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All you need to know about the Big Smoke
Toronto.com
staff
Set
on the north shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto was created on March 6,
1834, when the settlement of York was renamed Toronto, the Mohawk
word for "meeting place." The British settlement of York was founded
as the capital of the new province of Upper Canada by Lieutenant Governor
John Graves Simcoe in the 1790s and had grown to 10,000 people by
the 1830s. Toronto is still the capital of the province, now called
Ontario, and is the largest city in Canada, with a population of 2.4
million, 4.7 million in the Greater Toronto Area.
One of the most multicultural cities in the world, Toronto is home
to more than 80 ethnic groups and more than 100 languages, and is
marked by the diversity of distinct neighbourhoods, cultures and communities.
Yonge Street, known as the longest street in the world, is the main
north-south road and divides the city into east and west. Major intersections
include: Bloor/Yonge, King/Bay, Yonge/Dundas, Yonge/Eglinton, Yonge/Sheppard,
Queen/Spadina, Broadview/Danforth. Main east-west avenues include
Eglinton Avenue, Lawrence Avenue, Steeles Avenue, Wilson Road, and
Bloor Street-Danforth Avenue.
Distinct neighbourhoods include Little Italy (west of College/Bathurst),
Queen Street West (a soho-style strip east of Spadina Avenue), the
Entertainment district (bounded by Front and King Streets, University
and Spadina Avenues), the fashion district (Spadina and King), Greektown
on Danforth Avenue, Little India (Gerrard Street East), and three
Chinatowns.
For more info on Toronto, visit the City of Toronto official website
at www.toronto.ca and click on
Our City.
Language
English is the predominant language of Toronto, although both English
and French are official languages; most government services are available
in either language. But there are also large ethnic populations --
350,000 Chinese, 400,000 Italians, 127,000 Greeks and many others
-- so those languages are prominent in many neighbourhoods. Dual-language
street signs can be found in areas such as Chinatown, Little Italy,
Little Portugal, and other communities
Money
Currency
Commonly used small coins are the 1-cent ("penny"), 5-cent ("nickel"),
10-cent ("dime") and 25-cent ("quarter") pieces. The two main coins
are the $1 gold-coloured coin, commonly called a "loonie" (the loon
is the bird engraved on one side), and the $2 silver- and gold-toned
coin (the "toonie"). Paper bills come in $5, $10, $20, $50, $100,
and $1,000 denominations. The Canadian dollar is not equal in value
to the U.S. dollar -- it has fluctuated in recent years between 65
and 75 cents to the U.S. dollar.
Taxes
On most purchases, both the provincial sales tax of 8 per cent and
the 7 per cent federal goods and services tax (GST) apply. There is
no GST on most grocery items, but restaurant meals are taxed both
GST and PST. PST is not charged on reading materials. If you are a
visitor to Ontario, you may be eligible for tax rebates; rebate forms
are available at the airport. For more info, call (613) 991-3346 (for
GST); or (800) 668-5810 (for PST).
Service
Restaurant tipping is left to customer discretion, but the
customary (and expected) amount is 15 per cent (the debate rages about
whether this is calculated before or after tax). Many restaurants
automatically add a gratuity (tip) to the bill for large groups (six
to eight or more). It is also customary to tip bellhops, luggage handlers
and taxi drivers, at your discretion.
The minimum legal drinking age in Ontario is 19 years. Bars and restaurants
must stop serving alcohol by 2 a.m.
No smoking
All bars, billiard and bingo halls, casinos and racetracks are now
required to be smoke-free. This is the third and final phase of the
City's No Smoking By-law. The first phase required all workplaces
to be smoke-free. The second phase required restaurants, dinner theatres
and bowling centres to be smoke-free, except in approved designated
smoking rooms. For more information, or to report a violation of the
No Smoking By-law, please call (416) 338-7600 or visit www.toronto.ca/health.
Passports and I.D.
Entering Canada, U.S. citizens, including children, need proof of
U.S. citizenship: either a birth certificate together with photo identification
or a passport. U.K. citizens and Australian citizens require a passport
and proof of onward passage out of Canada. Visitors from other countries
require a passport and may also require a visa. You may also be asked
to provide proof of necessary funds for your visit. Illegal drugs
and firearms are not allowed into Canada.
Getting Around
Public Transit
The Toronto Transit Commision (TTC) operates a world-class public
transit system. The clean and easy-to-follow system includes subway,
bus and streetcar routes. Single adult fare is $2.75. Tickets and
tokens may be bought in packets of five or more at a discount. Monthly/day
passes are also available and can save frequent travellers money.
Note: Exact change or token/ticket is needed for boarding buses and
streetcars and some subway stations. Transfers between vehicles (subways
included) and lines are available for continuous trips. Ask your driver
or the station attendant if unsure. Make sure to obtain a transfer
when you pay your fare.
Safety: At night, bus and streetcar drivers will let women disembark
at requested en-route locations between stops. Stay behind the yellow
line on subway platforms. All subway platforms have Designated Waiting
Areas, which are monitored by video-cameras and have alarm buttons
and a voice-link to the attendant. Look for the DWA sign.
Taxis
Meters start at $2.75, and increase at $0.25 increments. A typical
trip in downtown Toronto will cost $7 to $10, depending on traffic,
and up to $20 for longer trips in the city. Make sure that the meter
rate is set at 1 (one) unless the driver has explained why it isn't,
such as a large number of parcels or many passengers. Official rate
and fee schedules (including baggage) should be displayed in the cab,
along with a taxi driver's license bearing a photo of the driver.
Rush Hour
As in most heavily populated urban cities, rush hour (6:30 a.m. to
8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.) traffic can be heavy in the downtown
core and on the highways. The subway and transit systems will also
be more crowded, but the TTC operates more vehicles during these peak
hours. During rush hour, expect bumper-to-bumper traffic on highways
such as the 401 and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW).
Time and dates
Business Hours
Most office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Most shops are open 10 a.m. to 5:30 or 6 p.m., Monday to Saturday.
Many store hours are extended to 8 or 9 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays,
and most stores are open Sundays 12 noon to 5 p.m.
Time Zone
Eastern Time (ET) is five hours behind Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
During Daylight Savings Time (DST), March to October, clocks are turned
ahead one hour.
Statutory Holidays (offices, banks, government offices
and most stores closed; public transit runs reduced service)
2006
New Year's Day: Jan 2
Good Friday: April 14
Victoria Day: May 22
Canada Day: July 3
Civic Holiday: Aug 7
Labour Day: Sept 4
Thanksgiving: Oct 9
Christmas: Dec 25
Boxing Day: Dec 26
Other holidays (for banks and government offices such as Canada Post):
2006
Easter Monday: April 17,
Remembrance Day: Nov. 11
Weather
Toronto has nine months of winter and three months of poor skating
-- at least that's what it feels like. Although we do experience the
four seasons, Toronto has a long winter (about five months, mid-November-mid-April),
short spring (mid-April-May) and fall (October-mid-November) and a
four-month summer (June-September).
Telephone
The emergency number for all health, safety and crime
emergencies is 911.
Dial 411 for an operator to aid with locating a number. Dialing 0
will also get you an operator for general assistance.
Pay phones cost 25 cents (a quarter, or a combination of dimes and
nickels) per call. Phones do not give change, but will return coin(s)
if call is not completed. Phone credit cards for multiple calls are
also available in many convenience stores.
Toronto has two area codes: 416 and, beginning Jan. 8, 2001, the 647
area code. Local calls require 10-digit dialing: the area code followed
by the seven-digit phone number. Some calls to the 905 area are local
calls, but require dialing 905 and then the seven-digit number. Beginning
June 9, 2001, the 905 area code shares the zone with the 289 area
code and also requires 10-digit dialing. When dialing long-distance
numbers, start with a 1 or 0 (for operator-assisted calls),
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