Torontonians portrayed as indifferent to Pan Am Games

Torontonians are used to being called all kinds of things — self-centred, arrogant, self-important. Living in the most populated and multicultural city in Canada can often give outsiders the impression that they’re a force to be reckoned with.

But indifferent? Meh.

And yet, that’s exactly how Torontonians are portrayed in a New York Times piece titled In an Indifferent Toronto, the Pan-Am Games Land With a Thud. It details a city that’s not exactly emotionally invested in the country’s biggest sporting event for most of July.

Ian Austen writes: “After six years of preparation, construction, marketing campaigns, controversies and snags, the Pan-American Games officially open here on Friday, and some preliminary competition rounds are already in progress.”

“But most Torontonians seem to be greeting the event with a shrug, and Mayor John Tory is so exasperated that he has taken to lecturing them about their attitude.”

It goes on to highlight Torontonians annoyance with how much has been dropped on the games — $2.5 billion — and the traffic problems that have inevitably come with it.

On Friday, “Indifferent Toronto” was trending on Twitter with reactions ranging from concurrence to … indifference.

Some joked that there are certain things Torontonians don’t feel indifferent about, like dead wildlife. This was a reaction to a shrine built around a dead raccoon, which took the city 14 hours to collect.

Toronto wasn’t the only city to be criticized in the news in recent weeks as being indifferent. A Globe and Mail column by Cathal Kelly details World Cup host Edmonton as a drab, sloppy and, based on poor ticket sales, apathetic to putting on the international event. Kicking off the World Cup anywhere but Toronto is a mistake ironically goes on to make a case for Hogtown, which he argues, has more appropriate facilities.