Toronto can be many things to many people but a vast majority (85%) of its citizens agree that all things considered, Toronto’s a great city for living.
The rank order of these attributes doesn’t suggest that lower ones are “worse” than the first because respondents are asked to simply choose one positive attribute that helped define the city.
From a provided list, Torontonians were asked to pick the one positive attribute that helps define our city—and almost half (46%) chose “multiculturalism” as the first positive attribute defining Toronto followed by “a good place to work” (29%).
The remaining three were “lifestyle” (10%), “well run, safe” (9%) and “a cool city” (8%).
Those most likely to choose “multiculturalism” (46%) were more likely to be women (50%) versus men (41%), and younger (49% – aged 18 – 34, 51% – aged 35 – 54) compared with those who are older (36% aged 55+). Those most likely to embrace multiculturalism are from York/East York and Scarborough at 49% followed by those in the Old City of Toronto/Downtown at 48%, North York at 47% in Etobicoke with 36%.
Of those who chose “a good place to live and work” (29%), those most likely to do so were men (33%) versus women (25%), those who own their own residence (35%) and those aged 55+ (42%). This attribute is most likely to be found in Etobicoke at 31% followed by Scarborough at 30%, North York at 29%, North/East York at 28% and Old City of Toronto/Downtown at 26%. There were no other significant differences in demographics for the remaining three attributes.
And, for some, life can’t be all that bad in the Big Smoke when six in 10 (58%) Torontonians are satisfied with the amount of time it takes police to clear accident scenes on the 401 – up from 51% 1999.
But for sure, many (42%) disagree with this view. People feeling this way are most likely to be men (46%) and home owners (45%).
But only half (48%) admit to knowing their “neighbours well”. This is most likely the case as age increases – 36% for the youngest Torontonians (aged 18 – 34) followed by 46% who are middle aged (35 – 54) and 61% of those who are older (aged 55+).
Those who own their residence are more likely (51%) to admit knowing their neighbours well compared to those who rent (32%). Geographically, those parts of the city to admit to knowing their “neighbours well” are highest in Etobicoke at 53% followed by those in York/East York at 49%, old city of Toronto/Downtown and Scarborough at 47% and North York at 46%.
This compares with the other half (51%) who admit to NOT knowing their “neighbours well”.
Being comfortable is a relative condition. Being comfortable living next door to people who you either may or may not know is a test as about as close as it gets.
In 1997—20 years ago—NewsTalk 1010 asked Torontonians if it would bother them to have next door neighbours who were visibly from a different culture than themselves and the results were massively polarized – agree 5%, disagree 95%.
But, perhaps that’s because the question was asked in an overarching way as opposed to being on a “type by type” basis. We’ll never know about then…but we wanted to know about it now and the results were interesting to say the least.
Asked how uncomfortable they would feel if particular types of people moved in next door to them Torontonians revealed their feelings…
• Nine in 10 (86%) indicated if a White Supremacist was living next door they would be uncomfortable, followed by an Evangelical Christian (26%), someone practising the Muslim faith (23%), or East Indian (14%), Black (12%), a Gay/Lesbian couple (9%), Asian (7%) or Jewish (5%).
• A vast majority (95%) indicated they’d be comfortable someone who was Jewish were living next door to them, followed by someone who is Asian (93%), a Gay/Lesbian couple (91%), Black (88%), East Indian (86%), Muslim (77%), Evangelical Christian (74%) or a White Supremacist (14%).
The following are some extra insights on the top two groups that residents would be most uncomfortable with if they were living next door. For all other groups, there were negligible differences either demographically, socio-economically, or geographically.
Evangelical Christian (26%)—more likely to be highest educated (29%), those who take the TTC regularly (29%) and those who live in either Old City of Toronto/Downtown (36%) or York/East York (35%)
Muslim (23%)—more likely to be men (26%) than women (20%), older (28% 55+), lowest educated (30%) those who own their own residence (26%) versus those who rent (20%), lower annual household income ($50,000 – $74,000), living in Etobicoke (30%) and either North York or Scarborough (26%).
Two-Thirds (65%) Don’t Believe There’s Enough Accessibility in Their Community for Aging or Disabled People…
A majority (65%) don’t believe that there’s enough accessibility in their community for aging or disabled people. Those more likely to believe this are those earn between $50,000 and $74,000 household income per annum (74%), women (72%) versus men (59%), those with the lowest level of education (72%) and those aged 55+ (69%). In terms of geography, those more likely to share this perspective reside in Scarborough (72%) followed by those in Etobicoke (69%), North York (64%), York/East York (62%) and Old City of Toronto/Downtown (60%).
Just over one third (35%) believe there is enough accessibility in their community for aging or disabled people. Those more likely to take this position are those earning $100,000 + household income per annum (42%), men (41%) sees versus women (28%) and younger Torontonians (41%). With respect to geography, those most likely to believe that there is enough accessibility reside in the old city of Toronto/downtown (40%) followed by those from York/East York (38%), North York (36%), Etobicoke (31%) and Scarborough (28%).