Even in the 1970s if you drove 10 minutes outside any Canadian city, you would be in the bush, or on a country road. But today, such is the hold of Canada as a vast wilderness nation that for 99% of our 40 million people who don’t live in the wild, we feel its mythical tug.
Sadly the majority of the seven million people who live in the Greater Toronto Area (which is bigger than the Greater Chicago Area) will have little to no chance to ever see or experience the wilderness. Indeed, for too many of us, walking in a forested ravine, let alone an urban park, would be like walking on the moon. This is especially true of kids.
Urban sprawl is bad for our psyches as well as our cars. But all is not lost. Many places at the defining corners of the GTA are investing hundreds of millions to create parks and walkable-woods and even spas where we can get a break from the sheer pace of city life and our rising addiction to the drug in our hands: our phones.
Here are four of them:
1. Toronto Port Lands. The new 880-acre parkland community is largely ‘new land’ created at the mouth of the Don River and Lake Ontario, a 30-minute walk east from Union Station. Within it is the three-acre PlayPark for kids and their caregivers for ‘non-structured play’ that’s especially hard to come by if you live in downtown Toronto.
2. Downsview Airport Lands. The 370-acre site is morphing into seven different neighbourhoods, including a two-kilometre runway, with housing, shops, parkland, playing fields -- and redefining what it means to live well in North America’s 4th largest city.
3. Ontario Place. It’s a magnet for controversy. But when it re-opens, “…nearly 60 acres of the original 79 acres of land that comprise Ontario Place will be a green park that is free and publicly accessible. It will be the second-largest public park in the Toronto core, and 1½ times larger than Trinity Bellwoods Park, which ranks third.”
4. The McMichael Canadian Collection. Isn’t it in Kleinberg, 45 kilometres outside of Toronto? True. But that rustic village is part of Vaughan, the fastest-growing city in Canada. And as the McMichael’s executive director, Sarah Milroy, points out, it can take you just as long to park in downtown Toronto as it does to drive from downtown to Kleinberg. Besides, 70% of the museum’s attendees live in Toronto, not Vaughan – city-dwellers drawn not just to its art, but its 100 acres of forests.
What we big-city-dwellers need is not just more parks, but more variety of parks, from parkettes with space for a few park benches and some shady trees, to parks the size of High Park, whose 400 acres make it larger than Hyde Park in London and almost half the size of Central Park in New York.
We can have them all and many more. So here’s to a myth of our Canadian identity that’s faded in reality, but is being reborn in our densest cities.
Meanwhile…
1. Big Law. America has a daily online news site that publishes The Biglaw Spine Index,charting the activities of “The Yellow-Bellied Nine.” Says The New York Times of Above the Law: “Those are the elite firms who pledged a collective $1 billion in free legal work to Mr. Trump after he signed executive orders threatening to bar their lawyers from federal buildings, suspend their security clearances and cancel their government contracts.”
2. Bay Street’s not ready. In 1964 Canadian women were first allowed to open a bank account without their husband’s signature. By next year, women will control close to half of all the accumulated wealth in Canada. Today, women also account for 27% of Canadians with $1 million or more in investable assets. This McKinsey Report tracks the rise of the female investor.
3. This isn’t humble-bragging. It’s bragging. My wife, Jean Marmoreo, was awarded an honorary doctorate by McMaster University where she graduated in nursing 60 years ago. Here’s what she told the graduates on Thursday.
4. It’s the Leafs, but not only them. For years, Toronto turned up on the Top 10 lists for most livable, best and happiest cities on earth. This year, Toronto placed 160th of the world’s happiest cities, (above Bydgoszcz but below Valetta) as judged by the people who live there. The highest-ranked livable city in Canada? Vancouver at #11. And #1 worldwide? Copenhagen.
5. Robert Macfarlane is one of the world’s most original thinkers – especially about how we co-exist with nature. His last book, Underland, was rapturously received. His new book is even more daring: Is a River Alive? is driven by a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings, who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. He discusses his bold and radical new book on May 29 at Massey College on the U of T campus. Macfarlane will introduce the book and then be interviewed by Massey College Principal Dr. James Orbinski. Just a very few tickets left. Get yours here.
6. Laws for life online. Obey these and you will save years of wasted time. Like “Lewis’ Law: “The comments on any article about feminism justify feminism.” Or Weinberg’s Law: “If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.”
7. Big Girls’ Party. You’re invited to the launch of Susan Swan’s memoir, Big Girls Don’t Cry, with a Q&A of Susan by Sheila Heti, at the Transac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave, next Tuesday May 27, at 6:30 p.m.
Also, if you want to Burn Baby, Burn, come see Guillaume Côté’s explosive dance show at the Bluma Appel Theatre May 6-8. For your 10% discount, key in promo code BBB here.(*Unlock the discount code before selecting seats - found in the top right corner of the screen.)
8. Best of Brits, and worst. First, Ken crushes Tesla. Next, the Chelsea Flower Showblossoms, and caters to dogs. Then, Maggie Smith gets younger every day. Then Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs pinpoints the source of all political conflict. But the Britishist of all? Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, held every May near Gloucester.
9. Why do babies not fear snakes? They haven’t been taught to yet. So why do actors fear snakes? Speaking of…here are child actors at their best. Plus, the Top 10 movies directed by women. And girlbosses meet reality.
10. Life in America today…is high off the hog. And needs more DEI, not less. Plusmore that came from disabled Americans. And perfects tennis racquets and baseball bats.And calculates the best time to watch a yearful of pro sports. And is much more equal than we think. And finally, Niall Ferguson presents a conservatives’ critique of Donald Trump’s first 100 days.
11. Links to useful links. First, all of the Phil Lind Initiative, sponsored by the late right-hand-man to Ted Rogers and extended by Lind’s family, is free to watch forever, including talks by American historian Anne Applebaum.
12. What I’m about to love. Two great true tales await: The first is Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office, available on PBS. The four-part drama based on the true story of U.K. Sub-postmasters who were falsely accused of theft due to a faulty computer system, became one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history. Within a week of its premiere last year, over a million people had signed a petition demanding justice for the accused.
Also, next month HBO and CNN release Prime Minister, the documentary about Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s leader from 2017 to 2023. It won the audience award last year at Sundance.
12. Sorry about that. An error from our May 10 blog. I named two of the three Canadian universities in the list of the top universities outside the US: the University of Toronto (21) and McGill (45). I forgot to also mention the University of British Columbia (41).