[Quixote]

Most suburbia, whether American or Canadian, doesn't follow a hybrid model as far as built environment is concerned. Or perhaps it's more that the definition of what makes an area suburban-urban differs greatly between the two countries.

In the American context, it's usually referring to outer-ring inner-city enclaves and inner-ring suburbs that are more or less an extension of the former, typically with a rail station (or at the very least an imprint of a historic ROW).

Canadian cities don't really have streetcar suburbs. Instead, they have more multi-family housing and greater transit share (i.e. bus) — things that are urban characteristics on paper.

Those differences aside, do Torontonians view Mississauga, Brampton, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, and Markham as "the suburbs"? Or is it more like LA where there's less of a cultural distinction between city proper and suburb? I ask because Toronto's municipal boundaries are quite sharply defined and not as arbitrary as even NYC and Chicago. The northern boundary, where there is some bleed in development patterns, is one straight line following one equally straight thoroughfare (Steeles Avenue).