Toronto Ranks as Most Expensive Canadian City and Other News

Toronto is an incredible city in which to live and do business for many reasons. In a business sense it lends us an intelligent, multi-lingual talent pool, exceptional technology and impressively ranked opportunity that combined allow us to provide a variety of professional fundraising services to some of Canada’s largest non-profit organizations.  We are most grateful but according to a new study released by consulting firm Mercer, it doesn’t come cheap.

Toronto skyline

The world-wide cost of living study released Tuesday, ranked Toronto as the most expensive city in Canada ahead of Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, and Ottawa and 59th most expensive out of 214 cities around the world. Vancouver is Number 65 (only five cities rank between them as there was a tie for the 63rd spot). Toronto jumped 17 spots; Vancouver 10, and Montreal 19 spots from last year’s survey making them all more expensive for an executive expat than US cities such as San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C, and Miami.

At the top of the list was Tokyo, Japan; N’Djamena, Chad; Moscow, Russia; and Geneva, Switzerland with the bottom of the list being La Paz, Bolivia; Managua, Nicaragua; and lastly, Karachi, Pakistan, the cheapest city for expats.

Two main factors determine a city’s ranking in Mercer’s Cost of Living survey:

1.the relative strength or weakness of the relevant currency against the US dollar over the prior 12 months; and

2.price movements over the prior 12 months compared to those in New York City as the base

Canadian cities moved up substantially because of the rising value of the Canadian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar and also because of the decline in the U.S. housing market which also played a role.

You can read more about the report here however the full report is available for purchase only.

Other News

It was a long, slow, deep, soft, wet kiss that lasted three days at the corner of……

I know it’s a little late for International Kissing Day but I wanted to include The Toronto Kiss Map in this post nonetheless. Yes it’s a bit cheesy but in a kind of cute way. If you grew up in the city (and can remember all the details), I’m sure you’ll have a few additions of your own for the map which was created by Firefly Creative Writing thanks to a grant from the Toronto Awesome Foundation.

Come map and share your best kiss stories in an anonymous, collective space! Help create a rich geography of tiny, tantalizing tales, showing just how teeming with love this city really is.

Anyone can post kisses! The only rules are:

• No names or initials.
• No more than 100 words.
• No jerks. (Anything deemed racist, sexist or otherwise icky will be swiftly deleted. No negotiating.)
• Do not move or change other people’s kisses.

Visit The Toronto Kiss Map site or add your kiss directly to The Toronto Kiss Map on Google Maps.

Why I Quit CTV

If you haven’t already read why Kai Nagata quit, you can/should do so here.

A few events happening around Toronto this weekend

• Festival of India – July 16 & 17, 2011 – Now in its 39th year, the annual Festival of India kicks off with a colourful parade down Yonge Street, then attracts up to 40,000 people for two days of celebrations on Centre Island. An amazing vegetarian feast is served to all attendees, entirely free of charge. Other highlights include stunning arts and culture showcase, a yoga festival and a South Asian bazaar.

• Beaches International Jazz Festival Jul 15 to Jul 24 – The rhythm of world beat, reggae, calypso and big band jazz music fill the air every year in July at the Beaches International Jazz Festival. New to the scene as well as old favourites perform on the crowded yet energetic streets of the Beaches area and KEW Gardens main stage. Admission is free to most events

• Live Green Toronto Festival – Jul 16 Green living is celebrated during this one-day event, which features a vendors village of over 100 eco-friendly exhibitors, live headlining entertainment, a kids’ zone, buskers and more.

The Fringe Festival and Summerlicious are still on and you can catch Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale under the stars in High Park Tuesday to Sunday @ 8pm until September 4th.