QUIETLY CONFIDENT Someone who has won the public vote is Justin Trudeau, Canada’s new prime minister. The 43-year-old son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, he heads up the Liberal Party that came to office last autumn. Winning with a clear majority, he was applauded for his intentions to raise taxes on the richest 1 per cent, legalise marijuana, accept more refugees and boost spending on infrastructure, and for his gender- balanced and ethnically diverse cabinet of 15 men and 15 women. Although the country is in
recession and struggling with a weak dollar, in 2014 Toronto had the fastest-growing economy in Canada for the first time since 1999. Growth of 3.1 per cent was expected for 2015. Its population (2.8 million for the city proper) is also on the rise – today, it is the fourth-biggest city in North America, after Mexico City (first), New York (second) and LA (third). After New York, Toronto also has the highest number of super-rich in North America – that’s 1,216 people with a net worth of US$30 million or more. In 2015 it was named the world’s best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It came eighth out of 84 in the 2015 Global Financial Centres Index by Z/Yen Group and Qatar Financial Centre, ahead of Boston, Washington DC, Geneva, Frankfurt and Shanghai (London came first and New York second). “All these things we are really
proud of but we don’t talk about it much. It’s not our style,” says Mark Crawford, director of international business development for Tourism Toronto (
seetorontonow.com). “We hosted the Pan Am Games in the summer. It was a great success and after that there was a lot of talk about whether we should bid for the 2024 Olympics. Ultimately we decided not to. I think the appetite for hosting these kinds of events is diminishing because of the cost.” It’s perhaps such aversion to risk that helped the country to avoid the global downturn of 2008-09. Crawford
Visit
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says: “Canada was largely unaffected by the economic crisis because our banks were very conservative. We didn’t have those crazy mortgages – in fact, we used to get mad at our banks because we couldn’t get loans.” Recognising its sagacity, the UK hired the Bank of Canada’s Mark Carney as the governor of the Bank of England in 2013. Following my tour guide out of the underground PATH network of shops and cafés that stretches almost 30km under the towers of Downtown, we emerge outside Union station and pause to look up at the Royal Bank of Canada on Bay Street. It’s easy to spot its uncharacteristically bling exterior – every pane of glass has real gold baked into it.
On the same block is the Fairmont
Royal York, the original railway hotel. “It was the tallest building in the British Empire when it was built in 1929, but it’s hard to believe now as it’s dwarfed by all these other towers,” Kucherawy says.
MOVING ON UP
While Downtown is seeing most of the high-rise development, other neighbourhoods have also been undergoing transformation. The pedestrianised Distillery District is probably the best example – restored in 2003, the Victorian red-brick warehouse complex now features trendy boutiques selling sake, gelato and artisan chocolate, as well as chic bars and restaurants. What’s most interesting, though, is the 2014 arrival of 43a Parliament Street – a 22,000 sqm server farm designed by WZMH Architects to store big data generated by numerous (unnamed) companies. There is another one at 151 Front Street, although you’d never spot it. “There is nothing to indicate what it is because if anything were to happen to this building, the entire internet in Canada would be broken in the worst possible way,” Kucherawy says.
Once an industrial wasteland, the nearby Waterfront alongside Queens
From top: Royal Bank Plaza; Skywalk connecting Union station with CN Tower and Rogers Centre; Fairmont Royal York
Quay has also been given a facelift, with bike lanes added in 2015, to complement granite promenades, art galleries, trees and beaches. “During the summer there were thousands of cyclists going by each day – before, there were maybe 50 or 60,” he says. West Queen West is also becoming gentrified. According to locals, the catalyst was the opening of the Drake
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 25
JENNY SOUTHAN
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