John Oliver says Ottawa is boring. Is Ottawa boring or just all of Canada?

[GreatTallNorth2]

I know we don't normally post threads on specific cities, but since Ottawa is our country's capital, I am wondering if you think John is right. I was in Ottawa about a month ago and thought the city was clean, beautiful and the city centre is highly pedestrian friendly. Having said this, when I lived in the UK, I travelled over Europe and found the cities to have a character that Canadian cities could not buy if they wanted it. So maybe John would find most of our cities boring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaoDN9db8GY

What Canadian cities would you say outsiders should visit in Canada? Cities with character and identity. Here is my list..

1. Montreal
2. Vancouver
3. Quebec City
4. Halifax
5. St. Johns
6. Victoria

[JHikka]

Anyone who has ever come from Toronto has called Ottawa boring. I came from a small(er) town in the Maritimes and I find Ottawa exciting. Tomato, tomato.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Anyone who has ever come from Toronto has called Ottawa boring. I came from a small(er) town in the Maritimes and I find Ottawa exciting. Tomato, tomato.

I actually prefer Ottawa to Toronto in that I find it more pedestrian, but the fact is that people outside of Canada do find it lackluster compared to most capitals (not all, but most). I think we could be a little more daring with our building designs and build more signature type of museums, etc.

[Martin Mtl]

John Oliver is a satirist, and a very good one at that. I thought his rant on Ottawa was hilarious. Having lived 3 years in Ottawa before moving to Montréal, I have to agree though that our capital is a little bland. But so does Washington as far as I'm concerned.

[jigglysquishy]

I love Ottawa. It has a very walkable core, plenty of things to do as a tourist, and a great vibe. Last time I was there was during Canada Day and I gotta say that it's a must-do for any Canadian.

I still think the best route you can do as a non-Canadian tourist is Quebec-Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto.

[mistercorporate]

Ottawa is a fun town if you're an outgoing fun person. If you're a boring and shy person then you can only have fun in a city that shoves fun down your throat, which is what most big developed cities are all about. Big cities have more varieties of fun, but a city even half the size of Ottawa is tons of fun if you know how to make the most of any situation. The drawback to Ottawa is it's not a worldly or international city compared to some of the alternatives we have in Canada, it's not an 'impressive' city, though as a Torontonian I'm sure glad its nearby as I love spending time there!!

[leftimage]

Is Ottawa boring or just all of Canada

It's all of Canada that's boring. Ottawa is a good poster boy, though, as it's extremely boring relative to its size.

Obviously this is going to piss of some forum members but I couldn't care less.To me there are only two Canadian cities that are in no way boring, and the good thing is they are in fact extremely exciting: Toronto and Montreal.

Vancouver is sort of on the fence between exciting and boring. If you like nature it definitely falls into the former category.

St.Johns is remarkably exciting relative to its size. Looking at the big picture, it's still boring but reallllly punches above its weight. Drunkenly walking around central St.Johns at night was amazing.

All other Canadian cities that I've visited are just plain boring. Sterile as hell.
Beautiful. Clean. Civilized. Great places to raise a family, make a living and live out your everyday life. Dads love them.

John Oliver grew up in the UK. Of course Canadian cities are boring to him.

[SignalHillHiker]

As far as reputation goes, it's all of Canada for anglophones and most of it for francophones. But it's only boring to the extent it doesn't have that hype that, say, a NYC or London does. But for Oliver's purposes, he couldn't made a similar joke at Washington's expense. It's also a smaller, government city - like Ottawa.

As for it actually being boring... there's no excuse to be bored in a city the size of Ottawa. There's always something to do here, so there definitely is there.

And, as I've said many, many, many times, Ottawa is probably the only city I know of where everyone I know who moved there loves it. Usually it's nothing but homesickness, pictures of care packages from home, countdowns to vacations home, etc. None of that from the crowd who go to Ottawa. It seems to be a really accessible place for local expats.

Of course, could just be that it's equally boring. Who knows.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Anyone who has ever come from Toronto has called Ottawa boring. I came from a small(er) town in the Maritimes and I find Ottawa exciting. Tomato, tomato.

All my friends say it's the most borning place in the world, not that they have anything truly negative to say about it just boring.

And they are comparing it to st john's.

From what I understand like many places in ontario feels much smaller than it actually is.

To do anything interesting you have to get in with a social circle. It's like the type of thing you see in small towns where anything remotely interesting in typical only interesting because it's hidden/exclusive/mysterious etc.

[HomerSPC]

Regina is hardly boring. There's enough gang violence around every corner that it keeps you on your toes!

#Sarcasm

[Beedok]

If you want cities in Ontario with character try Hamilton and Thunder Bay. They've always got something weird and unique happening, though it isn't always something you want to deal with (especially for the latter city).

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

I actually prefer Ottawa to Toronto in that I find it more pedestrian, but the fact is that people outside of Canada do find it lackluster compared to most capitals (not all, but most). I think we could be a little more daring with our building designs and build more signature type of museums, etc.

I don't think you can read much into satire. Have to take the serious hat off for a bit to enjoy the skit.

[Nouvellecosse]

When I was in Ottawa I was basically passing through and didn't have a lot of time to explore and for the most part it seemed nice but it seemed like the interesting areas dropped off a bit quickly and the areas outside the immediate downtown seemed comfortable but very... casual. It would nice for a larger area to have more energy... dazzle... and grandeur.

[GreatTallNorth2]

I know that Europe has a lot of history on it's side, but having visited several small to mid size UK/European cities, I am surprised how much there is to do vs. many Canadian cities. Some examples of this are Delft (Netherlands) Brugge (Belgium), Lucca (Italy), Berne (Switzerland), Bath, UK. All of these cities are 100,000 or less yet far more interesting than cites 4-5 times their size in Canada. I think all of these cities have very high standards for architecture, civic gardens, etc. In Canada, we are happy to make Walmart the standard and build buildings with about the same class.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Anyone who has ever come from Toronto has called Ottawa boring. I came from a small(er) town in the Maritimes and I find Ottawa exciting. Tomato, tomato.

Funnily, that's exactly my experience.

When I lived in Toronto, I heard Ottawa made the butt of endless jokes. Now I live in Nova Scotia, and when Ottawa comes up with locals, people rave about the place.

My theory: Ottawa is bigger by far than any Maritime city, but it's still not too big, making it a comfortable entry point into urbanity. (I don't want to belabour any small-town Maritimer cliches, but a relatively large number of people here grew up in really small towns. I know one woman who grew up in a tiny fishing village on the province's south shore, and lived her entire life there until she was 19. When she first moved to Halifax, she was confused about all the buses and all the people getting on them and riding around the city--she had never encountered public transit. I'm sure she'd seen it on TV or in films, but she couldn't quite parse it, in person.)

So, yeah, from that perspective, a city like Toronto might be too much to take in, whereas Ottawa, being economically healthy, pleasant, and in places quite beautiful, is easier to take.

My own take is that Ottawa is pretty great, but it does have less of a wild side than you'd expect of a city its size, and the urban character seems to drop off fast once you go east/north of the Rideau, or west of about Preston Street (with the exception of some neighbourhoods hugging the south shore of the river westwards). Having said that, that's still a pretty solid core.

Also, am I wrong, or is there a tendency to do everything early in Ottawa? People wake up at six am, go to dinner at 5 pm, and seem be in bed by nine or ten. Not a night-owl town. Maybe that's related to the "boring" critique.

[Bcasey25raptor]

generally speaking I think Canada on the whole is boring. But this is by no means a knock against canada.

The worlds most liveable cities and countries are arguably "boring"

[niwell]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

My own take is that Ottawa is very nice, but it does have less of a wild side than you'd expect of a city its size. Am I wrong, or is there a tendency to do everything early in Ottawa? People wake up at six am, go to dinner at 5 pm, and seem be in bed by nine or ten. Not a night-owl town.

Yeah, that's pretty accurate. Of course there are exceptions, but it's one of the constant complaints I have from friends living in Ottawa (and are from Ottawa for that matter). It's a very 8-4 kind of town. Generally kind of boring, but also lots of good stuff going on if you know where to look and are invested in it. It's not just there for the taking.

The comments about Ottawa from those in Toronto stems from two things, I think. One is that there are a relatively large number of young people in Toronto who moved from Ottawa. The other is that there are plenty of Torontonians who have lived in Ottawa for work and found the hours very different. I don't think many have anything bad to say about Ottawa (minus the cold!) - it's usually along the lines of "nice place, kinda boring".

[hipster duck]

Ottawa is the 4th or 5th largest city in a medium-sized country, and a metro of approximately one million people. It is also not a regional centre, sandwiched as it is between two much larger, more dominant cities.

Comparisons with similar-sized cities like Oslo, Helsinki or Dublin will invariably fail, because those are the primate cities of their respective countries. If you're an aspiring Finnish artist, where else are you going to move but Helsinki?

Ottawa is a livable city, and a pleasant city, but it's never going to be a brash metropolis. It's not even a matter of it being a government town - although that probably doesn't help - its just that there are other, bigger more important places in a country that isn't all that big to begin with.

[elly63]

Who's John Oliver? (rhetorical)

[MolsonExport]

London (Ontario) makes Ottawa look like the most interesting man in the world.


businessinsider