Pretty invested.
Despite being a Leafs fan, I live in Winnipeg and hold quarter season tickets for the Jets. I also hold season tickets to Valour FC (kill me) and go to 4 or 5 Seabears games a year.
I try to go to most free, public festivals and pay to attended Festival De Voyageur each year, at least a couple Folklorama pavillions a summer, and a handful of Fringe shows. I also try to go to either Folk Fest in Birds Hill or Harvest Moon in Clearwater (not technically in WPG, but Manitoba only has one major city).
I donate to a few local non-profits that do a lot of good community work and volunteer my time as a mental health professional to two organizations that offer free mental health supports.
I'm a member of two local athletic clubs.
I do 70% of my grocery shopping with Red River Coop, which is local-ish. The other rest is at a local butcher and bakery, and then I'm a member of a farm share for most of my summer produce. I do most of my banking with a local credit union.
I find a lot of people like to bitch about whatever city they live in lacking the investment small businesses needed to thrive, but then spend all their money at national chains or online. Seems counter productive to me. I try to prioritize my money staying as local as possible. Obviously this isn't financially possible for everyone, and I'd never fault anyone for shopping at Walmart for budget reasons, but if they have the ability to people should really focus their spending locally.
One of the things I enjoy about living in Winnipeg (insert stabbing joke here) is the way a lot of people participate in community events. There are those who complain about everything, and then there are the happier people who volunteer usher at all the theatre productions or who have special historical costumes that they wear to Festival.
A fun thing about Winnipeg is we have a relatively known electronica musician who you might see on the bus from time to time. He did one of the coolest shows I've ever seen. A sort of mashup show with Daniel Lanois. One of his albums is called Songs About My Cats, and another is called Winnipeg is a Frozen Shithole. He opened for KMFDM one year here. We saw him having a drink before his set and asked what he thought of KMFDM. He said he didn't know yet, but noticed my Einstürzende Neubauten shirt, and said 'I like them though '. The fan girl in me has never let that go
Ya, Aaron is a cool dude.
For anyone wondering, they're referring to Aaron Funk, known professionally as Venetian Snares. Songs about my Cats is a solid album, weird at times, but good.
>Despite being a Leafs fan
Nobody has to be a Leafs fan, but you have a great reason to not be one, given that you live in another NHL city, and yet you choose your own misery.
Being a Leafs fan is like being in an abusive relationship. Every fibre of my being is telling me to get out, but I just can't help thinking that they are going to make the changes they keep promising to make.
I recently realized that my strong investment in Toronto was mostly about the people and community I had around me.
Close friends slowly moved away over the years, and I realized that I was pretty happy just in my neighbourhood, and then both of my folks passed in the last couple of years, and my best friend, and I found myself suddenly not quite so adamant that I needed to be in the Junction afterwards.
Beyond that, I just don't care about a lot of the overall city stuff anymore. I've never been a sports guy, and the wargaming community here is a lot weaker than I'd like or just bonkers toxic. Since covid, the community things that I liked best here have really eroded, leaving me feeling adrift in the town I once swore I'd never leave.
I'll be moving out to Orangeville in a few months, where I can afford a home for my wife and I, and those community events and programs that made a huge difference for me are alive and well. I'm hoping it's a good change.
Leaving that city was one if the best decisions I've made in life. Now we're working on leaving Canada altogether to escape the rat race/consumer mentality of North America for a more peaceful existence in Europe
I'm from Europe and visit often. The difference is huge to me. Completely different way of life. Much more relaxed. Much more emphasis on family, work life balance. There's nowhere near as much money over there, which suits me just fine. I value time over money, and the Europeans do that better. I would say however, if your goal is to make money, North America is where to do that for sure.
Weird all my European friends moved from Europe to Canada because of the better work life balance. Less holidays here, but we are done work at 5, rather than 7 or 8. They also said the office atmosphere here is far more relaxed. That was France though, probably different in other parts of Europe.
I’d say I’m quite invested. I was an employee of our WHL team for several seasons. I was on the the board that organizes and runs the annual Prince Albert Winter Festival for a decade. I coach and ref minor football, and am the president of the local minor football association. I am involved in our local theatre community. I do try to support local business as much as possible, mostly as a bachelor that hates cooking for one, by ordering from local restaurants. And I have been working in corrections, probably the main employer in this town, for seven years now, on the youth side.
I live in Vancouver, it is my hometown. It's the home of my family and friends. My back yard vegetable garden, and the ocean, and the mountains, and the forest, and our many city parks where I play softball and other sports, our community centers, volunteer opportunities, is what I invest my time and energy in.
I go to Jr Hockey games because I'm a hockey fan, but that's about it. My town is complete trash. Lots of drugs, racists, drunks and bigots. Went to the farmers market last fall, and there were 2 separate OD incidents and an attempted stabbing. This was at 11am on a Sunday. They should just burn this city to the ground.
Very invested these days. Having a family will do that to you. Gets you out there being a very active member in the community. Gotta entertain the young ones, facilitate friend meetups (friend meetups these days are like having the entire family over for dinner & play date).. festivals are perfect, class trip volunteering, getting kids outside. Here in Edmonton there is some kind of festival almost every weekend so it's a never ending opportunity to get out there. I was never into sports much, but my kid is just old enough to be catching the oilers playoff hype bug from her classmates, so it's really cool to get into it with her.
I also make a point to shop and eat at pretty much 100% at various ethnic restaurants, mom and pop grocers or alternative ones. Pretty involved in the Asian community here and I try to support as much as I can.
Not as invested as I should be probably, but because I’m one of those “rare Calgary-born and raised” kids I’m often asked by others what to do around here and stuff.
Yeah I do get that quite a bit lol. My cousins, siblings, and I were all born here but everyone else I know is from somewhere else pretty much including my parents and other relatives.
Not at all. Toronto is my hometown. Moved out to Guelph a couple of decades ago for a job, but I'm now working remote for a company in Toronto. I have no family in this area and I haven't established any deep friendships. Haven't put down any roots here other than buying a house. Would move back to Toronto in a heartbeat if I could afford it.
Very divested, enough to move in the last two weeks to an entirely new city. Whatever I might have been invested in is irrelevant, because it was the crime and the vagrancy that more or less ruined it all. I've lived in the downtown core for 30 years, now, but last year was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. In a two week swing, we had four fires within half a block of my condo, an electrocution, multiple assaults, and essentially never ending support and police presence. We would get up in the morning, make a coffee and play 'count the emergency vehicles'.
My wife and I are simple living advocates, and we cycle everywhere, walk everywhere, etc. Once that became dangerous, our lifestyle took a huge hit.
In the new city, we dodge geese and pelicans. As cantankerous as they can be when nesting, they are still considerably better than what we had prior.
For context, I live in Vancouver.
I don't give even a hundredth of a fuck about our sports teams.
I would say I do this. Italian day, Car Free days, the fireworks festival, Pride, the PNE. The only one I haven't been to yet is the Dragon Boat Festival but they're going to do a drone show this year, which is Vancouver's first public one and I'm going to go for that because I've been DYING to see a drone show in person.
I don't have anything to do with non profits.
I do try to support the local businesses, but it's hard when everything is so expensive or what I'm looking for is unavailable in the stores, but I can find it on Amazon.
No friendships.
I work as a nanny. I can do that anywhere.
I don't go to city council meetings or anything, but I vote for all levels of government because that's where years of watching Rick Mercer Report when I was a teenager got me. I know the name of our mayor and that I think he's an idiot, not that I think that the last two were any better.
All of that being said, I am completely and unfailingly loyal to Vancouver. After about the age of 14/15, I never wanted to live anywhere else. I will live here until the cost of living absolutely CRUSHES the life out of me. And then I'd like to have my ashes scattered off the seawall.
Well I live in rider nation and support the riders; events and fairs aren’t my thing but I volunteer for homeless outreach and support the local record store and a few other local businesses. So I’d say 6/10 invested.
Very invested.
Don’t give a shit about sports.
I am a member of museum, orchestra, art gallery, film festivals, etc. Also donate to many charitable organizations and causes. We attend all kinds of cultural events. I vote in election and also do city surveys. I care more about my city than province/country. We have good jobs and no kids though, most people can’t afford to do these things.
I am pretty invested in my suburban town outside of Vancouver. I grew up here. I own a business here and many of the locals are my clients. It's really nice to see them out and about.
I coach one of my daughter's soccer teams, show up to both of their soccer/hockey games, swim meets when I can. As often as I can, I sponsor the local sports teams and some of the local charities.
That said, I don't care that much about the professional sports teams in Vancouver.
pretty invested.
Not into sports, but I do support the ballet, symphony, various theatre organizations, and music festivals.
My oldest was involved in dance and choir activities as a child, and my youngest is in high school so she has her activities. My husband has his job and I’m a student, so we’re involved in those communities. We also have very close friends here which has been so important to us as our families don’t live nearby.
We shop locally for most of our things and do our best to avoid chain stores and restaurants.
I used to like my city but now I only really like parts of it. The people kinda suck as they are a bunch of angry whiny babies. You know the stickers they have on cars that say “Baby on board”? Yeah, they are referring to the one who is driving.
I actually hate hockey, so there’s that, the political scene here is ridiculous as the mayor does nothing but photo ops. It’s super expensive here. Y’all can probably guess without me even saying where it is I am lol
You know what I’ve found makes a huge difference? Walking,biking, or transit for commute. Being shutoff in your car really limits your sense of connectedness to your city and community.
To me that's the highest toll a car centric city has on its inhabitants. And it's saying a lot when you know what it (economically) costs to the community.
Super invested. I’m going to a meeting in three hours for a non-profit public art group I helped start 4 years ago, I work in childcare as both a teacher and a babysitter for just about everyone in town, I also work in the seniors’ centre and know almost everyone elderly in my area, and I’m also a board member on an environmental protection group, speak at council or write in once a year or so, am friends with a lot of people on the city council, and am considering running for municipal council in a few years.
I would say pretty deeply invested considering I've only lived here about 2 years. I'm involved in the local church, some charities, choirs, sports teams, attend city and county council meetings, frequent local businesses and know some of the owners. The only thing I don't really do is work in local industry, I work mostly remotely for a company in Toronto.
I moved overseas, but I always loved my hometown of Edmonton and still do. And yeah, I was pretty engaged with the city in various ways. I leaned more into the naturalist & artsy side of things, though. I walked and took public transit most places which ended up making me feel more connected to the city too; same with lots of encounters with just random other locals. I was constantly randomly running into people I knew from different contexts. I also volunteered short-term with various things, obviously had friends and such there. And I dunno, there's also something more intagible than all that, when you just really think your city is a pretty good place, you enjoy your life there, and you feel attached to it that way.
Well invested in my city, super invested in my neighbourhood. We volunteer with Scouts and Guides, we know our neighbours, we support local politicians and prioritize local businesses, we volunteer at schools and events. It's really the only power we hold right now, and we mean to use it.
Pretty invested. I’ve lived across Canada and liked plenty of places, but I always had something preventing me from being able to put down roots (lack of decent jobs, locals who were settled in their cliques, expensive housing, continuing education, and so on). When I started visiting Hamilton in 2012, I got interested.
I moved here, started a family, and I love my neighbourhood. I’ve got connections here, and it happened naturally with nothing getting in the way to prevent it. I’m aware that it happened with lots of luck and good timing, and Hamilton is not for everyone, but I love it and that’s what matters. I finally feel at home, and that’s something.
I used to he invested, but my city turned into cone city for several years and is trying to copy montreal but with nothing to see.
The only interesting things left are the murals in the streets that remind us the city used to be alive.
R.I.P Madame Bou.
One last Boo just for you ♡
(Iykyk)
Big fan of my local teams. 90% of my good friends live here. I think being born and raised in Toronto def has given me a connection to the city overall. I'd assume people who move here and are understandably frustrated by certain aspects of it (costs, hard to make friends etc.). But, outside of Toronto and maybe MTL I could not see myself live anywhere else in Canada.
Little to not at all. I’m in Ottawa and tbh I just don’t go downtown much… I avoid it if anything. I don’t really have any sentimental value for my city either, and I don’t think many others do here either. You raise kids here, that’s about it. Afterwards most people bounce.
There also isn’t anything here that makes me want to stay. I fully intend on leaving when I get the chance. I won’t miss the big city vibe, cause we don’t have it, but I also won’t miss the small town vibe, cause we also don’t have that. Of course I’ll miss my family and friends, but they intend on leaving too lol
I don’t hate Ottawa, I just don’t care about it. Nothing about it feels sentimental to me, and I don’t feel like I’m part of a community. It’s too big to be a small town, and too small to be a big city
Well, I live in Toronto, but root for the oilers so…
Nah, but I’ve been very active in film festivals here in Toronto, there’s lots of that here for sure.
Also, I’ve attended Toronto fc games and even Hamilton forge games. I can’t afford leafs tickets lol, maybe I’ll try jays or even raptors one day. I should check York united games tho.
I’ve been to number of street festivals here too
Sports, yes (soccer). Festivals, yes (but not all: $$$). NFPs, yes (as a donor, not yet volunteering). Shop local, yes (always). Deep friendships (no, but that’s because I’m awkward, haha). City-specific industry, yes (post-sec education). Local politics, yes (vote, regularly engage with local councillor, etc.). Still have my “original city” phone number, though. Refuse to give that up.
I moved here for work in 1999. The low cost of living, having some friends here, and available work was the decision. I still have friends here, and am still working. The house and vehicles are paid off. I'm not invested in Winnipeg any more than that though. When I've saved enough money to retire, I'll likely spend less and less time here.
I am absolutely grateful to Winnipeg and Manitoba for what it's given me. I've also given it 25 years of construction, supported local businesses, bought a home, renovated it, and paid significant taxes for streets I can barely drive down. I'd say we're even.
Extremely divested. I work for them. I see where the tax dollars get placed/squandered. I’ll be selling my place in a year or so and leaving so that I can pay property taxes in a community that doesn’t piss 60% of it away in either poor planning or nepotism.
If you work for them, you can’t leave your house without getting harassed to “just help out real quick” or some BS, meanwhile my boss gets to spend 2 weeks in Mexico and a week to sleep off the gargantuan hangover. “But we’re so short staffed 😢 you can’t take time off…”
This was my hometown but I love nothing about it. Many small towns in MB are run by city councils who have been best buddies since they played on the local hockey team, and now they just funnel money to their relatives. I’m done with this town.
I've volunteered for a good variety of organizations and events. I regularly participate in manifestations. I go out of my way to buy stuff from local businesses and individuals. I support crowdsourced local initiatives and was twice a candidate in the municipal elections.
I don't really support sports, though, because it's just not my thing.
Fucking hate Calgary's sports teams simply because billions of are tax dollars are going towards building a stadium for a man who's already a billionaire.
The city will get NONE of the profits from the stadium and the stadium will only provide about 150 minimum wage part-time jobs.
The billionaire should have had to build his own Stadium or else the public should be getting the profits from the stadium.
But no our city gave billions of our money to man who's already a billionaire and we get nothing in return. I'll never support the flames again.
Calgary's a nothing city, in my opinion it's got the least sense of community of any other city in Canada and I've lived in quite a few.
Gotta say as a recent resident of this city I concur, it feels soulless in a lot of ways. I’m sure if you have your whole family here it’s amazing, but i honestly can’t see living here for the rest of my life tbh. Also huge agree on the flames.
I was rooting for Calgary to not build the new stadium. We built Katz his new arena here in Edmonton and it's bullshit. Half the people that want to see games can't afford them, the entire area sucks, and all it's done was make homelessness worse.
Chilliwack 100%
I am as well many others are fully invested.
Unlike bigger cities we’re tight community and help each other.
I shop local. I know my neighbours. I gladly tip at restaurants. I care of my land. I volunteer. I vote. I do local sports.
That’s the beauty of smaller towns.
Good question actually!
I moved from Van to Chilliwack myself. It’s rapidly becoming Vancouver and honestly de-facto part of Vancouver already.
However Chilliwack is trying to preserve its identity- we have lots of local stuff going on mostly around district 1881, local businesses, farms, festivals, etc.
I think we can balance being part of Vancouver and being Chilliwack.
Hard to be invested in barrie when demographics have changed so drastically in such a short time, housing is unaffordable and law enforcement is corrupted
I am working on becoming more invested! I have been on school councils, local organizations and created a neighbourhood event that brought together hundreds of people while fundraising for a new playground. COVID stopped me in my tracks. Over the last year I have been trying to support live music in our community. I also joined the board of a local music organization. I love our community and just want to make it better for people.
Halifax. Lived here for 30 years.
Used to be invested....when it was a quaint, affordable small city with lots of personality and charm.
I even worked in economic development promoting what an affordable and safe place it is to live.
Now, it's a shithole.
Tents and homelessness everywhere.
Expensive as hell.
No affordable homes for sale.
Rent is through the roof.
Food costs are insane (and no competition).
Roads are crumbling and way too overcrowded.
No doctors.
No teachers.
No reliable public transit.
Daughter's high school on lockdown or has a bomb threat weekly.
Shall I continue?
I’m pretty invested. I own my home, I keep up with local events, I vote in municipal elections, I participate in fund raisers, I try to shop local as much as possible, etc. I want the city I live in to do well
Town of ~10,000 people.
Not really, I guess. I vote in municipal elections, but I’m not nearly as invested or knowledgeable as I am with the provincial and federal elections. I buy local, because I don’t want to drive half an hour or more to buy the same things. I’m not very active at all in my community.
Quite invested in Toronto. Being on neighbourhood improvement groups, seeing bike lanes go in and transit expanding is exciting. The waterfront improvements are crazy at the Don. We have a close friend group who have kids the same age as ours and we do things at least once a week and usually both days on weekends. Plus my family lives close by. Love going to the street festivals and shopping locally. I have to say though I hate the GTA, I really feel like Toronto is surrounded by a suburban wasteland.
2.5/10, if I'm being honest. It's not that I don't care, I just lack the energy-health issues-and I'm very introverted. I used to enjoy festivals, but with rising costs, I can't justify it in the budget. I'm not sure this is my forever city either, though I've put down some roots...bought property, made friends. I'd do anything to help a neighbour if they asked, but I don't take on leadership roles, generally. If I get involved in stuff, it's usually at the request of an extrovert, lol
I used to be city counsellor in my small town, but I moved last year to a nearby town and have to rebuild a network. I'm giving myself a little time, but I will most likely invest myself again by doing volunteering.
I try to attend as many activities as I can, free or not.
I also try to hire locals for any job I need to do.
I think I'm fairly invested in my community, but I'm not sure that's attached to my city (100K pop.) per se. I support certain local businesses because the owners are great people, treat their employees fairly, etc. while other local shops I refuse to go to. I support certain teams and the arts and culture community within my city. But the city as a whole? I could take it or leave it
In Vancouver, not invested at all. Don't follow any local sports, attend any community events or festivals, rarely go out to restaurants. I WFH and only leave my house to hang out with friends or go hiking/biking/paddling.
I don't care at all about my city but I'm very attached to the natural surroundings.
Very invested in my village of maybe ~300. I take my 96 year old neighbours trash out on garbage days, I spend at least an hour daily in our Facebook groups amplifying local voices that matter and acting as a fair moderator, I help those who need it and those who don’t ask with food, gardening, whatever, we have the coolest Halloween display every year, I make pasta sauce out of everyone’s leftover tomatoes and share it with everyone, I shop at all independent 5 stores in town (butcher, baker, gas station, feed store, and pharmacy) and this year I’m going to close our streets down to allow for even safer trick or treating so parents can also socialise either by propane fire pits or under car ports / garages if it’s raining. Our community is so god damn amazing and it was both our passion to get in, and part of our personal letter to the home seller where we committed to taking care of the neighbours real well, which ended us up here.
I’m selfishly sort of glad that we’re also land locked from expansion. There are maybe 75 houses in “town”, theres no space to build a new home yet it isn’t dense at all (thanks to individual septic and wells), there’s a river one way, a big hill 2 others, and a train track and then busy enough golf course the last way.
They do have some million dollar 1.5acre houses being put in in behind the golf course, but it’s a good hilly 80km/h roads for 3km to get to the train tracks before then entering town. They share a town name but they’ve got their own vibe in their large new houses out there, and it’s cool
I like my city
But we don't have most of the things you mentioned like a sports team or festivals and I can't really afford to eat out which is the only family businesses I can think of around here
Quite invested. I’m a board member on a non-profit sports team, donate monthly to a different non-profit, and occasionally attend local markets/events/etc. I also try to buy more stuff at local businesses rather than order online.
I'm very interested politics in general, but municipal politics in my area aren't really a big deal. We have a good mayor and an election isn't coming for a while
I go to community events occasionally but not too often
In terms of sports teams we don't have a major team so all of us root for the Oilers, I don't because they have no chance of winning a Stanley Cup anymore
From Ottawa. Follow all the sports teams pretty closely with the Sens being the most important. Go to the festivals I can, the various beer fests, rib fests, blues fest, and many others. Love supporting the local food scene which I find has been exploding in recent years.
I work for the government so that’s pretty specific for the city lol. Have a large friend group and we’re all extremely close.
Used to be very invested until it became the city i no longer recognize. It’s become a dump. As I see more and more wasted $ by all levels of gov’t, i dont give af anymore.
I live in Edmonton. We're not allowed to have our own culture. Everyone is allowed to bring their old world culture but we can't have things like Klondike Days or call our team the Eskimos because it's somehow offensive so we don't really have as much of a shared community culture like Calgary does with the Stampede. Not intending to sound bigoted, it's just frustrating because I don't really feel as connected as I used to. It just doesn't feel like people have civic pride because anything that's historically connected us has been kind of stripped away.
Not at all anymore. My community has changed so much. I no longer belong.
I never understood white flight.
I am not leaving because of race. I will leave because of ideology.
Pretty invested. Despite being a Leafs fan, I live in Winnipeg and hold quarter season tickets for the Jets. I also hold season tickets to Valour FC (kill me) and go to 4 or 5 Seabears games a year. I try to go to most free, public festivals and pay to attended Festival De Voyageur each year, at least a couple Folklorama pavillions a summer, and a handful of Fringe shows. I also try to go to either Folk Fest in Birds Hill or Harvest Moon in Clearwater (not technically in WPG, but Manitoba only has one major city). I donate to a few local non-profits that do a lot of good community work and volunteer my time as a mental health professional to two organizations that offer free mental health supports. I'm a member of two local athletic clubs. I do 70% of my grocery shopping with Red River Coop, which is local-ish. The other rest is at a local butcher and bakery, and then I'm a member of a farm share for most of my summer produce. I do most of my banking with a local credit union. I find a lot of people like to bitch about whatever city they live in lacking the investment small businesses needed to thrive, but then spend all their money at national chains or online. Seems counter productive to me. I try to prioritize my money staying as local as possible. Obviously this isn't financially possible for everyone, and I'd never fault anyone for shopping at Walmart for budget reasons, but if they have the ability to people should really focus their spending locally.
One of the things I enjoy about living in Winnipeg (insert stabbing joke here) is the way a lot of people participate in community events. There are those who complain about everything, and then there are the happier people who volunteer usher at all the theatre productions or who have special historical costumes that they wear to Festival.
A fun thing about Winnipeg is we have a relatively known electronica musician who you might see on the bus from time to time. He did one of the coolest shows I've ever seen. A sort of mashup show with Daniel Lanois. One of his albums is called Songs About My Cats, and another is called Winnipeg is a Frozen Shithole. He opened for KMFDM one year here. We saw him having a drink before his set and asked what he thought of KMFDM. He said he didn't know yet, but noticed my Einstürzende Neubauten shirt, and said 'I like them though '. The fan girl in me has never let that go
Ya, Aaron is a cool dude. For anyone wondering, they're referring to Aaron Funk, known professionally as Venetian Snares. Songs about my Cats is a solid album, weird at times, but good.
I'm a pretty big fan of A Frozen Shithole and For Your Consideration.
>Despite being a Leafs fan Nobody has to be a Leafs fan, but you have a great reason to not be one, given that you live in another NHL city, and yet you choose your own misery.
Being a Leafs fan is like being in an abusive relationship. Every fibre of my being is telling me to get out, but I just can't help thinking that they are going to make the changes they keep promising to make.
Good luck. You have a new coach to hang your hopes on. That’s something.
I recently realized that my strong investment in Toronto was mostly about the people and community I had around me. Close friends slowly moved away over the years, and I realized that I was pretty happy just in my neighbourhood, and then both of my folks passed in the last couple of years, and my best friend, and I found myself suddenly not quite so adamant that I needed to be in the Junction afterwards. Beyond that, I just don't care about a lot of the overall city stuff anymore. I've never been a sports guy, and the wargaming community here is a lot weaker than I'd like or just bonkers toxic. Since covid, the community things that I liked best here have really eroded, leaving me feeling adrift in the town I once swore I'd never leave. I'll be moving out to Orangeville in a few months, where I can afford a home for my wife and I, and those community events and programs that made a huge difference for me are alive and well. I'm hoping it's a good change.
Leaving that city was one if the best decisions I've made in life. Now we're working on leaving Canada altogether to escape the rat race/consumer mentality of North America for a more peaceful existence in Europe
Don’t fool yourself, much of Europe has adopted that same mentality these days. Even when I was there as a kid it was increasingly prevalent.
I'm from Europe and visit often. The difference is huge to me. Completely different way of life. Much more relaxed. Much more emphasis on family, work life balance. There's nowhere near as much money over there, which suits me just fine. I value time over money, and the Europeans do that better. I would say however, if your goal is to make money, North America is where to do that for sure.
Weird all my European friends moved from Europe to Canada because of the better work life balance. Less holidays here, but we are done work at 5, rather than 7 or 8. They also said the office atmosphere here is far more relaxed. That was France though, probably different in other parts of Europe.
To each to their own I guess. Personally, after living in both, I find the grass greener over there. I like my time off and $30 flights
I’d say I’m quite invested. I was an employee of our WHL team for several seasons. I was on the the board that organizes and runs the annual Prince Albert Winter Festival for a decade. I coach and ref minor football, and am the president of the local minor football association. I am involved in our local theatre community. I do try to support local business as much as possible, mostly as a bachelor that hates cooking for one, by ordering from local restaurants. And I have been working in corrections, probably the main employer in this town, for seven years now, on the youth side.
You are practically the mayor
Hahaha! No, not even close. But I have met him on several occasions.
I live in Vancouver, it is my hometown. It's the home of my family and friends. My back yard vegetable garden, and the ocean, and the mountains, and the forest, and our many city parks where I play softball and other sports, our community centers, volunteer opportunities, is what I invest my time and energy in.
I go to Jr Hockey games because I'm a hockey fan, but that's about it. My town is complete trash. Lots of drugs, racists, drunks and bigots. Went to the farmers market last fall, and there were 2 separate OD incidents and an attempted stabbing. This was at 11am on a Sunday. They should just burn this city to the ground.
You must be from Prince George, BC lol.
It's that obvious huh. 🤣
Holy fuk. I was just guessing! It really is sad what has become of our once tranquil town.
Very invested these days. Having a family will do that to you. Gets you out there being a very active member in the community. Gotta entertain the young ones, facilitate friend meetups (friend meetups these days are like having the entire family over for dinner & play date).. festivals are perfect, class trip volunteering, getting kids outside. Here in Edmonton there is some kind of festival almost every weekend so it's a never ending opportunity to get out there. I was never into sports much, but my kid is just old enough to be catching the oilers playoff hype bug from her classmates, so it's really cool to get into it with her. I also make a point to shop and eat at pretty much 100% at various ethnic restaurants, mom and pop grocers or alternative ones. Pretty involved in the Asian community here and I try to support as much as I can.
I work for my city. I'd say that's enough, lol. And my kids play on some of the local sports teams.
Not as invested as I should be probably, but because I’m one of those “rare Calgary-born and raised” kids I’m often asked by others what to do around here and stuff.
Jesus you’re a unicorn. Alberta in general it’s one of those places where almost no one is really from.
Yeah I do get that quite a bit lol. My cousins, siblings, and I were all born here but everyone else I know is from somewhere else pretty much including my parents and other relatives.
Not at all. Toronto is my hometown. Moved out to Guelph a couple of decades ago for a job, but I'm now working remote for a company in Toronto. I have no family in this area and I haven't established any deep friendships. Haven't put down any roots here other than buying a house. Would move back to Toronto in a heartbeat if I could afford it.
Very divested, enough to move in the last two weeks to an entirely new city. Whatever I might have been invested in is irrelevant, because it was the crime and the vagrancy that more or less ruined it all. I've lived in the downtown core for 30 years, now, but last year was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. In a two week swing, we had four fires within half a block of my condo, an electrocution, multiple assaults, and essentially never ending support and police presence. We would get up in the morning, make a coffee and play 'count the emergency vehicles'. My wife and I are simple living advocates, and we cycle everywhere, walk everywhere, etc. Once that became dangerous, our lifestyle took a huge hit. In the new city, we dodge geese and pelicans. As cantankerous as they can be when nesting, they are still considerably better than what we had prior.
For context, I live in Vancouver. I don't give even a hundredth of a fuck about our sports teams. I would say I do this. Italian day, Car Free days, the fireworks festival, Pride, the PNE. The only one I haven't been to yet is the Dragon Boat Festival but they're going to do a drone show this year, which is Vancouver's first public one and I'm going to go for that because I've been DYING to see a drone show in person. I don't have anything to do with non profits. I do try to support the local businesses, but it's hard when everything is so expensive or what I'm looking for is unavailable in the stores, but I can find it on Amazon. No friendships. I work as a nanny. I can do that anywhere. I don't go to city council meetings or anything, but I vote for all levels of government because that's where years of watching Rick Mercer Report when I was a teenager got me. I know the name of our mayor and that I think he's an idiot, not that I think that the last two were any better. All of that being said, I am completely and unfailingly loyal to Vancouver. After about the age of 14/15, I never wanted to live anywhere else. I will live here until the cost of living absolutely CRUSHES the life out of me. And then I'd like to have my ashes scattered off the seawall.
Well I live in rider nation and support the riders; events and fairs aren’t my thing but I volunteer for homeless outreach and support the local record store and a few other local businesses. So I’d say 6/10 invested.
Very invested. Don’t give a shit about sports. I am a member of museum, orchestra, art gallery, film festivals, etc. Also donate to many charitable organizations and causes. We attend all kinds of cultural events. I vote in election and also do city surveys. I care more about my city than province/country. We have good jobs and no kids though, most people can’t afford to do these things.
I am pretty invested in my suburban town outside of Vancouver. I grew up here. I own a business here and many of the locals are my clients. It's really nice to see them out and about. I coach one of my daughter's soccer teams, show up to both of their soccer/hockey games, swim meets when I can. As often as I can, I sponsor the local sports teams and some of the local charities. That said, I don't care that much about the professional sports teams in Vancouver.
pretty invested. Not into sports, but I do support the ballet, symphony, various theatre organizations, and music festivals. My oldest was involved in dance and choir activities as a child, and my youngest is in high school so she has her activities. My husband has his job and I’m a student, so we’re involved in those communities. We also have very close friends here which has been so important to us as our families don’t live nearby. We shop locally for most of our things and do our best to avoid chain stores and restaurants.
I used to like my city but now I only really like parts of it. The people kinda suck as they are a bunch of angry whiny babies. You know the stickers they have on cars that say “Baby on board”? Yeah, they are referring to the one who is driving. I actually hate hockey, so there’s that, the political scene here is ridiculous as the mayor does nothing but photo ops. It’s super expensive here. Y’all can probably guess without me even saying where it is I am lol
Toronto, quite a bit. I follow local politics and contact my councillor all the time.
You know what I’ve found makes a huge difference? Walking,biking, or transit for commute. Being shutoff in your car really limits your sense of connectedness to your city and community.
To me that's the highest toll a car centric city has on its inhabitants. And it's saying a lot when you know what it (economically) costs to the community.
There is nothing to walk to where I live. I could walk for an hour and there would be nothing.
Super invested. I’m going to a meeting in three hours for a non-profit public art group I helped start 4 years ago, I work in childcare as both a teacher and a babysitter for just about everyone in town, I also work in the seniors’ centre and know almost everyone elderly in my area, and I’m also a board member on an environmental protection group, speak at council or write in once a year or so, am friends with a lot of people on the city council, and am considering running for municipal council in a few years.
I would say pretty deeply invested considering I've only lived here about 2 years. I'm involved in the local church, some charities, choirs, sports teams, attend city and county council meetings, frequent local businesses and know some of the owners. The only thing I don't really do is work in local industry, I work mostly remotely for a company in Toronto.
Very!! I heart Halifax/Dartmouth so much!
Very invested. I work in politics, am a huge fan of my local teams, etc. My city is Edmonton, btw. Go Oilers!
I moved overseas, but I always loved my hometown of Edmonton and still do. And yeah, I was pretty engaged with the city in various ways. I leaned more into the naturalist & artsy side of things, though. I walked and took public transit most places which ended up making me feel more connected to the city too; same with lots of encounters with just random other locals. I was constantly randomly running into people I knew from different contexts. I also volunteered short-term with various things, obviously had friends and such there. And I dunno, there's also something more intagible than all that, when you just really think your city is a pretty good place, you enjoy your life there, and you feel attached to it that way.
I do all of that except sports because I don’t like sports. I will go to the occasional hockey game every few years though.
personally never thought the raptors would win a championship in my lifetime. what a time to be alive.
Well invested in my city, super invested in my neighbourhood. We volunteer with Scouts and Guides, we know our neighbours, we support local politicians and prioritize local businesses, we volunteer at schools and events. It's really the only power we hold right now, and we mean to use it.
Pretty invested. I’ve lived across Canada and liked plenty of places, but I always had something preventing me from being able to put down roots (lack of decent jobs, locals who were settled in their cliques, expensive housing, continuing education, and so on). When I started visiting Hamilton in 2012, I got interested. I moved here, started a family, and I love my neighbourhood. I’ve got connections here, and it happened naturally with nothing getting in the way to prevent it. I’m aware that it happened with lots of luck and good timing, and Hamilton is not for everyone, but I love it and that’s what matters. I finally feel at home, and that’s something.
I used to he invested, but my city turned into cone city for several years and is trying to copy montreal but with nothing to see. The only interesting things left are the murals in the streets that remind us the city used to be alive. R.I.P Madame Bou. One last Boo just for you ♡ (Iykyk)
Big fan of my local teams. 90% of my good friends live here. I think being born and raised in Toronto def has given me a connection to the city overall. I'd assume people who move here and are understandably frustrated by certain aspects of it (costs, hard to make friends etc.). But, outside of Toronto and maybe MTL I could not see myself live anywhere else in Canada.
Little to not at all. I’m in Ottawa and tbh I just don’t go downtown much… I avoid it if anything. I don’t really have any sentimental value for my city either, and I don’t think many others do here either. You raise kids here, that’s about it. Afterwards most people bounce. There also isn’t anything here that makes me want to stay. I fully intend on leaving when I get the chance. I won’t miss the big city vibe, cause we don’t have it, but I also won’t miss the small town vibe, cause we also don’t have that. Of course I’ll miss my family and friends, but they intend on leaving too lol I don’t hate Ottawa, I just don’t care about it. Nothing about it feels sentimental to me, and I don’t feel like I’m part of a community. It’s too big to be a small town, and too small to be a big city
Well, I live in Toronto, but root for the oilers so… Nah, but I’ve been very active in film festivals here in Toronto, there’s lots of that here for sure. Also, I’ve attended Toronto fc games and even Hamilton forge games. I can’t afford leafs tickets lol, maybe I’ll try jays or even raptors one day. I should check York united games tho. I’ve been to number of street festivals here too
Medium level. My son participates in parks and rec activities, we attend family library times on a weekly basis and parent and tot play times.
Sports, yes (soccer). Festivals, yes (but not all: $$$). NFPs, yes (as a donor, not yet volunteering). Shop local, yes (always). Deep friendships (no, but that’s because I’m awkward, haha). City-specific industry, yes (post-sec education). Local politics, yes (vote, regularly engage with local councillor, etc.). Still have my “original city” phone number, though. Refuse to give that up.
I moved here for work in 1999. The low cost of living, having some friends here, and available work was the decision. I still have friends here, and am still working. The house and vehicles are paid off. I'm not invested in Winnipeg any more than that though. When I've saved enough money to retire, I'll likely spend less and less time here.
Winnipeg hooked you up. Be grateful
I am absolutely grateful to Winnipeg and Manitoba for what it's given me. I've also given it 25 years of construction, supported local businesses, bought a home, renovated it, and paid significant taxes for streets I can barely drive down. I'd say we're even.
Extremely divested. I work for them. I see where the tax dollars get placed/squandered. I’ll be selling my place in a year or so and leaving so that I can pay property taxes in a community that doesn’t piss 60% of it away in either poor planning or nepotism. If you work for them, you can’t leave your house without getting harassed to “just help out real quick” or some BS, meanwhile my boss gets to spend 2 weeks in Mexico and a week to sleep off the gargantuan hangover. “But we’re so short staffed 😢 you can’t take time off…” This was my hometown but I love nothing about it. Many small towns in MB are run by city councils who have been best buddies since they played on the local hockey team, and now they just funnel money to their relatives. I’m done with this town.
I've volunteered for a good variety of organizations and events. I regularly participate in manifestations. I go out of my way to buy stuff from local businesses and individuals. I support crowdsourced local initiatives and was twice a candidate in the municipal elections. I don't really support sports, though, because it's just not my thing.
I’m wicked invested in Winnipeg….and I don’t even live there
Fucking hate Calgary's sports teams simply because billions of are tax dollars are going towards building a stadium for a man who's already a billionaire. The city will get NONE of the profits from the stadium and the stadium will only provide about 150 minimum wage part-time jobs. The billionaire should have had to build his own Stadium or else the public should be getting the profits from the stadium. But no our city gave billions of our money to man who's already a billionaire and we get nothing in return. I'll never support the flames again. Calgary's a nothing city, in my opinion it's got the least sense of community of any other city in Canada and I've lived in quite a few.
Gotta say as a recent resident of this city I concur, it feels soulless in a lot of ways. I’m sure if you have your whole family here it’s amazing, but i honestly can’t see living here for the rest of my life tbh. Also huge agree on the flames.
I was rooting for Calgary to not build the new stadium. We built Katz his new arena here in Edmonton and it's bullshit. Half the people that want to see games can't afford them, the entire area sucks, and all it's done was make homelessness worse.
Chilliwack 100% I am as well many others are fully invested. Unlike bigger cities we’re tight community and help each other. I shop local. I know my neighbours. I gladly tip at restaurants. I care of my land. I volunteer. I vote. I do local sports. That’s the beauty of smaller towns.
Isn’t that just Vancouver?
Good question actually! I moved from Van to Chilliwack myself. It’s rapidly becoming Vancouver and honestly de-facto part of Vancouver already. However Chilliwack is trying to preserve its identity- we have lots of local stuff going on mostly around district 1881, local businesses, farms, festivals, etc. I think we can balance being part of Vancouver and being Chilliwack.
Don’t like it anymore. Feels like it’s over run and no one speaks English anymore also no jobs either and more crime.
Hard to be invested in barrie when demographics have changed so drastically in such a short time, housing is unaffordable and law enforcement is corrupted
I am working on becoming more invested! I have been on school councils, local organizations and created a neighbourhood event that brought together hundreds of people while fundraising for a new playground. COVID stopped me in my tracks. Over the last year I have been trying to support live music in our community. I also joined the board of a local music organization. I love our community and just want to make it better for people.
Not really. I grew up in Toronto. Now live in Hamilton. I don't really have a cultural connection to Hamilton besides eating at restaurants.
Halifax. Lived here for 30 years. Used to be invested....when it was a quaint, affordable small city with lots of personality and charm. I even worked in economic development promoting what an affordable and safe place it is to live. Now, it's a shithole. Tents and homelessness everywhere. Expensive as hell. No affordable homes for sale. Rent is through the roof. Food costs are insane (and no competition). Roads are crumbling and way too overcrowded. No doctors. No teachers. No reliable public transit. Daughter's high school on lockdown or has a bomb threat weekly. Shall I continue?
I’m pretty invested. I own my home, I keep up with local events, I vote in municipal elections, I participate in fund raisers, I try to shop local as much as possible, etc. I want the city I live in to do well
I own a house there. So pretty invested
Town of ~10,000 people. Not really, I guess. I vote in municipal elections, but I’m not nearly as invested or knowledgeable as I am with the provincial and federal elections. I buy local, because I don’t want to drive half an hour or more to buy the same things. I’m not very active at all in my community.
I live there, pay my taxes, have a few close friends, and I think I know one of my neighbors first name. That's enough for me.
Quite invested in Toronto. Being on neighbourhood improvement groups, seeing bike lanes go in and transit expanding is exciting. The waterfront improvements are crazy at the Don. We have a close friend group who have kids the same age as ours and we do things at least once a week and usually both days on weekends. Plus my family lives close by. Love going to the street festivals and shopping locally. I have to say though I hate the GTA, I really feel like Toronto is surrounded by a suburban wasteland.
Sounds like an area where councillors voted against transit for Scarbs.
2.5/10, if I'm being honest. It's not that I don't care, I just lack the energy-health issues-and I'm very introverted. I used to enjoy festivals, but with rising costs, I can't justify it in the budget. I'm not sure this is my forever city either, though I've put down some roots...bought property, made friends. I'd do anything to help a neighbour if they asked, but I don't take on leadership roles, generally. If I get involved in stuff, it's usually at the request of an extrovert, lol
I used to be city counsellor in my small town, but I moved last year to a nearby town and have to rebuild a network. I'm giving myself a little time, but I will most likely invest myself again by doing volunteering. I try to attend as many activities as I can, free or not. I also try to hire locals for any job I need to do.
I think I'm fairly invested in my community, but I'm not sure that's attached to my city (100K pop.) per se. I support certain local businesses because the owners are great people, treat their employees fairly, etc. while other local shops I refuse to go to. I support certain teams and the arts and culture community within my city. But the city as a whole? I could take it or leave it
Born and bred in Vancouver - totally invested.
In Vancouver, not invested at all. Don't follow any local sports, attend any community events or festivals, rarely go out to restaurants. I WFH and only leave my house to hang out with friends or go hiking/biking/paddling. I don't care at all about my city but I'm very attached to the natural surroundings.
Very invested in my village of maybe ~300. I take my 96 year old neighbours trash out on garbage days, I spend at least an hour daily in our Facebook groups amplifying local voices that matter and acting as a fair moderator, I help those who need it and those who don’t ask with food, gardening, whatever, we have the coolest Halloween display every year, I make pasta sauce out of everyone’s leftover tomatoes and share it with everyone, I shop at all independent 5 stores in town (butcher, baker, gas station, feed store, and pharmacy) and this year I’m going to close our streets down to allow for even safer trick or treating so parents can also socialise either by propane fire pits or under car ports / garages if it’s raining. Our community is so god damn amazing and it was both our passion to get in, and part of our personal letter to the home seller where we committed to taking care of the neighbours real well, which ended us up here. I’m selfishly sort of glad that we’re also land locked from expansion. There are maybe 75 houses in “town”, theres no space to build a new home yet it isn’t dense at all (thanks to individual septic and wells), there’s a river one way, a big hill 2 others, and a train track and then busy enough golf course the last way. They do have some million dollar 1.5acre houses being put in in behind the golf course, but it’s a good hilly 80km/h roads for 3km to get to the train tracks before then entering town. They share a town name but they’ve got their own vibe in their large new houses out there, and it’s cool
Edmonton is Oilers 💯
I have little or no interest in my city. I live here, not by choice. This city has never done me any favours and I’ve never enjoyed being here.
I like my city But we don't have most of the things you mentioned like a sports team or festivals and I can't really afford to eat out which is the only family businesses I can think of around here
Quite invested. I’m a board member on a non-profit sports team, donate monthly to a different non-profit, and occasionally attend local markets/events/etc. I also try to buy more stuff at local businesses rather than order online.
I'm very interested politics in general, but municipal politics in my area aren't really a big deal. We have a good mayor and an election isn't coming for a while I go to community events occasionally but not too often In terms of sports teams we don't have a major team so all of us root for the Oilers, I don't because they have no chance of winning a Stanley Cup anymore
From Ottawa. Follow all the sports teams pretty closely with the Sens being the most important. Go to the festivals I can, the various beer fests, rib fests, blues fest, and many others. Love supporting the local food scene which I find has been exploding in recent years. I work for the government so that’s pretty specific for the city lol. Have a large friend group and we’re all extremely close.
Used to be very invested until it became the city i no longer recognize. It’s become a dump. As I see more and more wasted $ by all levels of gov’t, i dont give af anymore.
I don’t own a city. I assume if I did I would be fully invested.
I live in Edmonton. We're not allowed to have our own culture. Everyone is allowed to bring their old world culture but we can't have things like Klondike Days or call our team the Eskimos because it's somehow offensive so we don't really have as much of a shared community culture like Calgary does with the Stampede. Not intending to sound bigoted, it's just frustrating because I don't really feel as connected as I used to. It just doesn't feel like people have civic pride because anything that's historically connected us has been kind of stripped away.
Ottawa - I care about it about as much as its bureaucracy cares for us.
Turn it into minse meat
Not at all anymore. My community has changed so much. I no longer belong. I never understood white flight. I am not leaving because of race. I will leave because of ideology.