Toronto is the main gateway of the Canada

Meeting place. "This is the translation of Toronto, commonly used term by the Algonquin, the Canada native tribe. With 2.6 million-5,5 million if one includes the GTA, the "Greater Toronto Area"-, the first city of the Canada in Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa, the federal capital, is distinguished by its diversity. In these times of the football World Cup, the city which will host Saturday and Sunday the Summit of the heads of State of the g-20 is furrowed auto, where the flags of participating nations at the event are clinging to glass. Two, even three different flags can access the team supported by one or other of the members of the family. Toronto, half of the inhabitants were not born in the Canada. More than 100 languages are spoken. Quarter Chinese, Italian, Indian, Jewish... the city has speeds of the past New York Manhattan with its communities. This linguistic multiplicity of the city, classified by the United Nations as the most cosmopolitan of the world, be explained mainly by the selected Canadian government immigration policy to the economic growth of the country.

Toronto is the main gateway of the Canada. According to the latest figures from the Town Hall, about 1.1 million immigrants entered the country between 2001 and 2006, the city hosted approximately a quarter of these arrivals (43 for the GTA), or a total 55,000 people a year. The stream even increased in recent years with more than 100,000 arrivals. At more than 60, they come first in Asia, Europe still representing 16.4, followed by Africa and the American continent, excluded US, equal to 10.5. More than 60 of these immigrants have at least a university degree. Which is not without importance in the economic success of the city.

If the latter attracts as much, it is first to the economic situation of the first Canadian province, Ontario, which it is the capital. GTA represents, with 248 billion dollars (123 billion for the single city), about 20 of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Canada. And, over the past decades, Toronto has become "the" economic capital of the country, before the large French rival Montreal. About 310,000 businesses there are installed in most sectors of the economy. With a strong presence in financial services (31 of GDP) in the real estate sector (13) and manufacturing (9). About 40 of Canadian companies headquarters are in Toronto. About 80,000 in science and technology industry sector there are implemented. The presence of four universities of world-renowned acts like a magnet. The University of Toronto, with 60,000 students, ranks among the twenty first world universities.

Strategic situation

For John Palmer, ex-Federal Superintendent of financial institutions of the Canada, two main reasons explain this success. One is geographical, the other political. In addition to its strong historical commercial activity because of its proximity to the United States - the country there is about 80 of its trade - Toronto first developed in the manufacturing industry, such as basic rear with big US automakers. Located on Lake Ontario, the city belongs to the corridor extending from the city of Quebec, to the Northeast, Windsor, border town near Detroit, Southwest. It therefore enjoys extensive road and rail in this corridor networks for its activities. Production of motor vehicles, steel, food industry, machinery, chemistry and paper is there are developed. And, with the appearance of aviation, major US cities can be joined within two hours. New York, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, Detroit are within 800 kilometres.

Toronto then received the Quebec separatist Ortega in the 1970s. "Many companies having fear have relocated their head office in Toronto," says John Palmer. Following the victory in the province of Quebec of the parti québécois of René Lévesque in 1976, where to he was hired to organize a referendum on the accession to independence of Quebec, business leaders took the party to leave the French-speaking province.

High-tech dynamism

Gradually, Toronto change of face. The economic and financial crisis is passed by there. Already between 1989 and 2006, the city has lost more than 50,000 jobs for the benefit of the perimeter of the city and other provinces. With the crisis, the province of Ontario as a whole, has destroyed about 250,000 jobs and the unemployment rate soared to 9, last year. In this degradation, David Miller, Mayor of the city, responded by enacting 2008 strategic plan Agenda for prosperity. The measures include a lowering of the rate on the benefits undertakings established in Toronto, from 14 in 2009 to 10 by 2013. The marginal tax rate on new investment will fall to 32 (2009) to 16.5 in 2012. The City strives to attract business but also to promote the industries of high technology in particular in the medical field and that of the Internet and telephony. Two Toronto areas where R & D expenditures are higher.

In view of this high-tech dynamism, it is not surprising that foreign companies in the sector are. Among them, Siradel, a French high-technology SMEs from Rennes. Specializing in the field of telecommunications wireless software development and design of new telephone systems, Siradel decided to open in January 2009 a new centre for research and expertise radio in Toronto. Yves Lostanlen, his Vice President, explains the choice of Toronto to Boston, Chicago, Washington DC and Dallas, by several reasons. "The cosmopolitanism of the city, the quality of its universities, the time zone and the fact that the Canada has always been at the forefront in the field of telecommunications has led us to settle here." "From this basis, we can cover all of our customers in North America while being close to the United States while the continent completely rethinks its phone system," he said.

Additionally, he adds, "Toronto has a quality of intermediate life between Europe and the United States with North American dynamism in the business". Canada's economic capital combines bilingual administrative services, a significant cultural and sporting environment for foreign families to come and settle without fear of boredom.

Unbeatable life quality

In the city, this dynamic translates into real projects. With its population growth, "more than a hundred skyscrapers are under construction in the city," says Derek Ballantyne, Executive Vice President of Build Toronto, company responsible for the development and real estate projects of the city. Only Tokyo is better in this area. Towers bloom everywhere in the city centre but on the shores of the Lake also. As Torontonians are mobilized to launch the largest international rehabilitation of a town site. Under the direction of Waterfront Toronto, the project "Our New Blue Edge" ("our new blue border") intends to rehabilitate an area of 800 hectares at the Lake by the construction of green spaces, restaurants, residential and commercial, promenades, marinas neighbourhoods... "It's a project decided in 2001 that spans twenty to twenty-five years." "The inhabitants of the city wanted long reappropriate the edge of the Lake and be able to gather there for sports and cultural activities," says Marisa Piatelli, Vice President of Waterfront, including for strategic initiatives. Cost: $ 34 billion, which will add public infrastructure spending $ 4.3 billion and 1.5 billion of government spending.

Currently, the District of the former distillery - the largest of the British Empire at the end of the 19th century - renovated is the pride of Torontonians. Not far from the shores of the Lake, with its red brick and its iron stairs, the place brings together shopping, galleries, artist studios and restaurants. Culture is in the interests of the city centre, boasts of having built a new opera with the best sound quality of the world. The city is also proud to have appealed to the famous architect Frank Gehry, native of the city and the designer of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, to reconfigure the Museum of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Result, today, the city of Toronto is ranked number one in terms of quality of life. As explained in Mayor David Miller, its strategic plan is based on the uniqueness of Toronto. The benefits of development must benefit all people. They come from Asia, Europe or America, they define themselves as Torontonians. "The United States claim individualism." "The Canada, he put on the community," he says. For Kevin Stolarick, researcher at the Martin Prosperity Institute, "the Canada is distinguished from the United States by the fact that it supports diversity and turns its back on the melting pot." Toronto, asked you to be yourself and maintain your identity. We value the individuality. "It is the richness of this Canadian city which, alone, is the"meeting place"around the world.