But as much as he complains he doens't really give a good concrete plan for fixing this problem.

My gosh, he's right! I don't live in Toronto, but I like going there, only because it's better than what I have at home. I think the only folks who will enjoy visiting Toronto are the ones who haven't been anywhere better. Having said that, I haven't been to many other cities... my recent trip to Chicago was a real eye-opener though. I realized that Toronto, my urban idol, had some stiff competition. And not just stiff... it was practically blown out of the water. I used to spend a lot of my time defending Toronto to fellow small-town citizens, and I still do... but now I realize that there are many things that need to drastically improve. Hume names them all, but it's interesting how he criticizes events like Expo and the World's Fair. Those are the events that GAVE famous cities like Paris, London and Chicago many of their famous parks and buildings (albeit Chicago's have since crumbled). Granted it takes more than just a massive fair, but Toronto's recent waterfront redevelopment plan is a major step in the right direction.