter is not so long. Forget what people out west say about it. It's mostly pretty good here, depending on what you're looking for. Vibrant city.
I have very similar feelings in Calgary although it's improving slowly.
But I have spent a lot of time in silicon valley and it has recently felt a lot worse, dangerous and gross. I hope my next trip brightens my spirits but it's getting harder for me to love the bay area.
