salvius

A Canadian lurker needs to clear up some misconceptions here... China's GDP per capita is much lower than Canada's; so the only way China comes on top is gross GDP, which - comparing a country of 1 billion people to 30 million people - perhaps isn't so surprising. Besides, poverty and GDP per capita are unrelated. There is a difference between total wealth and the distribution of wealth. So... yes, the rich are definitely richer in US than in Canada. What good does it personally do you that the richest people in the world live in US? What about the rest of the population? How is the pie distributed? Well, we can turn over to the GINI index, and what do we find? We find that US's GINI is closer to Mexico than it is to Canada. Poverty and child poverty rates are considerably higher in the United States. Under no metric would Canada be considered 'poor.' Yes, plenty corbusier buildings from the 1970s. Why would they be remodeled? That was the architecture of that time and they are a partly responsible for Toronto's density, and what makes it such an urban experience in the first place. As for investments, Toronto has far more condominium starts than any place in North America besides NYC. So, I'm not sure how we're outdated, either, with the 2nd largest building boom on the continent. Canadians don't dislike Americans by and large. They do dislike the American government. So does the majority of the world, and at the moment, the majority of the Americans. Besides why should we like someone who notes "Canada always has and always will be our b!tch?" This type of arrogance is hard to like, yes? America spends more on military than all the other countries combined, so yes, it's going to be hard to match that level of spending. However, Canada's military spending is comparable to G20 per capita median. Generally, it's agreed upon the people living in Toronto that this diversity is one of the city's great strengths. Diversity adds greatly to the city experience. I see you've been to Kensigton, a place completely transformed by Asians, South Americans, and Jamaicans. It'd be a completely different neighbourhood without this influence, and a homogeneous Toronto would be a very different city. I would make a similar observation about NYC, and I hardly see the populace as being 'numb' to the diverse influences.