[niwell]

I would think that the answers to this are quite varied and highly dependent on the particular town. Being in the orbit of a relatively close dominant metropolitan area doesn't necessarily make one sophisticated even if they may know the best new restaurants to go to (occasionally) in said nearby city.

The "Canadian towns are more sophisticated than American" trope isn't exactly a constant either. I just got back from a trip to Portland and the Oregon coast and can safely say that a place like Astoria or even Newport has a lot more going on than say, Simcoe Ontario (randomly picked a town around the same size). Then again so do lots of other places in Canada.

FWIW I was thinking of getting a pair of rubber boots for this winter... they are quite useful for going to work in the snow and then changing shoes once you get to the office.