Sick of gridlock, young Torontonians are looking to flee the city. Here is how we keep them

A startling number of Torontonians are now asking, to quote the famous Clash song: Should I stay, or should I go?

According to a new poll from the Toronto Region Board of Trade and Ipsos, fully 53 per cent of residents in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area have considered moving outside the region to escape our now legendary gridlock. Among those aged 18-34 — our city’s current and future prime workforce — that number rose to a troubling 64 per cent.


City Hall hates cars and the rolling homeless shelter known as the TTC is not going to win hearts and minds.

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Oh. It’s Ausma Malik’s Ward? Let Them Rot Then.

Chairman Chow and her right hand Islamist Ausma Malik

‘Just do something’: Liberty Village residents pleading with city to fix ‘unbearable’ traffic congestion

Liberty Village residents say they feel trapped as traffic conditions have gotten so bad, they say it takes a minimum of 30 minutes for drivers to get in and out of the downtown neighbourhood.

“It’s unbearable, completely unbearable. You cannot leave at any point in the morning or in the evening at any point,” says resident Pamela Westwater.

… “As much as these events are great for Toronto and the economy of Toronto, it’s impacting our daily lives. It took me two hours to drive 900 meters to get home,” says DeOliveira.

Many residents have been inundating Ward 10 councillor Ausma Malik’s inbox with complaints and demands to find an immediate solution.

Karma is bitch.

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I’m a lifelong Toronto renter. I live in constant fear of being forced onto the street

I’ve lived in apartments in Toronto my whole life. I’ve been in my current apartment for nine years — and I’ve watched in horror as apartments around me doubled, then tripled in price. For the past five years, I’ve lived with the terrifying knowledge that if I had to move tomorrow, there would be nowhere for me to go. As a struggling creative and small business owner, even prices in Etobicoke and Scarborough are beyond my reach.

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Etobicoke residents upset over plan to build Somali centre

Downtown Mogadishu, an aspirational vision of Toronto’s future from Mayor Chow

A city-backed plan to build a recreation centre for Toronto’s Somali community is facing an uncertain future, after fierce backlash from residents who have enlisted Premier Doug Ford in their fight to stop the project coming to their neighbourhood.

The group behind the proposal to construct a Somali Centre for Culture and Recreation (SCCR) in Etobicoke’s Buttonwood Park says it would be the culmination of a decades-long effort to carve out space for a Black community that has endured discrimination and lacks access to public amenities.

Nothing says identity politics ghetto like a tax payer funded Mohammedan centre.

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I went to rat school in New York City to see if Toronto had any hope of beating back its rodent invasion. Here’s what I learned

NEW YORK—Bobby Corrigan, a world-renowned rat expert, grew up in Brooklyn reading mystery novels. He dreamed of being a detective, but instead used his sleuthing instincts and science credentials to become the Sherlock Holmes of rodent control.

One morning this spring, Corrigan, 73, stood in a small auditorium inside New York City’s health department. The room was church-like, with high ceilings, wood-panelled walls and frosted glass windows. Looming behind him, projected on a large screen above a wooden stage, was a whiskered rodent with a long naked tail.

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‘Things could have been different’: Frustration building amid Spadina Avenue TTC construction

A six-month project to upgrade the streetcar route along Spadina Avenue has only just started, but is already causing headaches for drivers, cyclists and businesses alike.

On June 23, the TTC switched out streetcars for buses on the busy downtown artery to perform critical track renewal work at Spadina Station. The project also includes upgrades to the overhead electrical system on sections of the right-of-way route, including between King Street and Queens Quay and between College Street and Spadina Station.

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I moved from Toronto to Sweden because I couldn’t see an affordable future for my young family

I was born and raised in Toronto; it will perhaps always seem like home. But I’ve left, and I don’t expect to live there again. Like the Torontonians Edward Keenan discussed, I found myself unable to see a future in my hometown.

Barely being able to afford rent and groceries on two middle-class paycheques was a big part of the problem, but it was seeing child care in Canada through the eyes of my Swedish husband that ultimately sent us packing.

It wasn’t just the cost and absurd wait times — to get a quasi-afforable daycare spot in Toronto you need to put your “child” on the wait-list as soon as the egg meets the sperm — but the overall state of the thing.

This is not a loss.

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Toronto’s youth firearm arrests up 161% in 2 years, new data shows

Misguided youth.

Youth firearm arrests in Toronto have skyrocketed by 161 per cent over the past two years, new data shows, and police say the uptick is happening as gangs increasingly look to recruit young people.

From January 1 to July 7, 2022, there were 41 youth firearm arrests, while the same period this year saw 107, according to police data updated this week.

Meanwhile, the number of adult firearm arrests in the city has risen two cent over the last two years. In 2022, from Jan. 1 to July 7, there were 410 adult firearm arrests, while the same period this year saw 418.

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The results are in: June’s rate cut didn’t revive Canada’s housing market

Fresh home sales data has finally answered the question for real estate watchers: The Bank of Canada’s initial interest rate cut in June did not open the floodgates to buyers, many of whom remain sidelined through an unseasonably slow spring housing market.

Sales figures from local real estate boards released in the past week show last month’s home sales did not see much of an uptick after the Bank of Canada’s quarter-point cut on June 5, the first decrease in four years and a substantial shift in monetary policy after the central bank’s fastest tightening cycle on record.


Toronto condo sales are tanking — but asking prices aren’t budging. Here’s why

Condominium sales in downtown Toronto have tanked, but prices have barely budged thanks to over-leveraged sellers refusing to take a financial hit by listing their units for tens of thousands of dollars below what they bought it for.

In June condo sales fell a whopping 29 per cent year-over-year, but prices only declined by 0.9 per cent, according to data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB). This has led to more inventory on the market with new listings up more than 12 per cent year-over-year giving buyers a bounty of options to choose from.


The condo’s they speak of are the 500 – 600 square foot units that flooded the market downtown during the peak. I recall seeing units for sale with only a microwave to cook with in what passed as a kitchen.

I question that Toronto has the recovery in it to make these units viable.   

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Henry Dundas Should Be Celebrated, Not Cancelled

Another stupid idea from our stupid city government.

It’s finally happened.

Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas Square has been renamed, with signage to be completed by the end of the year. Henceforward it will be known as Sankofa Square. We’ll come to what that means shortly, but the first question to ask is why this happened in the first place.
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Young, talented workers aren’t just thinking about leaving Toronto. They’re already on their way out, and the fallout will be enormous

The young, middle-class families Toronto needs to function and thrive are packing up, leaving the city’s viability at risk.

A recent Angus Reid poll found that more than 40 per cent of Greater Toronto Area residents are “seriously thinking of leaving Ontario because of the cost of housing here.” Quality of life and other cost-of-living concerns were also cited as reasons to leave the province. Recent immigrants to Ontario expressed the highest desire to move. Many consider Alberta, with its high wages and relatively affordable housing, as a prime destination. Others said they were considering moving to the United States.


Immigrants who contributed to the high cost of housing now want to leave after the damage is done. Toronto is so diverse everyone hates each other.

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Living in Toronto has become such a grind people are leaving in droves. Can you blame them?

I was at a gathering recently for my aunt and uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary. The party also served as a farewell: my cousin and his family were moving the next day from the GTA to Alberta.

They told us of the job opportunities, and of the six-bedroom house with ample parking and yard space they were able to afford on their southern Ontario budget.

You get used to such news, after a while.

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