Canadian News Media

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Even worse to me is when Toronto is referenced as "the city"

I hear it mostly from residents. People I know have said things like "Are you coming into the city this weekend?" or "Let me know next time you'll be in the city." More recently I have been asked "Why don't you move into the city?"

Yeah, because there is only one.

This isn't Highlander!

Emphasis being on the rather than city. If you're in Southern Ontario, there's the city; and then there are some other cities.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by esquire

Hell, that's pretty normal just about anywhere. Go to Winkler, Manitoba and people will say that about Winnipeg.

Yeah, I think it's very common for people living in places on the outskirts of larger urban areas to say they're going "into town" or "to the city"

My point was more about whether Winnipegers say it to their Winkler friends and family.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Emphasis being on the rather than city. If you're in Southern Ontario, there's the city; and then there are some other cities.

It's a quibble, I know. I just find it a bit pompous.

When I joked with one friend about it, years ago, the distinction never registered with her.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Yeah, I think it's very common for people living in places on the outskirts of larger urban areas to say they're going "into town" or "to the city"

My point was more about whether Winnipegers say it to their Winkler friends and family.

Pretty common going both ways in the prairies, at least, because unless you live in Red Deer, there's generally no ambiguity about what is meant if you mention "the city"

[chowhou]

BC: "The City" = Vancouver
AB: "The City" = South of Red Deer ? Calgary else Edmonton
SK: "The City" = Saskatoon
MB: "The City" = Winnipeg
ON: "The City" = Toronto
QB: "La Métropole" = Montreal
NB: There are no cities in this province
PE: Likewise
NS: "The City" = Halifax
NL: "Town" = St. John's

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Emphasis being on the rather than city. If you're in Southern Ontario, there's the city; and then there are some other cities.

With Toronto it's not actually analogous to New York though. You have to be fairly close to Toronto to use "the city" and be understood. Nobody in Stratford says that, for example. And if it were common anywhere on the western/southern side of the Golden Horseshoe I would have heard it, but you never do. I can't speak for Oshawa or points east.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by chowhou

BC: "The City" = Vancouver
AB: "The City" = South of Red Deer ? Calgary else Edmonton
SK: "The City" = Saskatoon
MB: "The City" = Winnipeg
ON: "The City" = Toronto
QB: "The City" = Montreal
NB: There are no cities in this province
PE: Likewise
NS: "The City" = Halifax
NL: "Town" = St. John's

"The City" i.e. "la ville" is not something people would say in French in this way, most of the time. Sure you might hear "ce sont des gens de la ville" (they're city folk) in say the Gaspésie to talk about visitors, but this doesn't nececessarily mean Montrealers. They could be talking about people from Quebec City or some other city.

If you were to refer to "la ville" in St-Hyacinthe or Rouyn-Noranda, people would think you're talking about their municipal government.

If people speak metaphorically about Montreal without actually naming it in Quebec, they usually use the term "la métropole". (Yes, we know Toronto is bigger but our metropolis is still Montreal.)

We also use the term "en ville" which is equivalent to "in town" in English. As in "je déménage en ville" (I'm moving to town) or "je vais en ville" (I'm going into town).

If you're anywhere within striking distance of Montreal (say 100 km) references to "en ville" will almost always infer that it's Montreal. If you're in Chambly or even Mont-Tremblant, the "ville" people refer to in this usage will always be Montreal.

If you're in Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré or Lévis, it refers to Quebec City.

In the Outaouais it might mean Gatineau or it might mean Ottawa. Depends.

[ssiguy]

My point is that this is not national news and yes, it was on CBC Newsworld for a full hour.
the people in London or Lindsay couldn't care less little alone the people in Langley or Laval.

According to the CBC, everything that happens in Toronto is national news and something happening outside of it is merely local.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Emphasis being on the rather than city. If you're in Southern Ontario, there's the city; and then there are some other cities.

Maybe in the SW, but in Eastern Ontario "the city" definitely doesn't just mean "Toronto". Someone saying "the city" in Renfrew or Kemptville is almost certainly referring to Ottawa.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Acajack

[snip]

Pretend I said la métropole then.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Maybe in the SW, but in Eastern Ontario "the city" definitely doesn't just mean "Toronto".

It doesn't in southwestern Ontario, is what I'm saying. My sister lives in Ithaca NY, four hours from "the city," which everyone in Ithaca knows means New York City.

Toronto doesn't have that. Nobody in Kitchener or Hamilton or St. Catharines or Brantford or London says "the city" to mean Toronto. I've literally never heard it used in this way in my entire life. This sounds like a Toronto adoption of a New York thing.

[Acajack]

I heard a report on Radio-Canada's national news this weekend about the dismantling of the Peel regional government.

No one could ever accuse Radio-Canada of being Toronto-centric.

[casper]

Originally Posted by rousseau

It doesn't in southwestern Ontario, is what I'm saying. My sister lives in Ithaca NY, four hours from "the city," which everyone in Ithaca knows means New York City.

Toronto doesn't have that. Nobody in Kitchener or Hamilton or St. Catharines or Brantford or London says "the city" to mean Toronto. I've literally never heard it used in this way in my entire life. This sounds like a Toronto adoption of a New York thing.

In BC "the city" does not mean "Vancouver" to people who live on "the Island".

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

We also use the term "en ville" which is equivalent to "in town" in English. As in "je déménage en ville" (I'm moving to town) or "je vais en ville" (I'm going into town).

If you're anywhere within striking distance of Montreal (say 100 km) references to "en ville" will almost always infer that it's Montreal. If you're in Chambly or even Mont-Tremblant, the "ville" people refer to in this usage will always be Montreal.

If you're in Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré or Lévis, it refers to Quebec City.

In the Outaouais it might mean Gatineau or it might mean Ottawa. Depends.

It's amusing when translated directly (literally) into English:

This is a real-life conversation that occurred many times over the years:

My property manager, calling from downtown Sherbrooke and needing me or someone else to address something there: "Are you in The City right now?"

Me: "Nope I'm not, I'm at my Montreal jobsite; you'll have to send [Maintenance Guy]"

(original: "Es-tu en ville?" (from a Sherbrooke-based caller) / "Non, je suis à Montréal")

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

According to the CBC, everything that happens in Toronto is national news and something happening outside of it is merely local.

I can understand that being insufferable, and apologize on Toronto's behalf. Is it possible the CBC just doesn't have the resources (anymore) to cover local stories nationwide? I don't know; I'm merely speculating. I have noticed that newsrooms of all stripes are down to skeleton crews; often, for instance, there's a single newsreader at 11:30 on CTV Toronto wearing multiple hats. Unquestionably, people in the R.o.C. should not be hearing about a car hitting a utility pole on Spadina, or some similar inconsequentiality.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Gresto

I can understand that being insufferable, and apologize on Toronto's behalf. Is it possible the CBC just doesn't have the resources (anymore) to cover local stories nationwide? I don't know; I'm merely speculating. I have noticed that newsrooms of all stripes are down to skeleton crews; often, for instance, there's a single newsreader at 11:30 on CTV Toronto wearing multiple hats. Unquestionably, people in the R.o.C. should not be hearing about a car hitting a utility pole on Spadina, or some similar inconsequentiality.

The news stories on my phone from CTV Ottawa are written by 'digital multi-skilled journalists'.

Meanwhile, reading the 'story' I get this creepy feeling it was not written by a human at all.

[Nouvellecosse]

Southern Ontario has about 1/3 of the country's population. But if you exclude Quebec which is majority Francophone and therefore a separate media market, it's a massive 43%. And considering how much more concentrated it is compared to the rest, it's not surprising that it's much cheaper and easier market for news outlets to cover.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Architype

Just when I figure out what "Peel" actually is, there won't be any more Peel.

Canadian internet "news" is similar. I get tired of seeing headlines on my feed referring to Toronto stories, without them saying that it's Toronto, just saying "city" (so . . . what city?).
Toronto is 2,000 miles away, the distance of London UK to Syria. Sometimes it's not even Toronto, but not here either, which is just as bad.

I’m of the same mind being in Vancouver. There’s an umbrella stand with a digital screen in the lobby of the office building I work in, and it often includes news headlines of strictly local interest to Toronto - things like “things to do this weekend in Toronto”. Last week it showed a local headline from Seattle, which actually felt more relevant to me as it was related to a proposal to ban right turns on red there. Which would actually be great to know since many of us here drive to Seattle for day trips and such.

As far as Canada’s media goes, at the national level I find CTV to be the most Toronto/Ontario centric. I never really noticed this as long as I lived in Ontario, but I’ve really noticed it since living in BC. CBC seems to be heavily Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver centric; CBC’s national news does seem to cover BC news fairly well, and they even have Ian Hanomansing based here. Global National seems to focus the most on Western Canada out of the three English networks, with a lot of BC and Alberta content on their national programs. Global National has been based out of Global BC for much of its existence.

The kicker I always found in Ontario was the lack of local media outside of Toronto. CBC has improved tremendously on this in recent years in Southern Ontario, opening new radio operations in both London and K-W as well as adding some online presence in Hamilton and a reporter in Kingston - although I know they’ve also made cutbacks in the North, with a single afternoon show now covering the area from the Manitoba border east to Mattawa (which I listened to a couple times, it is not adequate for such a dispersed population, not to mention news in Thunder Bay being of little importance in Sudbury and vice-versa). Global has virtually nothing in Ontario outside Toronto; notably they have no local news presence in Ottawa - though in recent years they’ve brought the Corus TV stations in Kingston and Peterborough into the Global family.