Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
There are more Europeans in Quebec than Ontario? I don't think so. If anything, Montreal has maintained a stronger north American culture than Toronto has due to less immigration. Small cities and towns (Windsor) have been less culturally influenced by immigration whether they are in Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes, or out west. It's in these places (outside the big immigrant cities) where Canadian culture has held its own.
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Immigration is not really the determining factor. Quebec and Montreal tend to be very "Euro-philic". A lot of people in Quebec - and I am not talking about immigrants - think that anything that is European (movies, cuisine, literature, fashion, music, sports, etc.) is automatically better than anything North American. There is a lot of this "posing" that goes in Quebec.
Plus, while Ontario does have way more people born in Europe or born in Canada of European parents, in Montreal they tend to hold onto their languages and cultures longer than they do in Toronto. (Language retention in Montreal down through the generations for Greek, Italian, Portuguese, etc. is I believe the highest of any North American city.)
Finally, immigration or not, Toronto feels deeply rooted in North America. Much more than Montreal does. Montreal, on the other hand, feels somewhat rootless - in a (charmingly) schizophrenic way.