For a city that prides itself on being home to the world, Toronto remains surprisingly reluctant to venture beyond its own boundaries.There was a time back in the early 21st century when Hogtown wanted to break out of its clinging colonial past and become a progressive player on the international stage. We wanted to act like what we had become — a big city, a powerful city, a global city. We wanted to join with other cities to talk, exchange ideas and tackle the big issues of our times, whether climate change or the world economy.Now it’s news when we send an official delegation to Los Angeles to sell off the Port Lands to movie studios or Austin, Texas, to see how to organize a music festival. And as often as not, the result is likely to be a fiasco like the one faced by Scarborough’s singularly unimpressive Councillor Michael Thompson after he stayed in a $900-a-night Hollywood hotel. The chair of the city’s Economic Development Committee was there to “strengthen existing relationships with Toronto’s key investment partners in film, television and digital media production and to secure future investment.” There was no word on whether Thompson had his autograph album with him.By contrast, in 2008 then-mayor David Miller chaired the C40, the organization that “connects more than 90 of the world’s greatest cities.” Subsequent chief magistrates have focused more on double parking on Bloor St. and red-light cameras than on participating in an international network devoted to enlightened urbanism.Long gone are the days when an extroverted Toronto went after world fairs, the Olympics and the like. Indeed, Canada was a no-show at the last Expo, held in Milan in 2015. The rationale was that nobody cares about such events anymore. Still, it drew 22 million visitors, changed the skyline of the host city, boosted Milan`s economy and transformed it into a major tourist destination.“Toronto hides itself under ...
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