How did 'Toronto the good' become the city Canada loves to hate?

Why is Toronto the city Canada loves to hate? We try to find out in our very first live show recorded during the Hotdocs Podcast Festival.

CBC Podcasts · Posted: Dec 05, 2018 12:45 PM EST | Last Updated: December 5, 2018

Here's what Toronto looked like on June 29,1959. The intersection of Bay St. and Queen St. W would be unrecognizable to many today. (Dale Barnes/CBC Still Photo Collection)

The Secret Life of Canada45:04S2: Toronto vs. Everyone (Live!)

Is it true Toronto is the city Canada loves to hate?

Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson, co-hosts of The Secret Life of Canada, explored the roots of this national grudge in their first live show — taped in front of a spirited Toronto audience at this year's Hot Docs Podcast Festival. The show featured special guests Jane Luk, Kris Siddiqi, Brandon Hackett and music by Matt Reid.

Top creators go from studio to stage at Hot Docs Podcast Festival

This episode looks at Toronto's early days, its diverse neighbourhoods, its most questionable mayors and its bitter fight to become the capital of Canada. (Don't look so smug, Ottawa.)

What you'll hear this episode:

How Toronto got its name and other notable monikers (Tkaronto and York).
The city's role in the War of 1812
The story of Richard Pierpoint, a member of the Coloured Corps
The Mississaugas of the New Credit and the long, drawn out Toronto Purchase
How Ottawa became the capital of Canada and why Toronto never got over it
"Toronto the Good," the temperance movement and a brief history of questionable mayors.
Why the Junction neighbourhood was still practicing prohibition into the 90s
The little known story of The Ward, one of Toronto's first immigrant neighbourhoods

In the early 1900s, St. John's Ward (nicknamed "the Ward"), was a 0.5 km² hub in the middle of the city. This family was among its diverse residents. (Toronto Ward Museum)

References:

Toronto: An Illustrated history of its first 12,000 Years. Book edited by Ronald F Williamson.
Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation Website
Mississauga Portraits: Ojibwe Voices from Nineteenth-Century Canada. Book by Donald B. Smith
The Toronto Carrying Place: Rediscovering Toronto's Most Ancient Trail. Book by Glenn Turner
The Coloured Corps: Black Canadians and the War of 1812.
The Canadian Encyclopedia
A Virtual Exhibit: Ottawa Becomes the Capital. City of Ottawa
Toronto's Mayors: Scoundrels, rogues and socialites. Article by Mark Maloney The Toronto Star
Mayors of Toronto. Book by Victor L. Russel
Toronto The Good. A social study by C.S Clark (1898)
The Junction. A short history of the Junction
The history of the Junction. Video by Morgan Cameron Ross/the Old Toronto Series.
The Ward Website. Toronto Ward Museum