They Hate Us. They Really Hate Us.

Feb. 6, 2005. 08:19 AM

Why do they hate Toronto?
LINDA DIEBEL

Our city is misunderstood. Canadians show no interest in claiming Toronto as their own, the way, say, Americans proudly take ownership of the Big Apple, or the French (as long as they are outside France) love Paris.

"Americans love to hate New York, but everybody has a New York story to tell. That's the beauty of it," observes Robert Racco, a graduate student at McGill's School of Urban Planning in Montreal, and a proud, if battered, Torontonian. "They visit New York in droves, and they keep talking about New York. It becomes their city, too."

It may be our own fault (and we'll return to this later) that Canadians don't share the same pride of ownership in their biggest city. We're just another city. It took close to $15 million to entice Larry Walker and his parents, Glena and Al, to Toronto. Other Canadians, lacking such incentive, don't bother.