TO one of World's 10 most powerful cities - Forbes

[gei]

pretty impressive for a canadian city to be on this list...

World's Most Economically Powerful Cities
Joshua Zumbrun 07.15.08, 12:00 PM ET

What's the world's most economically powerful city?

If you picked New York or Tokyo, you'd be wrong.

But when Forbes.com set out to measure the world's most powerful cities, the lack of useful data was surprising.

For sovereign nations, it's easy to find measures of almost every variable imaginable--gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, money flows and other metrics. After all, the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund all deal with governments at the national level. But for corporations, cities and their economies matter most, since picking the right city will be the key to prosperity in the future.

Corporations, and even individuals, have to weigh the size of a city's economy compared to how it will be in the future and consider the potential growth in the intervening years. For that matter, they have to judge whether it's worth it to settle for a city that has high growth prospects but turns out to be a lousy place to live.

To create our ranking of economic power, we looked at all of these factors to see who's strong across the board.

While Tokyo and New York are far and away the largest economies of today and tomorrow, they are growing much slower than many. Thus it's fast-growing London that tops our list, according to data from MasterCard (nyse: MA - news - people ).

Growth and quality are as important as size in our rankings, so smaller but briskly growing economies like Seoul, South Korea, and Hong Kong also make the list. North America, with relatively lower growth areas, still boasts a number of cities in the current power list, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto, the latter of which squeezes past Madrid, Spain; Philadelphia and Mexico City, Mexico. To see the entire list of the top 10 economically powerful cities, click here.

Pinning down the data to compare cities isn't as easy as it sounds, but luckily, several corporations have done detailed studies of the economies of global cities.

The auditing giant PricewaterhouseCoopers has compiled estimates of the GDP (as measured by purchasing power parity) of the largest urban economies and how fast those economies are growing from 2005 to 2020.

MasterCard has created an annual "centers of commerce" index, which ranks cities on a host of factors, including legal and political framework, economic stability, the ease of doing business, the financial flow, convenience as a business center, information flow and livability.

UBS (nyse: UBS - news - people ) publishes an estimate of living expenses and earnings in the world's largest cities. This report also includes estimates of how much the earnings of the average worker can actually purchase in the city.

The overarching lesson: Keep looking east. The world's fastest-growing economies, such as Shanghai, China; Beijing, Jakarta, Indonesia; and Mumbai, India, are growing at twice the pace of the Western world.

Cities with enormous populations like Sao Paolo, Brazil, and Mexico City also have economies projected to grow by more than 4% annually. They won't be the size of Tokyo or New York anytime soon, but with business-friendly policies, their economic power can be expected to continue climbing.

The list is:

1.London
2.Hong Kong
3.New York
4.Tokyo
5.Chicago
6.Seoul, Korea
7.Paris
8.Los Angeles
9.Shanghai, China
10.Toronto

[grappos13]

wow... i didnt realize that Chicago would be that high... i woulda only thought NY and LA for the states...

[ZenOps]

Chicago holds the Startap, which is was basically *the* internet hub for North America before fiber optics took hold. They've got a massive infrastructure that most people don't even know its there.

They also house the World Intellectual Property court, which makes its influence felt globally.

[XxXSnake23XxX]

wow... i didnt realize that Chicago would be that high... i woulda only thought NY and LA for the states...

london i think is a give away... but yeah the windy city is pretty high

[grappos13]

Chicago holds the Startap, which is was basically *the* internet hub for North America before fiber optics took hold. They've got a massive infrastructure that most people don't even know its there.

Hey I jsut learned how to do the quote thing? anyways.. me being a PC online gamer (UT99!!) i shoulda known this since all of the servers r usually in chicago and i get a 40 ping!

[khtm]

Not shocking at all since TO has 14% of Canada's population, whereas New York has less than 3% of the US population.

It's disgusting to think that 1 in 7 Canadians are jerks.

[Slimfast]

Not shocking at all since TO has 14% of Canada's population, whereas New York has less than 3% of the US population.

It's disgusting to think that 1 in 7 Canadians are jerks.

I actually Lol'd at this. Hahahaha.

[heymikey]

I'm surprised about Paris. I thought Frankfurt would be in the list instead of Paris.

[CCCC3333]

Chicago also has a huge mercantile exchange.

[gei]

Not shocking at all since TO has 14% of Canada's population, whereas New York has less than 3% of the US population.

It's disgusting to think that 1 in 7 Canadians are jerks.
ah... i was waiting for the TO hating (or in reality, jealousy) to kick in

[babysham]

ah... i was waiting for the TO hating (or in reality, jealousy) to kick in

The funny thing is that the people in Toronto don't care what people from outside Toronto think....

:D

[JordanN]

Paris over Berlin?

Quick Germany, your reputation is at stake! :evil:

[Kommander_KornFlakes]

-
Toronto as one of the most powerful cities in the world??? Hahahahaha!!!! :D

This city is so pathetic that they can't even afford a police helicopter which 233 U.S. cities and towns possess.

Anyways, if you take away mainland chinese, Toronto desinflates to 100th place I bet.

[gei]

-
Toronto as one of the most powerful cities in the world??? Hahahahaha!!!! :D

This city is so pathetic that they can't even afford a police helicopter which 233 U.S. cities and towns possess.
i suppose you're more of an expert on the subject than the people at forbes?

[M-e-X-x]

Corporations, and even individuals, have to weigh the size of a city's economy compared to how it will be in the future and consider the potential growth in the intervening years. For that matter, they have to judge whether it's worth it to settle for a city that has high growth prospects but turns out to be a lousy place to live.

Calgary is not worth it... Great growth, but so dang boring here...

[Spray]

So when are you on the slowboat out of Canada?

-
Toronto as one of the most powerful cities in the world??? Hahahahaha!!!! :D

This city is so pathetic that they can't even afford a police helicopter which 233 U.S. cities and towns possess.

Anyways, if you take away mainland chinese, Toronto desinflates to 100th place I bet.

[Tijuana]

Anyways, if you take away mainland chinese, Toronto desinflates to 100th place I bet.

Ya, because the Chinese are what made Toronto what it is today.

[Spray]

Clearly. They use big words like "desinflates" which makes the world think were powerful.

Ya, because the Chinese are what made Toronto what it is today.

[rb]

-
Toronto as one of the most powerful cities in the world??? Hahahahaha!!!! :D

This city is so pathetic that they can't even afford a police helicopter which 233 U.S. cities and towns possess.

Anyways, if you take away mainland chinese, Toronto desinflates to 100th place I bet.

Yeah and if you took Foreign investment out of China - Shanghai wouldn't even register

[Kommander_KornFlakes]

Yeah and if you took Foreign investment out of China - Shanghai wouldn't even register

I'm not denying that all powerful cities are like that because of foreign investment. The Saudi oil sheiks make London what it is now.

[Tijuana]

I'm not denying that all powerful cities are like that because of foreign investment. The Saudi oil sheiks make London what it is now.

Am I the only one going :o

[Blunt]

-
Anyways, if you take away mainland chinese, Toronto desinflates to 100th place I bet.


Yes, and there would be nobody left to hork on Spadina anymore...

[Empz]

Don't like it here? Then leave!

My variation of the YTWatchDog's favorite saying:
"Pack your bags, and get the Fcuk out of T.O"

-E

-
Toronto as one of the most powerful cities in the world??? Hahahahaha!!!! :D

This city is so pathetic that they can't even afford a police helicopter which 233 U.S. cities and towns possess.

Anyways, if you take away mainland chinese, Toronto desinflates to 100th place I bet.

[purple_rabbit]

Meh London is a top 10 but not number 1. I think at this point Forbes shouldn't have given a ranking for the top 10 (because they all are powerful in their respective ways). It is also impossible to give weight as to which factor makes a city powerful. They should have made "tiers" like businessweek does for business schools.

[dubey]

The funny thing is that the people in Toronto don't care what people from outside Toronto think....

:D
There are people outside of Toronto?

[Stock R]

It's disgusting to think that 1 in 7 Canadians are jerks.

I guess that also means only 1 in 7 Canadians matter in this world :lol:

[dragon_drift]

not surprising since Toronto is the immigrant capital of the world.
More immigrants=more capital etc...

[CHINAdeals]

There are people outside of Toronto?

news to me lol

1 in 7

word

[CanadianMike]

why hasnt kornflakes aka vin diesel been banned?

i swear, kornflakes writes in exactly the same style as that old troll....

[aimfox]

WOW Chicago...

[salabanzi]

Glad to see Hong Kong on the list!!:D

[heymikey]

not surprising since Toronto is the immigrant capital of the world.
Not true. 59% of people living in Miami is foreign-born, which is a much higher percentage than Toronto.

[CanadianMike]

Not true. 59% of people living in Miami is foreign-born, which is a much higher percentage than Toronto.
you could argue that toronto has a greater mix of its percentage of foreign born. in addition, it really wont be that long until toronto hits that percentage. AFAIK, were pretty close to 50% as it is.

[Hairball]

Not true. 59% of people living in Miami is foreign-born, which is a much higher percentage than Toronto.

I don't think it's much of an important stat to care about.

But regardless, I'm sure most of the foreign born people in Miami are from Mexico, Cuba or other Central/South American countries. Whereas in Toronto there are immigrants from all over the world.

[gei]

Not true. 59% of people living in Miami is foreign-born, which is a much higher percentage than Toronto.

oh brother.... i always roll my eyes when people quote that statistic.

Toronto is the MOST multicultural city in the world, period. we have people from all over the world.

yes miami edges us slightly in the percentage "foreign-born", but thats because half the population is mexican... not a vast array of multiculturalism

[Frankie3s]

Chicago holds the Startap, which is was basically *the* internet hub for North America before fiber optics took hold. They've got a massive infrastructure that most people don't even know its there.

They also house the World Intellectual Property court, which makes its influence felt globally.

Never mind the best pizza you could ever wish for (the Chicago style deep dish pizza).

[heymikey]

I'm not discounting that Toronto is the most "multicultural" city in the world (wherever that statistic came from). I am referring to the fact that someone said that Toronto is the "immigrant capital" of the world, which I assume, he/she meant has the most number of immigrants, which is not entirely correct.

Anyway, can someone explain how being multicultural equals money and power? Tokyo, Seoul, and to some extent, Hong Kong are quite homogeneous and yet they rank higher than the "most multicultural city in the world".

[Spray]

Miami is mostly Mexican eh...

Good to know. I "roll my eyes" at that little tidbit :P

oh brother.... i always roll my eyes when people quote that statistic.

Toronto is the MOST multicultural city in the world, period. we have people from all over the world.

yes miami edges us slightly in the percentage "foreign-born", but thats because half the population is mexican... not a vast array of multiculturalism

[CanadianMike]

Anyway, can someone explain how being multicultural equals money and power? Tokyo, Seoul, and to some extent, Hong Kong are quite homogeneous and yet they rank higher than the "most multicultural city in the world".
i never thought multiculturalism necessarily means money/power. if anything it would mean the opposite, thats why toronto is notable too, its a place of multiculturalism that DOES have economic success.

but yeah...my earlier post was simply noting how toronto's immigrant population happens to be a lot more varied than miami's...it was no note on economic success itself.

[at1212b]

wow... i didnt realize that Chicago would be that high... i woulda only thought NY and LA for the states...

Chicago was and is still the commerce central in the West for the US with a very long history. Their infrastructure was the earliest and most sophisticated (it was the railroad hub which had a far greater relative impact then the internet does today).

So some of the largest corporations, law offices, exchanges were established there of course. And up until the 50's I believe, most of the Presidental nomination conventions for both the Republicans and Democrats were also held there as that was essentially the central meeting point of East and West. And finally, Oprah probably moved the dial a bit there too.

[purple_rabbit]

oh brother.... i always roll my eyes when people quote that statistic.

Toronto is the MOST multicultural city in the world, period. we have people from all over the world.

yes miami edges us slightly in the percentage "foreign-born", but thats because half the population is mexican... not a vast array of multiculturalism

...as compared to half of the population being asian? After being in NY for a while, Toronto doesn't seem so multicultural as it looks. The mix is just different.

[JeVartan]

...as compared to half of the population being asian? After being in NY for a while, Toronto doesn't seem so multicultural as it looks. The mix is just different.


You do realize that "Asian" is quite multicultural. Asia is the largest and most populous continent so naturally Asians and their ethnicities are quite diverse.

[bionicbadger]

So why isn't Singapore on that list?

[Woofy]

So why isn't Singapore on that list?

Yea... I am wondering too...

[GangStarr]

Anyone who doubts Chicago's power probably hasn't been there. You can just see the money oozing out of peoples wallets there. Nice cars, nice clothes, everyone going out to eat. Aside from that its the second largest business hub next to NYC.

The architecture is also amazing in the city. Wasn't crazy about the deep dish pizza. Seemed like nothing but a bunch of cheese in a pie crust.

[Dash]

Chicago is not surprising in the least. Their Financial District is one of the largest in the States behind NYC.

I'm pretty surprised Seoul is so high.

Anwyays, time to move East!

EDIT: I'm actually surprised that so many people are surprised with Chicago.

[gei]

...as compared to half of the population being asian? After being in NY for a while, Toronto doesn't seem so multicultural as it looks. The mix is just different.
I imagine you don't travel much. Everytime I visit another city, it makes me realize just how multicultural toronto really is. Nowhere else in the world comes even remotely close.

[IBOPM]

I imagine you don't travel much. Everytime I visit another city, it makes me realize just how multicultural toronto really is. Nowhere else in the world comes even remotely close.

+1

[champlinD]

I imagine you don't travel much. Everytime I visit another city, it makes me realize just how multicultural toronto really is. Nowhere else in the world comes even remotely close.

+1

[heymikey]

I imagine you don't travel much. Everytime I visit another city, it makes me realize just how multicultural toronto really is. Nowhere else in the world comes even remotely close.
And what has being multicultural got to do with Toronto making the list? Please explain.

[chunder]

im suprised Dubai wasn't on the list...

[gei]

And what has being multicultural got to do with Toronto making the list? Please explain.
I don't think it does necessarily.... but i was responding to a post made... perhaps you should ask the person who started it..

Multiculturalism however (or more specifically, percentage foreign born) is a criteria used to determine "world city" status.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city

[b166er1337]

-
Toronto as one of the most powerful cities in the world??? Hahahahaha!!!! :D

This city is so pathetic that they can't even afford a police helicopter which 233 U.S. cities and towns possess.

Anyways, if you take away mainland chinese, Toronto desinflates to 100th place I bet.

what a douche.

[billdozer]

what a douche.

don't let dustbunny see this post..

[Dash]

I imagine you don't travel much. Everytime I visit another city, it makes me realize just how multicultural toronto really is. Nowhere else in the world comes even remotely close.

+1

+1

+3.

NYC is somewhat multicultural, but not as much as Toronto. Suprisingly, Amsterdam is really multicultural as well. Otherwise, nowhere else I've been in the world is even close in comparison.

[Rishi]

Suprisingly, Amsterdam is really multicultural as well. Otherwise, nowhere else I've been in the world is even close in comparison.
That's because anybody with a pulse can immigrate to the Netherlands.

[poedua]

I imagine you don't travel much. Everytime I visit another city, it makes me realize just how multicultural toronto really is. Nowhere else in the world comes even remotely close.

+1

[belowzeros]

Chicago holds the Startap, which is was basically *the* internet hub for North America before fiber optics took hold. They've got a massive infrastructure that most people don't even know its there.

They also house the World Intellectual Property court, which makes its influence felt globally.


No it's just Oprah lol =p


I wish they would take us off the list, who needs another reason to be the next 9/11.

[maebach]

I'm surprised about Paris. I thought Frankfurt would be in the list instead of Paris.

I thought New Delhi would be there.

[IBOPM]

No it's just Oprah lol =p


I wish they would take us off the list, who needs another reason to be the next 9/11.

That has nothing to do with it. I highly doubt Tokyo and Hong Kong is gonna be the next 9/11 either.

[ElChico]

wow... i didnt realize that Chicago would be that high... i woulda only thought NY and LA for the states...

WOW Chicago...

Chicago also has a huge mercantile exchange.

+1

Chicago's Exchange dwarfs many world capitals...





yes miami edges us slightly in the percentage "foreign-born", but thats because half the population is mexican... not a vast array of multiculturalism

Miami is mostly Mexican eh...

Good to know. I "roll my eyes" at that little tidbit :P

Yeah those Mexicans that come over on boats from that Mexican Island that fidel lives on...

[chrome_dout]

oh brother.... i always roll my eyes when people quote that statistic.

Toronto is the MOST multicultural city in the world, period. we have people from all over the world.

yes miami edges us slightly in the percentage "foreign-born", but thats because half the population is mexican... not a vast array of multiculturalism

Yes, TO has all kinds of Asians and South Asians, it makes for tasty food but not so much for diversity IMHO. BTW, LA is mostly Mexican, Miami has mostly Cubans, lots of Haitians, Dominicans, and so on.

[dairymandip]

oh brother.... i always roll my eyes when people quote that statistic.

Toronto is the MOST multicultural city in the world, period. we have people from all over the world.

yes miami edges us slightly in the percentage "foreign-born", but thats because half the population is mexican... not a vast array of multiculturalism

i think you meant cuban :confused:

[gei]

i think you meant cuban :confused:
er.. yes... whatever the spanish-speaking demographic is that dominates that area.

point is all those "foreign born" people are from the exact same place... not exactly "multicultural".... unlike toronto

[gordholio]

-
Toronto as one of the most powerful cities in the world??? Hahahahaha!!!! :D

This city is so pathetic that they can't even afford a police helicopter which 233 U.S. cities and towns possess.

Anyways, if you take away mainland chinese, Toronto desinflates to 100th place I bet.

Of course Toronto is pretty high in economic importance. Canada is one of the richest countries on the face of the earth. We are very fortunate to have been born or come here.

[perplexed_one]

this list is misleading to a degree.

GDP is not the best indicator of net wealth. For one it doesn't calculate the taxes brought in to finance government spending, thus ignoring the taxes homeowners and the employed have to pay. Also they neglect monetary losses that are found in numerous crimes like theft and fraud; natural disasters (fire, flooding, smog).

this segways into related point:

many people funnel legitimately earned money into black market things (buying drugs for recreation, buying illegal firearms, payment for hookers, protection rackets, etc.), these should be listed as losses.

[purple_rabbit]

I imagine you don't travel much. Everytime I visit another city, it makes me realize just how multicultural toronto really is. Nowhere else in the world comes even remotely close.

Lol to you and all the other ignorants who put "+1" ... if only you knew. If you're interested, I'll message you the places I have been. It's way too long to put on the forum. Let's just say that I've been to all four corners of the globe lol...

Sorry to bust your bubble, but if you did travel, you would know that Toronto isn't that multicultural (or should I say more multicultural than others).

What I'm pointing out is that other cities is as multicultural, except with a different mix. You do not see that many latinos or africans for example in Toronto. People in Toronto tend be somewhat fed propaganda by the media concerning this topic.

[Kommander_KornFlakes]

yes miami edges us slightly in the percentage "foreign-born", but thats because half the population is mexican... not a vast array of multiculturalism

Wow dude are you American or you never got an education? I never knew "Mexicans" was the name given to people from Cuba. Miami's mexican population is as big as Toronto's Tibetan population, which means near zip.

[gei]

Lol to you and all the other ignorants who put "+1" ... if only you knew. If you're interested, I'll message you the places I have been. It's way too long to put on the forum. Let's just say that I've been to all four corners of the globe lol...

Sorry to bust your bubble, but if you did travel, you would know that Toronto isn't that multicultural (or should I say more multicultural than others).

What I'm pointing out is that other cities is as multicultural, except with a different mix. You do not see that many latinos or africans for example in Toronto. People in Toronto tend be somewhat fed propaganda by the media concerning this topic.
sigh...

if you don't feel like taking our words for it, go ahead and look at some statistics then. Toronto compared to other major cities has the second-largest percentage of foreign-born citizens in the ENTIRE WORLD (second to miami, who we have already established are all cubans). How exactly do you argue that?

Not that I (or anyone else here) needs any statistical evidence to support it... we can see it with our own eyes. Have you ever even been to toronto?

edit: i just noticed you're in NJ... i guess that explains everything...

[billdozer]

Walk around a typical public high school in Toronto and then walk around a typical public high school in London, and tell me you don't see a difference in level of multiculturaism between the two. Ignorant.

[heymikey]

GDP is not the best indicator of net wealth.
GDP is not the sole reason for coming up with the list. If it was, Tokyo would rank as #1.

[flexwong]

Walk around a typical public high school in Toronto and then walk around a typical public high school in London, and tell me you don't see a difference in level of multiculturaism between the two. Ignorant.

+1. looking at my group of closest friends, i have: ecuadorian, guyanese, polish, italian, chinese, indian and phillipino.

[purple_rabbit]

sigh...

if you don't feel like taking our words for it, go ahead and look at some statistics then. Toronto compared to other major cities has the second-largest percentage of foreign-born citizens in the ENTIRE WORLD (second to miami, who we have already established are all cubans). How exactly do you argue that?

Not that I (or anyone else here) needs any statistical evidence to support it... we can see it with our own eyes. Have you ever even been to toronto?

edit: i just noticed you're in NJ... i guess that explains everything...

Funny thing, your argument for Miami also applies to Toronto. Having the second largest percentage of foreign-born citizens doesn't necessarily mean diversity. If you take a look at Toronto's diversity make-up, it is heavily skewed towards South Asians and Chinese. Whereas in Miami it is hispanics and in New York it is Africans and Chinese. That whole bullcrap about Toronto having 100+languages is matched also by New York which has 130+ languages spoken.

But since we aren't talking about statistics, let's talk about preconceptions, you are 0-2. I lived in Toronto for six years. Not a day too soon....it's people like you that make the city so sh.itty. So how 'bout it gei? Being Asian and gei, you probably have a fobby accent too (Preconceptions aren't as fun anymore eh?)

[Capt.]

Doesn't Chicago have the busiest airport in the world too? I know my company has their US head office there, well actually just outside Chicago in Schaumburg.

[CCCC3333]

O'Hare isn't the busiest, but it is one of the busiest:
http://www.nbc5.com/news/17028135/detail.html

United has a hub at O'Hare.

[dre145]

Wow dude are you American or you never got an education? I never knew "Mexicans" was the name given to people from Cuba. Miami's mexican population is as big as Toronto's Tibetan population, which means near zip.

South Florida's Mexican population of about 61,000 is modest but growing fast. It has nearly doubled since 1990, though it's still a small component of the region's 1.7 million Hispanics
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/latinos/mexicans-miami.htm

Now there are only about 1,500 tibetans in canada
http://www.mtac.gov.tw/pages/195/9-3-1.htm

so not exactly...

[perplexed_one]

GDP is not the sole reason for coming up with the list. If it was, Tokyo would rank as #1.

yeah you're right but they still didn't count the things that do factor in calculating the wealth of a city, some of which I echoed in my last post.

[IBOPM]

Lol to you and all the other ignorants who put "+1" ... if only you knew. If you're interested, I'll message you the places I have been. It's way too long to put on the forum. Let's just say that I've been to all four corners of the globe lol...

Sorry to bust your bubble, but if you did travel, you would know that Toronto isn't that multicultural (or should I say more multicultural than others).

What I'm pointing out is that other cities is as multicultural, except with a different mix. You do not see that many latinos or africans for example in Toronto. People in Toronto tend be somewhat fed propaganda by the media concerning this topic.

You don't travel much WITHIN Toronto.

[AirplaneKing]

Funny thing, your argument for Miami also applies to Toronto. Having the second largest percentage of foreign-born citizens doesn't necessarily mean diversity. If you take a look at Toronto's diversity make-up, it is heavily skewed towards South Asians and Chinese. Whereas in Miami it is hispanics and in New York it is Africans and Chinese. That whole bullcrap about Toronto having 100+languages is matched also by New York which has 130+ languages spoken.

But since we aren't talking about statistics, let's talk about preconceptions, you are 0-2. I lived in Toronto for six years. Not a day too soon....it's people like you that make the city so sh.itty. So how 'bout it gei? Being Asian and gei, you probably have a fobby accent too (Preconceptions aren't as fun anymore eh?)

Wow dude, relax. We may be fed propaganda on our 'multicultural' aspect, but at least it is propanganda fed to us by an independent federally funded department. Consider a 2006 Statistics Canada study, which indicates that 46.9% of Torontonians are visible minorities. Of the total, 12% are South Asian/Indo-Carribean, 11.4% are Chinese, 8.4% Afro-Carribean, 4.1% Filipino etc. Yes, we have a minority demographic somewhat skewed towards South Asians and Chinese, but must we have a 'perfect' ethnic distribution to be considered a very multicultural city?

Out of the 53.1% that are of European origin, they come from a generally diverse background. Just take a walk down Danforth, or St. Clair, to see what I mean. Are you honestly not going to tell me that Toronto is one of the most, if not THE most, multicultural cities on the planet?

You may have lived in Toronto for 6 years, you may travelled, but that does not make you any less incorrect.

[thelefteyeguy]

You don't travel much WITHIN Toronto.

+1...like many multicultural cities...ethnicity are siloed...if you dont actually go into every pocket within a city...you might not even notice that's there are a certain ethnic group.


but in reality...back to topic...Living in T.dot doesnt really make me feel particularly powerful or have any influence to those living outside.

[abu_sme]

That's because anybody with a pulse can immigrate to the Netherlands.

No it's not. To get a permanent residence permit there is much harder tha in Canada. Trust me, I looked into it.

[aw3s0me]

this list is misleading to a degree.

GDP is not the best indicator of net wealth. For one it doesn't calculate the taxes brought in to finance government spending, thus ignoring the taxes homeowners and the employed have to pay. Also they neglect monetary losses that are found in numerous crimes like theft and fraud; natural disasters (fire, flooding, smog).

this segways into related point:

many people funnel legitimately earned money into black market things (buying drugs for recreation, buying illegal firearms, payment for hookers, protection rackets, etc.), these should be listed as losses.

wow did you even read the article?

such ignorance.

[perplexed_one]

wow did you even read the article?

such ignorance.

yes i did.

despite the fact that the list is not solely predicated on GDP (if it was Tokyo would be at #1), it still relies heavily on it and neglects many other factors.

another aspect this list forgets is the amount of net transfers in and out of the city. For example in 2005, Toronto had +5 billion going out of the city and having only 1 billion from the upper tier governments going back in.

[CanadianN00b]

Wow dude, relax. We may be fed propaganda on our 'multicultural' aspect, but at least it is propanganda fed to us by an independent federally funded department. Consider a 2006 Statistics Canada study, which indicates that 46.9% of Torontonians are visible minorities. Of the total, 12% are South Asian/Indo-Carribean, 11.4% are Chinese, 8.4% Afro-Carribean, 4.1% Filipino etc. Yes, we have a minority demographic somewhat skewed towards South Asians and Chinese, but must we have a 'perfect' ethnic distribution to be considered a very multicultural city?

Out of the 53.1% that are of European origin, they come from a generally diverse background. Just take a walk down Danforth, or St. Clair, to see what I mean. Are you honestly not going to tell me that Toronto is one of the most, if not THE most, multicultural cities on the planet?

You may have lived in Toronto for 6 years, you may travelled, but that does not make you any less incorrect.

Couldn't have written it better myself. Quoted for absolute truth. purple_rabbit seems to be one of those pessimistic, negative Torontonians always looking down on our city. It sucks we have so many people living here with the mindset that the grass is greener on the other side.

[gei]

Funny thing, your argument for Miami also applies to Toronto. Having the second largest percentage of foreign-born citizens doesn't necessarily mean diversity. If you take a look at Toronto's diversity make-up, it is heavily skewed towards South Asians and Chinese. Whereas in Miami it is hispanics and in New York it is Africans and Chinese. That whole bullcrap about Toronto having 100+languages is matched also by New York which has 130+ languages spoken.

But since we aren't talking about statistics, let's talk about preconceptions, you are 0-2. I lived in Toronto for six years. Not a day too soon....it's people like you that make the city so sh.itty. So how 'bout it gei? Being Asian and gei, you probably have a fobby accent too (Preconceptions aren't as fun anymore eh?)
lol... I guess you spent those 6 years living in a basement or something?

I'm actually not asian. And over the last few years in school and university and such I've acquired friends of every possible nationality, NOT just asian/chinese or whatever.

Not sure why you're so bitter, but the jury has already spoken. Toronto really is the most multicultural city in the world, it's a shame that you didn't get to experience that during your time living here because I think it's usually the first thing people take away. Oh well...

[gei]

Anyway back to the topic at hand... here's an excerpt from the article:

Toronto, Canada

GDP (2005): $209 billion
GDP (2020): $327 billion
Growth rate: 3%
MasterCard ranking: 13
Population (2007): 5,213,000
Purchasing power (NYC=100): 113.8%

Toronto is the economic heart of one of the world's wealthiest countries, and it's projected to keep humming through 2020. Along with London, Toronto is the fastest growing G7 financial centre.

An interesting side note: Toronto is substantially wealthier than Paris, London, New York, and all other cities on the list except Los Angeles and Chicago. Chicago was only marginally wealthier with a purchasing power index of 115 vs. 113.8 for Toronto.

[purple_rabbit]

I'm not bitter at all towards Toronto. To the contrary, I've had a lot of my funnest days in Toronto. Speaking of which I'm going to Toronto tonight lol Anyways I was just trying to prove a point lol... but we both got sidetracked.

Anyways, white flag dude. We are fighting over some really stupid stuff lol