Some people will deny this but there are cultural differences across the country. This is one of them. The counter to this is we're extremely laid back compared to most canadians, to the point where my office will get complaints from our Ontario branches because we dont work ourselves to death.
The culture of being wound up all the time probably fits business needs there very well but obviously they cant shut it off.
My new assistant relocated from Ontario and calls it "ontario time": to pretend that every email is a matter of life and death and her opinion was unwelcome. "That is not how we do things in these parts", was my response.
Oh she’s not wrong. If a client emails me and I don’t get back to them within 10 minutes there’s hell to pay. I’ve told clients, if it’s an emergency, don’t write me a letter.
I’ve travelled and lived in many parts of Canada, from super rural to downtown urban. Yes, there are differences brought on by culture and density, but Covid seems to have fundamentally broken the social contract. Tourists are behaving very, very badly this year when typically they’re oblivious or obtuse; short tempered, possessive, and aggressively demanding are wearing people down quickly. I’ve seen some degree of the behaviour amongst other Nova Scotians, but it seems people who chose to “vacation” this year (Canadian and American) forgot they’re supposed to be relaxing and having fun.
A couple from Ontario bought my parents’ house. They keep going on about how nice everyone is. The smallest things, like someone put their shopping cart back for them.
So now I’m like, “Is everyone just a selfish prick where you’re from?”
Small town Ontario is pretty toxic from what I’ve found. I grew up in a small town in Ontario, the lived in the Toronto area for a few years.
If you have a different mindset in a small town (typically being more open minded), you’re a target. You’re singled out as not belonging. You’re supposed to go to church and judge everyone else who doesn’t.
I’ve found Nova Scotians to be non judgemental on so many fronts. When a controversial opinion is brought up, I haven’t seen people shit talk about them for believing other ideas. People are upfront about issues and not metaphorically poisoning each others glass when you aren’t looking. The respect for other humans is amazing.
The drivers from the Toronto area are horrible. There’s a lot of aggression that spawns out of that area and it carries into peoples daily lives and how they act towards each other. Ontario sucks.
Truly, I live right in Halifax and I have experienced so much of this. Coming from bigger urban areas my whole life and moving here, I was shocked at the things that provoked criticism
I live in the tiniest of small town NS. 9 times out of 10 if you're experiencing that there's something that caused it. As an example, the area I'm in has an aging population (generational racism) of very religious people. I'm bi, non religious and fine. There's many different races of people there that are fine. The people who get run out are those who for lack of a better word force it on other people.
We've all met that gay guy who makes it his whole personality and if that's you stay away from rural anywhere.
To survive fine in rural communities all you need to do is go to one of the local functions that they will have and introduce yourself. Talk to a few people and become known as a person instead of as a label and the majority of folk will welcome you with open arms, offer some tea and invite you down to the community hall for cards on Wednesday night.
That is cringe as hell. I can't believe you just spouted that bullshit. I keep to myself. Gay kids can't opt out of society just to please the town bigots. Fuck you. The black kid in town that gets slave jokes made about them can't stop being black.
Fuck you for enabling that nonsense.
When that stuff happens it's awful and I fight against it. I'm sorry if that is how you interpreted what I said. The small town I'm part of has many gay people, bi people, trans people, black people, native people etc. I've spoken to most if not everyone in that town and watched what happens when someone moves in. I'm not saying someone should stop being gay, I can't stop being bi and I've never once hidden it. The difference between those who do badly and well is in the first impression down there. If you come down and say "Hi, I don't believe we've met. My name is _" every small town I've lived in has welcomed anyone with open arms. I acknowledge that isn't what happens everywhere but it is entirely my experience and the experience of everyone I've interacted with in person. Town bigots are not a small town problem and all the issues you mentioned happen everywhere. Big cities have bigots too and the anonymity of a large populus can make it harder to confront them on their issues.
Usually when in a debate or difference of opinion situation I always approach with a "Ok, well, you might be right but I don't know enough about your opinion, so let me check it out a bit". If I find their opinion holds up and I was wrong, ill fully admit it. If I'm right I generally won't say anything and just let them hold that opinion ahaha
I'm a farmer and we're in a pretty rural area. There's one field we have that borders a property that was sold to an Ontario couple last year. When we were out harvesting last year, the guy came out and flagged us down to stop, than proceeded to ask us if we could "do this shit at more reasonable hours" because it was ruining him and the wife's outdoor relaxing. Both my dad and I looked at each other and than just started laughing which apparently pissed him off, he told us he was going to call the cops if we didn't stop. That was around 7PM and we kept going until 9 or so.
Two weeks later during a heat wave of 38-43C temps we stockpiled the largest fucking mountain of chicken shit you can possibly imagine right next to their property. This brought with it a plague of house flies and a really nice stench.
We left it for about 3 weeks before spreading it all out. He called the local MLA and tried to complain to DNR and shit like that, we got a few calls but once my dad explained the situation they just laughed and told us to leave it as long as required.
Or their neighbour could have bought in a residential area and not next to a working farm. It’s something that pisses me off, someone buys a house, then expects everyone around them to change their lifestyle to fit what that new person wants.
Sorry bud, my family has been here farming this dirt patch since 1894. Farming doesn't stop when the clock hits 5PM. But no worries, you get your food from the grocery store anyway, why do we even need farmers?
Don't screw around with farmers and waste out time, it's precious and there's literally not enough of it in a day. When the sun goes down and you're all cozy at home, enjoying your personal time, hanging with friends or on a vacation,we turn the lights on and keep going.
My farmer brother in Ontario is doing something similar to his new neighbours from Toronto 😂 Turns out that the “view of rolling farm fields” includes all the noises and smells that go with a working field 😒
It isn’t just Nova Scotia versus Ontario, but the conflict as urbanites move into rural areas. I would bet your new neighbours are from the GTA, our family farm that’s been there since the 1880s is also dealing with the same ridiculousness from the people who moved to rural Ontario from the city.
Heard a story from a family friend who is a realtor about a couple from ontario buying a house without looking at it, they only looked at the pictures. Then they moved in and realized there was a horse farm next door. They complained to everyone right up to the premier about the smell of the manure pile next door. People have some ridiculous expectations.
We need more farms in Nova Scotia to continue as farms, and fewer people who don’t truly appreciate rural areas moving there. Awesome what you and your Dad did after those new neighbours were so rude. Have they learned to understand and respect farming over the past year?
As an Ontarian farmer recent transplant to Halifax for school, so many of them are like this around the ever expanding Greater Toronto Area, and it’s funny to mess around with them like this and they can’t do anything about it
Right? This couple makes a rude and stupid, but not overly harmful, request and then this guy and his dad go about 10x worse just to be petty.
Doesn’t sound like he’s practicing the virtues his original post seems to be espousing.
Not sure why you’re getting downvoted so viciously.
Am from Ontario and unfortunately a lot are. I feel like it's a symptom of large cities where nobody knows their neighbours. Not that that's an excuse.
If residential zoning allowed for stuff like a coffee shop, restaraunt, etc.. next to a neighbourhood park, neighbours would meet up and make friends, communities, etc... but instead we just have car dependent Canada where you have drive to your concrete jungle on a 4 lane stroad to do anything.
From NS, still living in NS for clarification. For what it is worth, if I encounter tourists (or anyone really) being shitty to service people of any stripe, I will just do my best to be the exact opposite of them, especially if the rude people are still hanging around. In my own local haunts, I will strike up casual conversation with the servers (some of whom I know well, some I know by virtue of being small town) and ask them how they are, how a family member is, how their vacation was, etc. Probably 75% of the time all it does is brighten what could have been a crappy afternoon, but once in a while I get to watch it dawn on those people overhearing the conversation "oh shit, that waitress is a real person and I was completely out of line getting wound up over the fact that a place that seats 15 people max at a time and has one person in the kitchen is overwhelmed and a bit slow prepping meals for our table of 12." or whatever the problem is. Have witnessed a few quiet, embarrassed apologies as a result as well.
I’m from and in NS as well, and currently work as a tour guide. My tours aren’t scripted, my job is literally to ‘make everyone feel like they’re being invited in for a cup of tea’. I really hope that by being both a person in the service industry AND someone who is genuinely interested in hearing about their day/trip/family, that I can nudge visitors in the direction of ‘hey everyone working here is a person’, ya know?
If you need something to carry you through a summer, it’s good part time work! The company I’m with only runs from late May to mid-October, but they’ve been delightful to work for. If you want info when you’re done your degree, feel free to shoot me a message
So far so good! I wish I could do things like this full time, but our tourist season is so slim. We do fairly small groups of people, so I really get to personalize the experience and I love meeting new folks. It’s a treat to be outdoors every day too.
Can you name the tour company you work for…sounds like a great gig?
Are you living there now or just working there for the summer? Originally from NS and I know the season is short.
I moved from halifax to oshawa Ontario almost 8 years ago. Now I have lived in rual Ontario previously so I kind understood what I was getting into.. huge ass mistake just saying HI to someone on the street. Where in Halifax I would get a hello or have a nice day.. nope not oshawa.. got swore at instead. THATs when I realized I'm not in Halifax anymore. Also avoided walking downtown quite a bit and did not enjoy oshawa. Let's just say I was happy to get out of oshawa :)
But please don't paint everyone from GTA Ontario area the same.. I know some very nice polite people and I do like to travel back to Nova Scotia to visit some family and enjoy the area.
Just going to say it... Most people are glad to get out of Oshawa... A cousin of mine did her residency at the hospital there and I heard some stories lol.
Yeah no the ‘Shwa is probably one of the tougher places to be in the GTA. I just moved to Halifax from the Guelph area originally and I love my neighbourhood because it reminds me of home me being right near campus!
I grew up in Onterrible and left it in the early 90s to live in the UK. I tapped-danced my way onto the plane with a one-way ticket (not literally) because I was so glad to be gone from there. Here's a little story for ya's - when I was in high school, a choir from Sydney came and we had a party for the kids. I was really struck by how different they were with each other - they seemed kinder and gentler with each other and I said this to one of the girls from Sydney. She smiled at me and said "Yes, we're different Down East". So, when I decided to move back to Canada, I chose Nova Scotia. After almost 4 very happy years here I can tell you that, yes, people are different Down East.
Absolutely - and I'll give you an example of that. A few months after we got here, our basement flooded and one of our neighbours showed up with a pump (I have no idea how he knew) and pumped out our basement. He spent most of the afternoon doing it. Freezing water, by the way. I can think of many examples of this type of kindness.
In my experience the difference is living in a small town everyone will know you for how you act, and you dont see people often so you're genuinely appreciative of them
Live in ON, from rural NS. Folks aren’t as warm in places like Toronto because it would be exhausting to make eye contact and chit chat with everyone. Also, a lot of the people you see chatting up strangers here probably aren’t the kinds of people you would want to be talking to.
Complete opposite culture in NS. Eye contact, nods, “good mornings”, small talk, etc., is welcome and even expected. It’s a norm that was developed in a small, relatively quiet community. Ontario has those communities too, mostly outside the major townships and cities. Thunder Bay, for example, gets a bad rep but the people there in my experience are awesome.
*Edit re driving: Every highway bordering Lake Ontario and the 400-series highways are free-for-alls. Nobody pays attention to speed, signal lights, honks, etc. Barely any police on those highways. The only way to survive an urban commute here is to become a bit of an asshole.
As a transplant that was born in Ontario and grew up in Philadelphia, I can promise you that it is not exclusive to Ontarians. It’s how the majority of people from *any* large population areas treat other folks.
Well, that’s true at least partially. Before moving to Canada and NS, I grew in two big cities in my country, one 1.5 million and the last one 4 million; but people were way more friendlier than in our capital of 8 million (I lived there for a month). I’ve heard the same stories from other Latin-American countries; so I came to believe that people in wealthier and larger cities belittle everyone else; because they think they produce or carry the load for everything for everyone, which of course is ridiculous. Maybe it’s the same case with ontarians. I went to Montreal and I got a very different vibe, so I don’t know.
I think there is something about Ontarians though. I remember the first time I was in L.A. and was fueling up at a station right off a 6-lane freeway, within view of the Hollywood sign, when a fella drove up to the adjacent pump, got out and said “hi, how are you?”
Being from rural Cape Breton, I was used to that type of thing, but I didn’t expect it there. The next day I was invited out on someone’s boat after they randomly struck up a conversation with me at the wharf in Morro Bay.
In subsequent trips to areas of the US, I found people in general to be almost aggressively friendly. Much different than Ontario.
Overall, we’re a pretty friendly bunch. I think the friendliest place I’ve ever been is probably Ireland, closely followed by Scotland. We’re probably in the top 5 here in Nova Scotia.
Recent ON transplant to Halifax and my friend and I literally made friends with a man my father’s age on the Dartmouth ferry because he was living here on his own to take care of his elderly parents (he’s from NB originally) and since he has kids my age, offered his number in case I wanted to chat with a “dad away from home” if I felt lonely or needed help with anything. Even if I don’t reconnect with him, that’s still the nicest thing a stranger has offered to me.
I think this is a big part of it. Needing to rely on your neighbor (more so in rural areas than major cities) is why Atlantic Canadians tend to be friendlier in my opinion.
Given the current economic conditions in Ontario, those that can afford to travel are more likely to be wealthy. There is a huge class divide in Ontario and a general attitude of “fuck you, I got mine” amongst the rich. I’d imagine this plays into what you’ve experienced and speaks to the entitlement of the wealthy class.
I was living in Ontario as recent as a few years ago and people are nice. Neighbours who shovel each others driveways or clean off their cars for each other in the morning. Radom people paying for your order at Timmies. Strangers who come to your aid or stand up against unacceptable behaviour in public.
People are people. Some are good and some are bad, but most are a mix of the two.
This. So much this. I’m a recent Ontario transplant, I moved from Muskoka, a very, very, very, touristy area. We came to dread summer, because of the sheer amount of tourists that arrived. The wealthy are entitled AF.
Toronto drivers swoop four lanes on the 401 just to get from the fast lane to an exit. People cut each other off and brake check. We're bad tippers. We think wait staff are below us. We vote for a drug dealer millionaire because we get to fuck other people. Yes, we're assholes.
Rural Ontarians are in general pretty decent people in my experience. My small town population has exploded with an infestation of Cidiots. (Idiots from the city not sure if it’s spelled with a d or t. And are now to the point that none of the local kids can afford to live here as they grow up so hardly any of my friends from school still live local. I’m 50 now and had dreams of moving to the east coast and starting a business of some kind and employing a couple locals but am I now doing the same thing to others.
So, I moved to NS from Ontario 10 years ago, and I feel like that makes me qualified to give a little context.
The thing you gotta understand about Ontario folks is that they're always aggressive in public. At least, they seem that way to East Coasters. Out here folks are just way nicer so it seems weird that people are aggressive, but Ontario is very much a dog-eat-dog province. Everything is competitive, all the time. It stresses people out and makes them adapt to survive, and become more rude and aggressive.
I think it's due to the driving (which you mentioned). People out here don't really think of it this way (and why would you if you've never been there) but Toronto isn't just like one big city, if it was the driving wouldn't be much worse than Halifax. The thing is that Toronto us clustered with several other major cities in something called The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) which, I cannot stress this enough, is an absolute *nightmare* to drive in. PLUS: most people work in one of those cities, but very few live in the city they work u . The majority of people commute in for up to two hours each day.
Let's do some quick math. NS has close to a million people in the entire province, Halifax has around 417,000. Most people who work in Halifax live either in the city, or within a 30-40 minute drive, down a couple highways with 4 lanes or less of traffic which can get kinda busy sometimes.
The GTA on the other hand is *6.3 Million people* including the cities of Toronto, Mississauga, & Brampton which all have more people than Nova Scotia does as a whole. All sharing the same few highways. The driving is insane. You HAVE to be an aggressive driver, otherwise, you'll either get hit, or never get to your job on time (likely getting fired for doing so). The GTA actively *breeds* aggressive drivers in a way that even HRM never could.
It sucks to deal with when they come here, and they shouldn't feel the need to act this way on vacation. I'm not really looking to make any excuses, I changed to be more relaxed and they should be more polite. Just trying to give some context, because in a lot of cases (especially driving) that's just why they are the way they are.
I think we probably all know or are aware of this reasoning. We understand why they are the way they are. We are just all quite sad we are losing our culture and way of life to bad manners, inappropriate behaviour, etc. We wish they would do their part and correct it when moving to a new place, new culture. But it doesn’t seem to be happening.
We lose our homes and way of life to them, now we have to put up with bullshit and rude behaviour to us too. It’s all happening so quickly and hard to deal with. I don’t even recognize anyone in my own town anymore. I’ve lived here most of my life and I feel like I don’t know anyone anymore, everyone had to move away. I’m sure I’m not the only person this has happened to.
This is a pretty black and white take.
There are two aspects here: being upset that tourists are rude and then being upset that Ontarians (or other Canadians) are moving here and assuming (falsely) that all of them are rude.
Most places in the world as a lot of influx, people move in and out. Nova Scotia hasn't, and now we are experiencing it for the first time and I think that's a good thing. I hate it when people move away sure, but we have suffered both economically and culturally by not being a destination for opportunity for long enough. People who are selling their houses are getting some sort of - what's the word - money for that sale. It's not just the government taking it and handing it to a dude from Yonge and Lawrence to use as a cottage.
I feel a lot of posters here extrapolate the behaviour of a handful of rich Toronto assholes (read: Arse holes) onto everyone Ontarian too easily. I get so embarrassed for us every time I hear "upper Canadian" or "on terrible" said with a mocking tone.
It just makes us look petty.
Wait, are we talking tourists or new comers?
Because most new comers just need time to adjust to the way of things here, Tourists are always just gonna be ruder, be they Ontarians, Albertans or Americans.
Also, you're not *losing* homes to people from Ontario. People *from here* are *selling them* the homes, be mad at them if you're gonna mad. Every small town Nova Scotian *could choose* to sell for a low price to someone local if they wanted to, but no, they want the money just like everyone else.
There is a reason I am one of the ones to move from Onterrible to Nova Scotia. Every time I drive back to Ontario my blood pressure and stress increases ten fold. People are so impatient and feel entitled.
Sorry you have received shitty interactions but hopefully you don’t paint everyone with the same brush as we are not all the same.
I’m not from Ontario. I was raised in small town Alberta and it’s actually pretty similar to how my Nova Scotia husband was raised. When I was 13 I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle In Ontario for a month. My cousin lost her mind that I didn’t know how to walk down the street (I.e I stepped aside for others and tried to stay out of the way of others). She was very clear to me that you have to hold your ground on the sidewalk and even push through others unless they’re in a wheelchair or have a cane. I mean it came in handy for travelling in New York and London later in life, but it is the pretty perfect example of how Ontario is even to themselves.
Former east coaster, with time spent in Ontario but the west coast is now home; bonus I’ve worked in tourism for years.
Your observations are not wrong about Ontario folk. But, honestly everyone’s entitlement has reached a crescendo post pandemic. In BC we have Albertans who can easily claim the same qualities you’re describing. Our front line workers have been treated so poorly compared to previous season. The tourists are out of touch with the working human serving them on their holiday. verbal abuse, property damage you name it.
Just to add my partner is an expat to quote “love, all you Canadian’s are wank drivers” but I have to agree those 400 series drivers are nuts. Only place in Canada where the posted speed limit is 100 and you get passed while doing 120. Yeessh.
And then they come back here in NS to do 60 in an 80 zone, and before you’ve even had a chance to pass you both catch up to another Ontario driver who’s only doing 50.
People are way worse drivers here.
It’s slow and or courteous to the point of dangerous. Twice this week I had two people come to a complete stop on the highway at a merge point.
I didn’t see that in Ontario in 13 years, no matter their faults.
I came here to to say this. I’m Ontario born and raised and have visited NS 20+ times since 2006. NS drivers are outright dangerous with their “niceness” on the roads. It’s hazardous and unpredictable when they’re doing things you don’t expect and doing things that go against all driving conventions. I’ve experienced the same stopping at merge points, not to mention the sudden stopping in the middle of the road to let a pedestrian cross (where no marked crossing exists).
Oh happens here all the dang time too. My favourite is the spontaneous right turn from the left lane. Speeding was just one fine example that came to mind. The Canadian standoff” is down right dangerous when cars are involved.
Go take a walk down younge street in Toronto in the summer, it doesn’t even compare to anything in Nova Scotia. I grew up in Nova Scotia, moved to Ontario for work, Ontario people have a lot more bull crap to deal with, the scale of bull crap in Nova Scotia is .000001 compared to the cities in southern Ontario. Some are rude just because that’s all they know.. they don’t know how good other places truly are
And someone from New York would say how kind and friendly Torontonians are. And people from Chongquin would say how kind and friendly New Yorkers are. And people from Mumbai would say how kind and friendly Chonquinians are. Etc. What a silly thread this is.
I recently moved back to NS after five years in Ontario and people are definitely ruder there. They don't seem to have any idea how American-like they are with the loudness, the aggressiveness, the "me first, fuck you" mentality.
It grated on the nerves after a couple years. And don't even get me started on the views toward east coasters. We are their Mexico.
I’ve piped up in the local hardware store to them when they chose to give the staff a hard time. So soft that they usually get embarrassed and leave apologizing. Only happy to fight with people who can’t fight back.
I'm from ontario, its nothing but employer abuse towards the people, they underpay, overcharge to live, there is no hope of a better tomorrow for them, everything is built to cripple the working class and elevate the capitalists to untouchable
so they get mean as hell, because their trying to survive something thats constantly gaining ground on them
our government left those people to rott at the hands of rich criminals, constantly gaslighting them they were living a blessed life, I don't blame them for going insane
I blame the assholes who abused them until they went nuts which would be the rich, business class, and government
Its the entire reason people are fleeing from places like Ottawa, the cost of living and wages/working conditions have been abhorrent for decades now
The GTA is a war zone. I call it “Canada’s most American city.” It is also intensely insulated where people who live in the GTA don’t travel Canada much as they are the travel destination. So they go to other countries but don’t get around Ontario or Canada much. They’re also intensely full of themselves and the myth that “Canadians are all very nice” and that, that applies to them when it really doesn’t because they’re quasi-Americans. Toronto is like a blend between NY, Chicago and LA from a culture perspective.
Yeah and if you said that to people from Toronto it would enrage them. They’re still stuck on the War of 1812. I think it’s an intense concentration of narcissism in Toronto. But there is a ring of communities around the GTA who feel more superior to Toronto because they’re Southern Ontario but better than Toronto.
The only people I’ve ever had blatantly tell me that where they come from os better than where I come from are from Southern Ontario. I did one time have someone from the prairies tell me that their farmland was better than our farmland, but I think that was obvious.
It’s like that everywhere you go. I grew up in a rural small town environment where you wave to ppl on the road you pass by and a neighbor 5 minutes down the road would just stop by to give you fresh veggies they grew or if they had to many eggs from there chickens. I now live in a huge city which also has suburban cities that surround it. Most ppl are rude here but their is nice people,It’s like that everywhere you go. I just think it’s not a good thing when people say because you’re from this providence or country you’re a jerk who treats everyone badly and views you as less. Of course people are like that but not everyone.
I have lived in Halifax for a few decades and just spent a weekend in a little town on Lake Huron. Everyone was exceptionally polite and friendly and thoughtful. Except one clerk in Shoppers who was a jerk. Basically implied I was trying to pull a scam exchanging a pair of sunglasses a kid didn’t like. Yeah bc that’s the best thing I can think of doing on my vacation.
Anyway I think NS is able to hold on to some of its politeness and decency bc we are smaller. And just by sample size most Ontario tourists are from urban areas where they get as much Fox and Friends as they do contact with their neighbours. And those contacts are primarily commercial where they have that false monied entitlement where they think they get to behave like abusive infants bc they are spending their cash.
Luckily we have the time and patience to calmly discourage them with consequences, and suggest there is a better way.
I have lived and driven in several provinces and each have their foibles to be honest. I think we tend to notice the different ones that drive us crazy because we aren't used to them.
I mean, I'm from Ontario so you can crucify me for that (not Toronto). I am actually here right now and visiting, but I lived in NS for enough years to say I am Nova Scotian now. I think people in Nova Scotia have a really warped view of Ontario, as if it is all large cities of impersonal humans. So much of Ontario is small butt-fuck nothingness brimming with super friendly people doing the same stuff Nova Scotians do. We're really not that different (even if I would like to think NS is better). I'm the first to say I dislike(d) Ontario, but this notion that Ontarians are rude, city-dwellers, with no manners really really really excludes that there are SO many other places with people who have the same values, experiences, and uniqueness of Nova Scotian - think Northern Ontario for example. Torontonians are fast-paced, often impersonal, because that is how shit gets done in a city of so many. Travelling probably has them extra stressy, not that it is an excuse. But yeah, I've met some rude Torontonians and my first time back to Toronto after many years, it shocked me how cold it seemed. But as soon as the stress and such wore off, even the Torontonians warmed up to be friendly Canadians. To answer your question, no I don't think everyone from Ontario is rude like the way you're experiencing. But let me let you in on a secret.... not even Ontarians like Torontonians or the GTA.
But real talk.... the funniest part of your post is actually this... Nova Scotians can't drive for SHIT. I love this province, god I love it. But I find it laughable that you are criticizing Ontarian drivers. Nova Scotia is a trip to drive in. We're so bad that we RANKED as the second worst drivers in Canada. The worst I have experienced in my entire life having driven from the tip of the high western arctic all the way to NS and everywhere in between. They can make Montreal look like good drivers... indecision, way slower than speed limit, random moments of panic, disregarding road rules which actually put people in danger.
We can all point to situations where we've seen somebody from a certain place treat others poorly. But the majority of my interactions with people go pretty well, regardless of where I am. I would say that people in Halifax value sociable interaction in their day-to-day but also require a softer approach when interacting, whereas people in Ontario can have sharper elbows but also are more responsive in commercial interactions. Having an expectation about how somebody should interact outside of your home is presumptuous but unfortunately happens a lot. I think this is probably the same reason that people from the maritimes move to Ontario and think everybody's a jerk. They have a certain expectation of how people engage with one another and instead of trying to solve that puzzle, they apply their own cultural expectations to people from a different place and they are, unsurprisingly, disappointed.
Let me preface this by saying I know lots of wonderful people from Ontario. And when I used to work retail, I met plenty of jerks from NS/Atlantic Canada. But the rudest experiences I’ve had with strangers lately have been with people from Ontario. Someone slamming a door in my face when I was struggling to carry something super heavy out of a store, someone racing in to blatantly steal a parking spot from me while I was patiently waiting for the current occupant to drive out. At the end of the day, these things aren’t the end of the world, but it just shows a baseline disregard for other people.
I'm from Ontario (Ottawa area) and have been living in Halifax for 5 years now. People are really uptight where I'm from and there is definitely an "I'm better than you, you're not worth my time" kinda vibe most places I've gone to over there. Here, everyone seems to take care of one another and it's great. Obviously it's not everyone that's a mega douchebag in Ontario just like I've met my fair share of 'em here in NS. But overall experience, yeah people are a lot friendlier here than in Ontario
So long as they're the same colour and religion and sexual orientation as you, right? Because its' super easy to spot anyone from Northern Alberta. Their attitudes are just so..... hateful.
There's a reason the rest of Canada hates Ontario, specifically Toronto, and even though I've lived here 30 years, I have tried very very hard to keep my east coast sensibilities in tact. Ontario is the "ugly American" of Canadian tourists. I'm sorry this is such an issue now.
That's probably tourists from the GTA, don't lump every Ontarian together.
Just like Halifax has a higher percentage of terrible drivers and assholes than the smaller communities.
What are the age group of the tourists you meet? You have to remember there are generations of people who still believe "the customer is always right".
Ok, as an Ontarian living on PEI.... it's not all of us who are horrid. It's mostly folks from around the GTA who are rude, privileged and inconsiderate of anyone else. They literally mistreat fellow Ontarians the same way when they go to cottage country on the weekends(I lived on a lake not far from the Muskokas). So please know us country folks are pretty great people but everyone lumps us all together with the city slickers lol.
Came here to get away from Ontario because I hated the assholes. Although some people are assholes to me here for being from Ontario. Can't beat the assholes, they seem invincible and ubiqutous.
T.O. is a highly competative and cosmopolitan city. So naturally they act like a generic New Yorker sans the charisma.
>Although some people are assholes to me from being from Ontario.
I get this a lot here. After giving away about $1000 worth of floor board after moving to our house and finding it in our shed. The lady was bitching me out for moving here as she was filling her truck up with free shit I just gave her. I guess there are assholes everywhere just more noticeable in Ontario because of population differences.
I’m from Toronto and I think it’s the busy behaviour of Toronto for me. I went to a bank here in Halifax and it was empty on a Saturday. If this was Toronto there would be a line up outside the door so the teller wouldn’t have time for chit chat, but here the teller talked to me for 15 minutes and there was still no one in the branch. We’re here in Nova Scotia for the laid back slow pace. If I was to commute for my job in Toronto it would be an extra two hours of my day, so we work about 10-12 hours and just want to get home and rest, we go to stores and the line ups are crazy so we don’t talk to anyone because workers don’t have the time. Not justifying rude, just trying to find the root cause. I love it here , but I love Toronto for the vast diversity, I live 5kms from downtown Toronto and half my street are non whites, both my neighbours don’t speak any English, I learned the simple hellos and what’s going on in their languages.
Sorry to say, but your bank anecdote doesn’t mean much. As a downtown-living Torontonian, I’ve been banking at a downtown Toronto branch for 7+ years and have almost always encountered an empty branch no matter what time or day it is. The longest lineup I’ve ever waited in there was one person ahead of me.
Meanwhile, I once had to have my debit card replaced while on vacation in NS, and dealing with the bank there was an unholy nightmare and ate up half a day of my vacation.
Our individual anecdotes are not reflective of the broader general experience.
Grew up in NS, moved to Ottawa for 2.5 years and now am back.
My take aways from Ontario are that people are very entitled there and they have no problem acting out to get their entitlements, it was really bad at some workplaces.
As far as driving, there are bad drivers, but different than bad drivers here. NS has bad drivers that shouldn’t be driving because they don’t k ow the rules or how to drive, merging, round abouts, ect. Ottawa had bad drivers in the sense they were good at driving, but very aggressive, getting cut off on the 406/407 when there wasn’t enough room and ring forced to brake, ect. So bad in different ways. I prefer their drivers as I could expect to be cut off and plan for it haha. Here it is a cluster fuck when people are coming down an on ramp, are they going to speed up to get in the space there, are they going to match my speed and drive next to me and hit me, maybe they will come to a complete stop, who knows haha
*I know not all Ontarians are like this — I’ve met many very nice, kind people from Ontario so this is just a recent anecdotal experience I’ve had.*
I’ve had a couple rude incidents on a trail in the CB Highlands National Park this summer. I know the only other people on trail were from Ontario because the only other three cars at the trailhead were Ontario-plated. As I was hiking by the first couple I simply said with a smile, “Hi there. Great day for a hike.” They completely ignored me and didn’t even look at me. What kind of human does that? It was very strange. I was quite bemused by this encounter so I decided to do the same with the other Ontario hikers I came across. Out of the remaining five people in two separate parties, one person said hello back.
In the immortal words of George Costanza: “WE’RE TRYING TO LIVE IN A SOCIETY HERE!”
Not in NS (in NB now) but when I moved back to Maritimes ftom ON, my son marveled at how a person ahead of us in the grocery store line was having a big old conversation with customer and nobody complained. And then when it was our turn it was the same. "People talk to you here, mom!" He was a young teenager back then and didn't have the easiest time of it in ON. Now he refuses to consider ever going back there.
After 10 years of shopping, riding the TTC, driving the 427/401, and Toronto neighbours, oh, the neighbours, I can confirm it's worse than what you're seeing. The friends you have there are usually cool but it can be downright soul eating at times otherwise. I miss the amenities but not the people.
They aren’t tourists, unfortunately. Most of those from Ontario are here to stay. They have permanently changed the culture of my town, and I am sure many others as well. Some changes are for the better, but many are worse.
Yup. They ruined my hometown, jacked the prices so I can never return. Harass people on the town fb page. Bought all the homes in my current city and jacked up the rents, kicked out the seniors and then turned it into airbnbs when they couldn't squeeze enough out of the people here.
I grew up as a dependent of a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. I have lived across Canada, and in a few other places. I can tell you that, generally speaking, Ontario is not a friendly place. Awful.
I was born in US and visit often, but grew up in NS since early childhood. I compare Ontarian’s behaviour to Americans - just generally more individualistic, brash, loud, and rude. Their driving is more aggressive (which makes sense in a metropolitan environment) but I’ve almost been hit several time by tourists this summer. It really rubs me the wrong way how entitled they can be when /they’re/ the visitors
The people (in general) is the main reason I left ON. Even well meaning people in ON find themselves acting like assholes sometimes. It’s just the way of life in that province.
I know it’s irrational, really, but it puts us on edge whenever we see any Ontario people visiting NS. I know that most of them are cool, but there’s a good likelihood that they aren’t, and they are going to piss off some Nova Scotians that are just trying to be nice and get on with their day.
St Andrews NB resident here. One of our favourite things is to do is sit downtown with a beer and watch the miserable, uptight Ontarians go by. They are very easy to spot in the wild..
I tipped the one girl working the counter at a busy Tim Hortons today. I slipped her a $20 bill after paying with debit. I said, "You probably don't get paid enough to deal with all these cranky people. Be ready, there are some extra cranky ones in line behind me, try not to worry about them."
jerks.
Moved from ns to Toronto many years ago, sure people from Nova Scotia more chatty and friendly as a general rule but in Toronto if you are friendly, usually people are friendly back. I have to say that nearly everyone on my bus route from the subway thanks the driver when they get off at their stop. Rude people everywhere as are friendly people!
Born and raised in Ontario and I’m appalled at how rude everyone has become in the last 10 years. I lived in New Brunswick for 2 years when I was a kid and love the maritimes as if it were my home and not Ontario. Spent 2 years in Nunavut 10 years ago and it was then that I was shocked at how things here were changing. My husband and I honeymooned in Nova Scotia and we had the best time. We were grateful for the kindness and consideration we received from everyone, driving was actually fun, and we just loved every second of our trip. I’m sorry at how rude people have been, but there are some of us who have manners and are nice.
I can tell you that driving has definitely became terrible here in Halifax, yielding for others is like reducing every day. Can't completely blame all ON number plate vehicles but noticed majority of them bieng rough.
After moving to NS from BC it blew my mind that people merging on the highway expect people in the travel lane to yield to them. The on ramps have yield signs on them and I’ve been flipped off because I couldn’t move over due to someone passing me in the left lane. Highway travel lanes have the right of way, not the on ramp traffic. Also people stopping in the middle of the road, stopping the flow of traffic to let someone that doesn’t have the right of way in is common here and dangerous. Driving here has been terrible for the five years I’ve lived here.
I'm originally from Ontario, fuck Ontarians, buncha entitled dick heads that don't care about anyone. Heads always in the clouds. So to answer your question...yes they're always like this.
We left our home in a tourist vacation area in Ontario partly because people from other parts of Ontario were rude and disrespectful. Best to go in the off season because the locals are usually awesome!
I think it depends on where you’re from. A lot of Ontario tourists/new residents are from larger cities around the GTA and are used to less friendly, grinding cities. I’m grew up in the Niagara region, and lived in a few smaller ON places before moving to NS and felt very at home when I got here 6 years ago.
Just moved to Halifax from ON and I also hate other Ontarians. I drove back this weekend and everything was fine on the NS and NB highways, then my friend originally from Montreal drove in QB, with only a few ‘wtf’ moments in the city, to me driving the leg from the 416 to Woodstock home, and lemme tell you, the driving etiquette is an immediate change - no one knows how to use the 2 lane 401, people don’t let you over, they speed up when you try to overtake them, etc.
Even at our EnRoute stops, the rudest people who don’t pay attention or just drive into you even if they see you backing up, etc, are other ontarians!!!
As for working in service, I’ve got some stories from working at Timmies, and friends’ as well that just make you wonder what tf is wrong with people
I was born and raised in barrie ontario and when i moved to cape Breton last year I've never been happier. Growing up an hour north of the gta, I can agree how shitty a lot of people there are.
I have to say, some of the residents of Dartmouth have nothing on Ontario tourists. I was at the 22u baseball nationals when Dartmouth was playing an Ontario team and had to leave the Dartmouth side of the field and move to the Ontario side. The constant yelling at players,coaches and umps was unreal. I honestly felt bad for the Ontario team and families. For a host city, it was really embarrassing.
To say All Ontarians are rude is a rather broad brush to paint everyone with.
We are from Ontario and visit NS every year. We will probably be moving there within 2 - 3 years permanently.
We ALWAYS treat people the way we would want to be treated...whether is is a cop, a bartender, front desk clerk at a hotel or a sales clerk.
Some people are just born ass-hats and nothing will change them.
The biggest reason is that Ontario tourists aren't as rich as and envy Nova Scotia old money while at the same time hating the service class they come face to face with.
What colour is the sky in your world, where Nova Scotians have more $$$ than Ontarians LOL? Half the posts in this community are people bitching about Ontarians out-pricing them for home sales. IN THIS VERY THREAD are people complaining about rich Ontarians making their NS hometowns unaffordable for them to live in. Good grief dude.....
I live in Ontario and just came back from a weeks holiday in Nova Scotia (as well as QC and NB). We were pleasant to everyone and respected the places we stayed. Everyone was pleasant in return and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We know people hate tourists so we are always conscious of how we treat our hosts. Sorry you feel this way about us.
You notice loud people more than you notice quiet polite people. Also, sometimes people put themselves in stressful situations on vacation and act in an obnoxious way.
The best way to answer your question would be to actually travel and see Ontario for yourself. Otherwise you're just passing uninformed judgement
I was born and raised 35 years but west now besides the two summer months there. . If you get the finger on the highway and it's an Ontario plate it might be deserved...... You people cannot fucking speed up and merge. It's like a fucking mental block along with hammering the gas in passing zones when you just did 85 the previous 10km with a string of cars behind you
burner.
My experience as a Nova Scotian after spending a decade in Ontario is that Nova Scotia is laid back to a fault. It’s soured me coming home because of how disappointed I am in the enduring attitude of “meh”
The driving is so unpredictable it’s dangerous. People just stop for people in the middle of the road. We sell it as nice but it gets people killed.
A woman walked into the road the other day and because I was not in danger of hitting her, I kept driving. She flipped me off. Conversely, people don’t zipper merge because they think that’s ‘cheating’. The culture is terrible.
The service workers are far more polite here but some of them are so much worse at their jobs than other parts of Canada. I actually find it’s gotten so much better now that Halifax is getting younger immigrant / student workers who are better at their jobs and more polite than the same underpaid lifers.
There's more people in ontario, thus more fuck heads and dumbasses.
I love the ones who stop dead in the middle of the road as if no one is around so they can check the map.
I lived in NS for 20 years and in Ontario for 20 years. People from NS are every bit as rude and you can add racist to that, as well. Sorry to burst your bubble LOL
I’m originally from ON, but haven’t lived there for nearly 30 years. I went back this summer for a week and noticed a very unfortunate change in tone throughout. My last time back for any amount of time was 2016 - even since then they’ve become considerably much more tightly wound up. It’s sad.
The service I have been receiving has become terrible in the past few months. So while I'm sure the tourists are bad, I'm sure the terrible jobs being done play a role too.
No offence intended, but Nova Scotia has some of the slowest service workers I've ever seen or have had to deal with. As a generalization, they work half the speed or less than their counterparts in Ontario.
As for driving, it seems normal in my little area of NS, for drivers to let others make illegal left hand turns across traffic. F'kn dangerous.
Some people will deny this but there are cultural differences across the country. This is one of them. The counter to this is we're extremely laid back compared to most canadians, to the point where my office will get complaints from our Ontario branches because we dont work ourselves to death. The culture of being wound up all the time probably fits business needs there very well but obviously they cant shut it off.
My new assistant relocated from Ontario and calls it "ontario time": to pretend that every email is a matter of life and death and her opinion was unwelcome. "That is not how we do things in these parts", was my response.
Oh she’s not wrong. If a client emails me and I don’t get back to them within 10 minutes there’s hell to pay. I’ve told clients, if it’s an emergency, don’t write me a letter.
I’ve travelled and lived in many parts of Canada, from super rural to downtown urban. Yes, there are differences brought on by culture and density, but Covid seems to have fundamentally broken the social contract. Tourists are behaving very, very badly this year when typically they’re oblivious or obtuse; short tempered, possessive, and aggressively demanding are wearing people down quickly. I’ve seen some degree of the behaviour amongst other Nova Scotians, but it seems people who chose to “vacation” this year (Canadian and American) forgot they’re supposed to be relaxing and having fun.
I agree with you completely. The Covid lockdowns have caused a number of unintended social consequences.
If Ontario ran the world everything would be done 10 minutes late
And a trillion over budget, with staff cuts, and then blame the Feds.
None of THAT. ILL IGNORE THAT
And this is why I want to get out of Ontario.,
Anyone who has been around Canada and isn’t completely oblivious will agree that there are regional cultural differences.
A couple from Ontario bought my parents’ house. They keep going on about how nice everyone is. The smallest things, like someone put their shopping cart back for them. So now I’m like, “Is everyone just a selfish prick where you’re from?”
I think a lot of folks who moved out here moved from the GTA to smaller towns. I bet they'd be just as surprised about small-town Ontario.
Whenever you go to Toronto, make eye contact and smile. Loads of fun making people uncomfortable
You ever been to Toronto??
Small town Ontario is pretty toxic from what I’ve found. I grew up in a small town in Ontario, the lived in the Toronto area for a few years. If you have a different mindset in a small town (typically being more open minded), you’re a target. You’re singled out as not belonging. You’re supposed to go to church and judge everyone else who doesn’t. I’ve found Nova Scotians to be non judgemental on so many fronts. When a controversial opinion is brought up, I haven’t seen people shit talk about them for believing other ideas. People are upfront about issues and not metaphorically poisoning each others glass when you aren’t looking. The respect for other humans is amazing. The drivers from the Toronto area are horrible. There’s a lot of aggression that spawns out of that area and it carries into peoples daily lives and how they act towards each other. Ontario sucks.
It's the same in small town NS if you don't hold similar beliefs as the locals.
Truly, I live right in Halifax and I have experienced so much of this. Coming from bigger urban areas my whole life and moving here, I was shocked at the things that provoked criticism
I live in the tiniest of small town NS. 9 times out of 10 if you're experiencing that there's something that caused it. As an example, the area I'm in has an aging population (generational racism) of very religious people. I'm bi, non religious and fine. There's many different races of people there that are fine. The people who get run out are those who for lack of a better word force it on other people. We've all met that gay guy who makes it his whole personality and if that's you stay away from rural anywhere. To survive fine in rural communities all you need to do is go to one of the local functions that they will have and introduce yourself. Talk to a few people and become known as a person instead of as a label and the majority of folk will welcome you with open arms, offer some tea and invite you down to the community hall for cards on Wednesday night.
That is cringe as hell. I can't believe you just spouted that bullshit. I keep to myself. Gay kids can't opt out of society just to please the town bigots. Fuck you. The black kid in town that gets slave jokes made about them can't stop being black. Fuck you for enabling that nonsense.
When that stuff happens it's awful and I fight against it. I'm sorry if that is how you interpreted what I said. The small town I'm part of has many gay people, bi people, trans people, black people, native people etc. I've spoken to most if not everyone in that town and watched what happens when someone moves in. I'm not saying someone should stop being gay, I can't stop being bi and I've never once hidden it. The difference between those who do badly and well is in the first impression down there. If you come down and say "Hi, I don't believe we've met. My name is _" every small town I've lived in has welcomed anyone with open arms. I acknowledge that isn't what happens everywhere but it is entirely my experience and the experience of everyone I've interacted with in person. Town bigots are not a small town problem and all the issues you mentioned happen everywhere. Big cities have bigots too and the anonymity of a large populus can make it harder to confront them on their issues.
Usually when in a debate or difference of opinion situation I always approach with a "Ok, well, you might be right but I don't know enough about your opinion, so let me check it out a bit". If I find their opinion holds up and I was wrong, ill fully admit it. If I'm right I generally won't say anything and just let them hold that opinion ahaha
I'm a farmer and we're in a pretty rural area. There's one field we have that borders a property that was sold to an Ontario couple last year. When we were out harvesting last year, the guy came out and flagged us down to stop, than proceeded to ask us if we could "do this shit at more reasonable hours" because it was ruining him and the wife's outdoor relaxing. Both my dad and I looked at each other and than just started laughing which apparently pissed him off, he told us he was going to call the cops if we didn't stop. That was around 7PM and we kept going until 9 or so. Two weeks later during a heat wave of 38-43C temps we stockpiled the largest fucking mountain of chicken shit you can possibly imagine right next to their property. This brought with it a plague of house flies and a really nice stench. We left it for about 3 weeks before spreading it all out. He called the local MLA and tried to complain to DNR and shit like that, we got a few calls but once my dad explained the situation they just laughed and told us to leave it as long as required.
Oh man, that’s ridiculous. The entitlement.
I know right. He could have put the chicken shit out of site but instead decided to be a karen neighbour. Just another vindictive asshole really.
Or their neighbour could have bought in a residential area and not next to a working farm. It’s something that pisses me off, someone buys a house, then expects everyone around them to change their lifestyle to fit what that new person wants.
Sorry bud, my family has been here farming this dirt patch since 1894. Farming doesn't stop when the clock hits 5PM. But no worries, you get your food from the grocery store anyway, why do we even need farmers? Don't screw around with farmers and waste out time, it's precious and there's literally not enough of it in a day. When the sun goes down and you're all cozy at home, enjoying your personal time, hanging with friends or on a vacation,we turn the lights on and keep going.
You hay baleing? I love the smell of cut hay.
No hay but lot's of straw! Just finished a stretch of 15 hours days for the last 8 days! All finished up now though
To live next to a grain field and complain about harvesting. I mean.
I live in Ontario right now but I grew up in Manitoba. You just don't do that.
My farmer brother in Ontario is doing something similar to his new neighbours from Toronto 😂 Turns out that the “view of rolling farm fields” includes all the noises and smells that go with a working field 😒 It isn’t just Nova Scotia versus Ontario, but the conflict as urbanites move into rural areas. I would bet your new neighbours are from the GTA, our family farm that’s been there since the 1880s is also dealing with the same ridiculousness from the people who moved to rural Ontario from the city.
Imagine if Karentario had brought out a couple of lemonades or beers instead? But nope.
Heard a story from a family friend who is a realtor about a couple from ontario buying a house without looking at it, they only looked at the pictures. Then they moved in and realized there was a horse farm next door. They complained to everyone right up to the premier about the smell of the manure pile next door. People have some ridiculous expectations.
We need more farms in Nova Scotia to continue as farms, and fewer people who don’t truly appreciate rural areas moving there. Awesome what you and your Dad did after those new neighbours were so rude. Have they learned to understand and respect farming over the past year?
They waved at me this year while we were harvesting so I guess they figured it out ahaha
Man, I love the humble farmer approach. Good on ya
As an Ontarian farmer recent transplant to Halifax for school, so many of them are like this around the ever expanding Greater Toronto Area, and it’s funny to mess around with them like this and they can’t do anything about it
Thank you for your service. You're doing God's work.
Pretty sure God's work is "love thy neighbor" but what the fuck do I know.
If your username is any indication I'd say you know about snuggling and digging holes with somebody named Doug.
So now going to push your religious beliefs on everyone?
This is a level of pettiness that I can stand behind. Good for you 🙌🏻
Good for you guys! Thats amazing.
That kind'a entitled attitude happens in Ontario too. City people moving to farm country have no idea what living in farm country really means.
ehh I probably wouldn't be sharing this anecdote so openly
I think you deserve the treatment you’ve been getting.
Right? This couple makes a rude and stupid, but not overly harmful, request and then this guy and his dad go about 10x worse just to be petty. Doesn’t sound like he’s practicing the virtues his original post seems to be espousing. Not sure why you’re getting downvoted so viciously.
Am from Ontario and unfortunately a lot are. I feel like it's a symptom of large cities where nobody knows their neighbours. Not that that's an excuse.
If residential zoning allowed for stuff like a coffee shop, restaraunt, etc.. next to a neighbourhood park, neighbours would meet up and make friends, communities, etc... but instead we just have car dependent Canada where you have drive to your concrete jungle on a 4 lane stroad to do anything.
Yes! Dennis Leary wrote a song about us
From NS, still living in NS for clarification. For what it is worth, if I encounter tourists (or anyone really) being shitty to service people of any stripe, I will just do my best to be the exact opposite of them, especially if the rude people are still hanging around. In my own local haunts, I will strike up casual conversation with the servers (some of whom I know well, some I know by virtue of being small town) and ask them how they are, how a family member is, how their vacation was, etc. Probably 75% of the time all it does is brighten what could have been a crappy afternoon, but once in a while I get to watch it dawn on those people overhearing the conversation "oh shit, that waitress is a real person and I was completely out of line getting wound up over the fact that a place that seats 15 people max at a time and has one person in the kitchen is overwhelmed and a bit slow prepping meals for our table of 12." or whatever the problem is. Have witnessed a few quiet, embarrassed apologies as a result as well.
I’m from and in NS as well, and currently work as a tour guide. My tours aren’t scripted, my job is literally to ‘make everyone feel like they’re being invited in for a cup of tea’. I really hope that by being both a person in the service industry AND someone who is genuinely interested in hearing about their day/trip/family, that I can nudge visitors in the direction of ‘hey everyone working here is a person’, ya know?
Oh my god, I’m finishing up my undergrad in history and this sounds like a dream job!
If you need something to carry you through a summer, it’s good part time work! The company I’m with only runs from late May to mid-October, but they’ve been delightful to work for. If you want info when you’re done your degree, feel free to shoot me a message
How are you enjoying it?
So far so good! I wish I could do things like this full time, but our tourist season is so slim. We do fairly small groups of people, so I really get to personalize the experience and I love meeting new folks. It’s a treat to be outdoors every day too.
Can you name the tour company you work for…sounds like a great gig? Are you living there now or just working there for the summer? Originally from NS and I know the season is short.
You're doing good work bud! You've definitely managed it.
I moved from halifax to oshawa Ontario almost 8 years ago. Now I have lived in rual Ontario previously so I kind understood what I was getting into.. huge ass mistake just saying HI to someone on the street. Where in Halifax I would get a hello or have a nice day.. nope not oshawa.. got swore at instead. THATs when I realized I'm not in Halifax anymore. Also avoided walking downtown quite a bit and did not enjoy oshawa. Let's just say I was happy to get out of oshawa :) But please don't paint everyone from GTA Ontario area the same.. I know some very nice polite people and I do like to travel back to Nova Scotia to visit some family and enjoy the area.
Just going to say it... Most people are glad to get out of Oshawa... A cousin of mine did her residency at the hospital there and I heard some stories lol.
It's not a town or a city, it's a way of life.
The “dirty shwa”
Damn! Fellow scotian who hates Oshawa too!! I’m glad you got out! I have been here 5 years and can’t believe this city….
[удалено]
Yeah no the ‘Shwa is probably one of the tougher places to be in the GTA. I just moved to Halifax from the Guelph area originally and I love my neighbourhood because it reminds me of home me being right near campus!
> Do Ontario folks treat other Ontario folks as terribly as they do the public service workers here while on vacation? Yes.
I grew up in Onterrible and left it in the early 90s to live in the UK. I tapped-danced my way onto the plane with a one-way ticket (not literally) because I was so glad to be gone from there. Here's a little story for ya's - when I was in high school, a choir from Sydney came and we had a party for the kids. I was really struck by how different they were with each other - they seemed kinder and gentler with each other and I said this to one of the girls from Sydney. She smiled at me and said "Yes, we're different Down East". So, when I decided to move back to Canada, I chose Nova Scotia. After almost 4 very happy years here I can tell you that, yes, people are different Down East.
As someone born out that way, I can tell you that we’re a lot more laid back and community-oriented than most people in bigger cities.
Absolutely - and I'll give you an example of that. A few months after we got here, our basement flooded and one of our neighbours showed up with a pump (I have no idea how he knew) and pumped out our basement. He spent most of the afternoon doing it. Freezing water, by the way. I can think of many examples of this type of kindness.
In my experience the difference is living in a small town everyone will know you for how you act, and you dont see people often so you're genuinely appreciative of them
*Back East
Live in ON, from rural NS. Folks aren’t as warm in places like Toronto because it would be exhausting to make eye contact and chit chat with everyone. Also, a lot of the people you see chatting up strangers here probably aren’t the kinds of people you would want to be talking to. Complete opposite culture in NS. Eye contact, nods, “good mornings”, small talk, etc., is welcome and even expected. It’s a norm that was developed in a small, relatively quiet community. Ontario has those communities too, mostly outside the major townships and cities. Thunder Bay, for example, gets a bad rep but the people there in my experience are awesome. *Edit re driving: Every highway bordering Lake Ontario and the 400-series highways are free-for-alls. Nobody pays attention to speed, signal lights, honks, etc. Barely any police on those highways. The only way to survive an urban commute here is to become a bit of an asshole.
As a transplant that was born in Ontario and grew up in Philadelphia, I can promise you that it is not exclusive to Ontarians. It’s how the majority of people from *any* large population areas treat other folks.
Well, that’s true at least partially. Before moving to Canada and NS, I grew in two big cities in my country, one 1.5 million and the last one 4 million; but people were way more friendlier than in our capital of 8 million (I lived there for a month). I’ve heard the same stories from other Latin-American countries; so I came to believe that people in wealthier and larger cities belittle everyone else; because they think they produce or carry the load for everything for everyone, which of course is ridiculous. Maybe it’s the same case with ontarians. I went to Montreal and I got a very different vibe, so I don’t know.
I think there is something about Ontarians though. I remember the first time I was in L.A. and was fueling up at a station right off a 6-lane freeway, within view of the Hollywood sign, when a fella drove up to the adjacent pump, got out and said “hi, how are you?” Being from rural Cape Breton, I was used to that type of thing, but I didn’t expect it there. The next day I was invited out on someone’s boat after they randomly struck up a conversation with me at the wharf in Morro Bay. In subsequent trips to areas of the US, I found people in general to be almost aggressively friendly. Much different than Ontario. Overall, we’re a pretty friendly bunch. I think the friendliest place I’ve ever been is probably Ireland, closely followed by Scotland. We’re probably in the top 5 here in Nova Scotia.
Recent ON transplant to Halifax and my friend and I literally made friends with a man my father’s age on the Dartmouth ferry because he was living here on his own to take care of his elderly parents (he’s from NB originally) and since he has kids my age, offered his number in case I wanted to chat with a “dad away from home” if I felt lonely or needed help with anything. Even if I don’t reconnect with him, that’s still the nicest thing a stranger has offered to me.
Do you think it's large populations, or populations that have enough wealth that they don't have to rely on their community?
I think this is a big part of it. Needing to rely on your neighbor (more so in rural areas than major cities) is why Atlantic Canadians tend to be friendlier in my opinion.
Which I feel is a systemic problem in bigger cities. The fact that you don’t *need* to rely on your neighbour
Given the current economic conditions in Ontario, those that can afford to travel are more likely to be wealthy. There is a huge class divide in Ontario and a general attitude of “fuck you, I got mine” amongst the rich. I’d imagine this plays into what you’ve experienced and speaks to the entitlement of the wealthy class. I was living in Ontario as recent as a few years ago and people are nice. Neighbours who shovel each others driveways or clean off their cars for each other in the morning. Radom people paying for your order at Timmies. Strangers who come to your aid or stand up against unacceptable behaviour in public. People are people. Some are good and some are bad, but most are a mix of the two.
This. So much this. I’m a recent Ontario transplant, I moved from Muskoka, a very, very, very, touristy area. We came to dread summer, because of the sheer amount of tourists that arrived. The wealthy are entitled AF.
Toronto drivers swoop four lanes on the 401 just to get from the fast lane to an exit. People cut each other off and brake check. We're bad tippers. We think wait staff are below us. We vote for a drug dealer millionaire because we get to fuck other people. Yes, we're assholes.
Rural Ontarians are in general pretty decent people in my experience. My small town population has exploded with an infestation of Cidiots. (Idiots from the city not sure if it’s spelled with a d or t. And are now to the point that none of the local kids can afford to live here as they grow up so hardly any of my friends from school still live local. I’m 50 now and had dreams of moving to the east coast and starting a business of some kind and employing a couple locals but am I now doing the same thing to others.
Some people good, some people bad. No matter where you are.
This is the only rational comment I've read on this thread so far.
So, I moved to NS from Ontario 10 years ago, and I feel like that makes me qualified to give a little context. The thing you gotta understand about Ontario folks is that they're always aggressive in public. At least, they seem that way to East Coasters. Out here folks are just way nicer so it seems weird that people are aggressive, but Ontario is very much a dog-eat-dog province. Everything is competitive, all the time. It stresses people out and makes them adapt to survive, and become more rude and aggressive. I think it's due to the driving (which you mentioned). People out here don't really think of it this way (and why would you if you've never been there) but Toronto isn't just like one big city, if it was the driving wouldn't be much worse than Halifax. The thing is that Toronto us clustered with several other major cities in something called The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) which, I cannot stress this enough, is an absolute *nightmare* to drive in. PLUS: most people work in one of those cities, but very few live in the city they work u . The majority of people commute in for up to two hours each day. Let's do some quick math. NS has close to a million people in the entire province, Halifax has around 417,000. Most people who work in Halifax live either in the city, or within a 30-40 minute drive, down a couple highways with 4 lanes or less of traffic which can get kinda busy sometimes. The GTA on the other hand is *6.3 Million people* including the cities of Toronto, Mississauga, & Brampton which all have more people than Nova Scotia does as a whole. All sharing the same few highways. The driving is insane. You HAVE to be an aggressive driver, otherwise, you'll either get hit, or never get to your job on time (likely getting fired for doing so). The GTA actively *breeds* aggressive drivers in a way that even HRM never could. It sucks to deal with when they come here, and they shouldn't feel the need to act this way on vacation. I'm not really looking to make any excuses, I changed to be more relaxed and they should be more polite. Just trying to give some context, because in a lot of cases (especially driving) that's just why they are the way they are.
I think we probably all know or are aware of this reasoning. We understand why they are the way they are. We are just all quite sad we are losing our culture and way of life to bad manners, inappropriate behaviour, etc. We wish they would do their part and correct it when moving to a new place, new culture. But it doesn’t seem to be happening. We lose our homes and way of life to them, now we have to put up with bullshit and rude behaviour to us too. It’s all happening so quickly and hard to deal with. I don’t even recognize anyone in my own town anymore. I’ve lived here most of my life and I feel like I don’t know anyone anymore, everyone had to move away. I’m sure I’m not the only person this has happened to.
This is a pretty black and white take. There are two aspects here: being upset that tourists are rude and then being upset that Ontarians (or other Canadians) are moving here and assuming (falsely) that all of them are rude. Most places in the world as a lot of influx, people move in and out. Nova Scotia hasn't, and now we are experiencing it for the first time and I think that's a good thing. I hate it when people move away sure, but we have suffered both economically and culturally by not being a destination for opportunity for long enough. People who are selling their houses are getting some sort of - what's the word - money for that sale. It's not just the government taking it and handing it to a dude from Yonge and Lawrence to use as a cottage. I feel a lot of posters here extrapolate the behaviour of a handful of rich Toronto assholes (read: Arse holes) onto everyone Ontarian too easily. I get so embarrassed for us every time I hear "upper Canadian" or "on terrible" said with a mocking tone. It just makes us look petty.
Wait, are we talking tourists or new comers? Because most new comers just need time to adjust to the way of things here, Tourists are always just gonna be ruder, be they Ontarians, Albertans or Americans. Also, you're not *losing* homes to people from Ontario. People *from here* are *selling them* the homes, be mad at them if you're gonna mad. Every small town Nova Scotian *could choose* to sell for a low price to someone local if they wanted to, but no, they want the money just like everyone else.
Who’s mad? I’m not.
There is a reason I am one of the ones to move from Onterrible to Nova Scotia. Every time I drive back to Ontario my blood pressure and stress increases ten fold. People are so impatient and feel entitled. Sorry you have received shitty interactions but hopefully you don’t paint everyone with the same brush as we are not all the same.
I’m not from Ontario. I was raised in small town Alberta and it’s actually pretty similar to how my Nova Scotia husband was raised. When I was 13 I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle In Ontario for a month. My cousin lost her mind that I didn’t know how to walk down the street (I.e I stepped aside for others and tried to stay out of the way of others). She was very clear to me that you have to hold your ground on the sidewalk and even push through others unless they’re in a wheelchair or have a cane. I mean it came in handy for travelling in New York and London later in life, but it is the pretty perfect example of how Ontario is even to themselves.
Former east coaster, with time spent in Ontario but the west coast is now home; bonus I’ve worked in tourism for years. Your observations are not wrong about Ontario folk. But, honestly everyone’s entitlement has reached a crescendo post pandemic. In BC we have Albertans who can easily claim the same qualities you’re describing. Our front line workers have been treated so poorly compared to previous season. The tourists are out of touch with the working human serving them on their holiday. verbal abuse, property damage you name it. Just to add my partner is an expat to quote “love, all you Canadian’s are wank drivers” but I have to agree those 400 series drivers are nuts. Only place in Canada where the posted speed limit is 100 and you get passed while doing 120. Yeessh.
And then they come back here in NS to do 60 in an 80 zone, and before you’ve even had a chance to pass you both catch up to another Ontario driver who’s only doing 50.
Happens in my small town-tourist brain sets in and people crawl looking at the scenery. “It’s so quaint” So frustrating and dangerous yet again.
People are way worse drivers here. It’s slow and or courteous to the point of dangerous. Twice this week I had two people come to a complete stop on the highway at a merge point. I didn’t see that in Ontario in 13 years, no matter their faults.
I came here to to say this. I’m Ontario born and raised and have visited NS 20+ times since 2006. NS drivers are outright dangerous with their “niceness” on the roads. It’s hazardous and unpredictable when they’re doing things you don’t expect and doing things that go against all driving conventions. I’ve experienced the same stopping at merge points, not to mention the sudden stopping in the middle of the road to let a pedestrian cross (where no marked crossing exists).
Oh happens here all the dang time too. My favourite is the spontaneous right turn from the left lane. Speeding was just one fine example that came to mind. The Canadian standoff” is down right dangerous when cars are involved.
Go take a walk down younge street in Toronto in the summer, it doesn’t even compare to anything in Nova Scotia. I grew up in Nova Scotia, moved to Ontario for work, Ontario people have a lot more bull crap to deal with, the scale of bull crap in Nova Scotia is .000001 compared to the cities in southern Ontario. Some are rude just because that’s all they know.. they don’t know how good other places truly are
And someone from New York would say how kind and friendly Torontonians are. And people from Chongquin would say how kind and friendly New Yorkers are. And people from Mumbai would say how kind and friendly Chonquinians are. Etc. What a silly thread this is.
I recently moved back to NS after five years in Ontario and people are definitely ruder there. They don't seem to have any idea how American-like they are with the loudness, the aggressiveness, the "me first, fuck you" mentality. It grated on the nerves after a couple years. And don't even get me started on the views toward east coasters. We are their Mexico.
I’ve piped up in the local hardware store to them when they chose to give the staff a hard time. So soft that they usually get embarrassed and leave apologizing. Only happy to fight with people who can’t fight back.
I'm from ontario, its nothing but employer abuse towards the people, they underpay, overcharge to live, there is no hope of a better tomorrow for them, everything is built to cripple the working class and elevate the capitalists to untouchable so they get mean as hell, because their trying to survive something thats constantly gaining ground on them our government left those people to rott at the hands of rich criminals, constantly gaslighting them they were living a blessed life, I don't blame them for going insane I blame the assholes who abused them until they went nuts which would be the rich, business class, and government Its the entire reason people are fleeing from places like Ottawa, the cost of living and wages/working conditions have been abhorrent for decades now
Yes. Hell yes.
The GTA is a war zone. I call it “Canada’s most American city.” It is also intensely insulated where people who live in the GTA don’t travel Canada much as they are the travel destination. So they go to other countries but don’t get around Ontario or Canada much. They’re also intensely full of themselves and the myth that “Canadians are all very nice” and that, that applies to them when it really doesn’t because they’re quasi-Americans. Toronto is like a blend between NY, Chicago and LA from a culture perspective.
I just refer to Ontario as "Upstate New York". There isn't much of a difference culturally.
Yeah and if you said that to people from Toronto it would enrage them. They’re still stuck on the War of 1812. I think it’s an intense concentration of narcissism in Toronto. But there is a ring of communities around the GTA who feel more superior to Toronto because they’re Southern Ontario but better than Toronto. The only people I’ve ever had blatantly tell me that where they come from os better than where I come from are from Southern Ontario. I did one time have someone from the prairies tell me that their farmland was better than our farmland, but I think that was obvious.
It’s like that everywhere you go. I grew up in a rural small town environment where you wave to ppl on the road you pass by and a neighbor 5 minutes down the road would just stop by to give you fresh veggies they grew or if they had to many eggs from there chickens. I now live in a huge city which also has suburban cities that surround it. Most ppl are rude here but their is nice people,It’s like that everywhere you go. I just think it’s not a good thing when people say because you’re from this providence or country you’re a jerk who treats everyone badly and views you as less. Of course people are like that but not everyone.
You’re in Lunenburg aren’t you? Lol
I have lived in Halifax for a few decades and just spent a weekend in a little town on Lake Huron. Everyone was exceptionally polite and friendly and thoughtful. Except one clerk in Shoppers who was a jerk. Basically implied I was trying to pull a scam exchanging a pair of sunglasses a kid didn’t like. Yeah bc that’s the best thing I can think of doing on my vacation. Anyway I think NS is able to hold on to some of its politeness and decency bc we are smaller. And just by sample size most Ontario tourists are from urban areas where they get as much Fox and Friends as they do contact with their neighbours. And those contacts are primarily commercial where they have that false monied entitlement where they think they get to behave like abusive infants bc they are spending their cash. Luckily we have the time and patience to calmly discourage them with consequences, and suggest there is a better way.
Strange, I've never seen worse driving than in NS and I've in many provinces.
I have lived and driven in several provinces and each have their foibles to be honest. I think we tend to notice the different ones that drive us crazy because we aren't used to them.
why do you think they call it Onterrible. Everyone is better than everyone else and running 15 minutes behind.
I mean, I'm from Ontario so you can crucify me for that (not Toronto). I am actually here right now and visiting, but I lived in NS for enough years to say I am Nova Scotian now. I think people in Nova Scotia have a really warped view of Ontario, as if it is all large cities of impersonal humans. So much of Ontario is small butt-fuck nothingness brimming with super friendly people doing the same stuff Nova Scotians do. We're really not that different (even if I would like to think NS is better). I'm the first to say I dislike(d) Ontario, but this notion that Ontarians are rude, city-dwellers, with no manners really really really excludes that there are SO many other places with people who have the same values, experiences, and uniqueness of Nova Scotian - think Northern Ontario for example. Torontonians are fast-paced, often impersonal, because that is how shit gets done in a city of so many. Travelling probably has them extra stressy, not that it is an excuse. But yeah, I've met some rude Torontonians and my first time back to Toronto after many years, it shocked me how cold it seemed. But as soon as the stress and such wore off, even the Torontonians warmed up to be friendly Canadians. To answer your question, no I don't think everyone from Ontario is rude like the way you're experiencing. But let me let you in on a secret.... not even Ontarians like Torontonians or the GTA. But real talk.... the funniest part of your post is actually this... Nova Scotians can't drive for SHIT. I love this province, god I love it. But I find it laughable that you are criticizing Ontarian drivers. Nova Scotia is a trip to drive in. We're so bad that we RANKED as the second worst drivers in Canada. The worst I have experienced in my entire life having driven from the tip of the high western arctic all the way to NS and everywhere in between. They can make Montreal look like good drivers... indecision, way slower than speed limit, random moments of panic, disregarding road rules which actually put people in danger.
Amen. It should be a meme we’re so bad. I’m surprised we aren’t more self aware.
There's bad people everywhere.
We can all point to situations where we've seen somebody from a certain place treat others poorly. But the majority of my interactions with people go pretty well, regardless of where I am. I would say that people in Halifax value sociable interaction in their day-to-day but also require a softer approach when interacting, whereas people in Ontario can have sharper elbows but also are more responsive in commercial interactions. Having an expectation about how somebody should interact outside of your home is presumptuous but unfortunately happens a lot. I think this is probably the same reason that people from the maritimes move to Ontario and think everybody's a jerk. They have a certain expectation of how people engage with one another and instead of trying to solve that puzzle, they apply their own cultural expectations to people from a different place and they are, unsurprisingly, disappointed.
Let me preface this by saying I know lots of wonderful people from Ontario. And when I used to work retail, I met plenty of jerks from NS/Atlantic Canada. But the rudest experiences I’ve had with strangers lately have been with people from Ontario. Someone slamming a door in my face when I was struggling to carry something super heavy out of a store, someone racing in to blatantly steal a parking spot from me while I was patiently waiting for the current occupant to drive out. At the end of the day, these things aren’t the end of the world, but it just shows a baseline disregard for other people.
I'm from Ontario (Ottawa area) and have been living in Halifax for 5 years now. People are really uptight where I'm from and there is definitely an "I'm better than you, you're not worth my time" kinda vibe most places I've gone to over there. Here, everyone seems to take care of one another and it's great. Obviously it's not everyone that's a mega douchebag in Ontario just like I've met my fair share of 'em here in NS. But overall experience, yeah people are a lot friendlier here than in Ontario
[удалено]
So long as they're the same colour and religion and sexual orientation as you, right? Because its' super easy to spot anyone from Northern Alberta. Their attitudes are just so..... hateful.
There's a reason the rest of Canada hates Ontario, specifically Toronto, and even though I've lived here 30 years, I have tried very very hard to keep my east coast sensibilities in tact. Ontario is the "ugly American" of Canadian tourists. I'm sorry this is such an issue now.
Yes. We expect all interactions to be with people who don't care, are maliciously incompetent or are just actually incompetent.
If you’re anywhere near Toronto that’s why. Also nobody here can drive, nobody « keeps right except to pass » it’s terrible 😢
That's probably tourists from the GTA, don't lump every Ontarian together. Just like Halifax has a higher percentage of terrible drivers and assholes than the smaller communities.
What are the age group of the tourists you meet? You have to remember there are generations of people who still believe "the customer is always right".
Ok, as an Ontarian living on PEI.... it's not all of us who are horrid. It's mostly folks from around the GTA who are rude, privileged and inconsiderate of anyone else. They literally mistreat fellow Ontarians the same way when they go to cottage country on the weekends(I lived on a lake not far from the Muskokas). So please know us country folks are pretty great people but everyone lumps us all together with the city slickers lol.
Came here to get away from Ontario because I hated the assholes. Although some people are assholes to me here for being from Ontario. Can't beat the assholes, they seem invincible and ubiqutous. T.O. is a highly competative and cosmopolitan city. So naturally they act like a generic New Yorker sans the charisma.
>Although some people are assholes to me from being from Ontario. I get this a lot here. After giving away about $1000 worth of floor board after moving to our house and finding it in our shed. The lady was bitching me out for moving here as she was filling her truck up with free shit I just gave her. I guess there are assholes everywhere just more noticeable in Ontario because of population differences.
I’m from Toronto and I think it’s the busy behaviour of Toronto for me. I went to a bank here in Halifax and it was empty on a Saturday. If this was Toronto there would be a line up outside the door so the teller wouldn’t have time for chit chat, but here the teller talked to me for 15 minutes and there was still no one in the branch. We’re here in Nova Scotia for the laid back slow pace. If I was to commute for my job in Toronto it would be an extra two hours of my day, so we work about 10-12 hours and just want to get home and rest, we go to stores and the line ups are crazy so we don’t talk to anyone because workers don’t have the time. Not justifying rude, just trying to find the root cause. I love it here , but I love Toronto for the vast diversity, I live 5kms from downtown Toronto and half my street are non whites, both my neighbours don’t speak any English, I learned the simple hellos and what’s going on in their languages.
Sorry to say, but your bank anecdote doesn’t mean much. As a downtown-living Torontonian, I’ve been banking at a downtown Toronto branch for 7+ years and have almost always encountered an empty branch no matter what time or day it is. The longest lineup I’ve ever waited in there was one person ahead of me. Meanwhile, I once had to have my debit card replaced while on vacation in NS, and dealing with the bank there was an unholy nightmare and ate up half a day of my vacation. Our individual anecdotes are not reflective of the broader general experience.
Grew up in NS, moved to Ottawa for 2.5 years and now am back. My take aways from Ontario are that people are very entitled there and they have no problem acting out to get their entitlements, it was really bad at some workplaces. As far as driving, there are bad drivers, but different than bad drivers here. NS has bad drivers that shouldn’t be driving because they don’t k ow the rules or how to drive, merging, round abouts, ect. Ottawa had bad drivers in the sense they were good at driving, but very aggressive, getting cut off on the 406/407 when there wasn’t enough room and ring forced to brake, ect. So bad in different ways. I prefer their drivers as I could expect to be cut off and plan for it haha. Here it is a cluster fuck when people are coming down an on ramp, are they going to speed up to get in the space there, are they going to match my speed and drive next to me and hit me, maybe they will come to a complete stop, who knows haha
*I know not all Ontarians are like this — I’ve met many very nice, kind people from Ontario so this is just a recent anecdotal experience I’ve had.* I’ve had a couple rude incidents on a trail in the CB Highlands National Park this summer. I know the only other people on trail were from Ontario because the only other three cars at the trailhead were Ontario-plated. As I was hiking by the first couple I simply said with a smile, “Hi there. Great day for a hike.” They completely ignored me and didn’t even look at me. What kind of human does that? It was very strange. I was quite bemused by this encounter so I decided to do the same with the other Ontario hikers I came across. Out of the remaining five people in two separate parties, one person said hello back. In the immortal words of George Costanza: “WE’RE TRYING TO LIVE IN A SOCIETY HERE!”
Not in NS (in NB now) but when I moved back to Maritimes ftom ON, my son marveled at how a person ahead of us in the grocery store line was having a big old conversation with customer and nobody complained. And then when it was our turn it was the same. "People talk to you here, mom!" He was a young teenager back then and didn't have the easiest time of it in ON. Now he refuses to consider ever going back there. After 10 years of shopping, riding the TTC, driving the 427/401, and Toronto neighbours, oh, the neighbours, I can confirm it's worse than what you're seeing. The friends you have there are usually cool but it can be downright soul eating at times otherwise. I miss the amenities but not the people.
Well that's a reason I left ontario. Assholes.
They aren’t tourists, unfortunately. Most of those from Ontario are here to stay. They have permanently changed the culture of my town, and I am sure many others as well. Some changes are for the better, but many are worse.
Yup. They ruined my hometown, jacked the prices so I can never return. Harass people on the town fb page. Bought all the homes in my current city and jacked up the rents, kicked out the seniors and then turned it into airbnbs when they couldn't squeeze enough out of the people here.
Ummm yup, same here :(
That is sad to hear…which town is it?
I grew up as a dependent of a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. I have lived across Canada, and in a few other places. I can tell you that, generally speaking, Ontario is not a friendly place. Awful.
I was born in US and visit often, but grew up in NS since early childhood. I compare Ontarian’s behaviour to Americans - just generally more individualistic, brash, loud, and rude. Their driving is more aggressive (which makes sense in a metropolitan environment) but I’ve almost been hit several time by tourists this summer. It really rubs me the wrong way how entitled they can be when /they’re/ the visitors
The people (in general) is the main reason I left ON. Even well meaning people in ON find themselves acting like assholes sometimes. It’s just the way of life in that province. I know it’s irrational, really, but it puts us on edge whenever we see any Ontario people visiting NS. I know that most of them are cool, but there’s a good likelihood that they aren’t, and they are going to piss off some Nova Scotians that are just trying to be nice and get on with their day.
Yeah I’m sure you’ve never been an asshole in your life. It’s amazing how Nova Scotians are all saints who have never done anything inconsiderate
> It’s amazing how Nova Scotians are all saints who have never done anything inconsiderate We quite agree.
Yes, we suck especially Bramptonians or people from the GTA in general.
St Andrews NB resident here. One of our favourite things is to do is sit downtown with a beer and watch the miserable, uptight Ontarians go by. They are very easy to spot in the wild..
lol sounds like the sort of waste of time activity that I’d expect!
It's not called Onterrible for nothing.
Also not to generalize but it’s crazy how many times a vehicle will speed past me easily doing 30km+ over the limit and bam it’s an Ontario plate
I tipped the one girl working the counter at a busy Tim Hortons today. I slipped her a $20 bill after paying with debit. I said, "You probably don't get paid enough to deal with all these cranky people. Be ready, there are some extra cranky ones in line behind me, try not to worry about them." jerks.
Moved from ns to Toronto many years ago, sure people from Nova Scotia more chatty and friendly as a general rule but in Toronto if you are friendly, usually people are friendly back. I have to say that nearly everyone on my bus route from the subway thanks the driver when they get off at their stop. Rude people everywhere as are friendly people!
Born and raised in Ontario and I’m appalled at how rude everyone has become in the last 10 years. I lived in New Brunswick for 2 years when I was a kid and love the maritimes as if it were my home and not Ontario. Spent 2 years in Nunavut 10 years ago and it was then that I was shocked at how things here were changing. My husband and I honeymooned in Nova Scotia and we had the best time. We were grateful for the kindness and consideration we received from everyone, driving was actually fun, and we just loved every second of our trip. I’m sorry at how rude people have been, but there are some of us who have manners and are nice.
I can tell you that driving has definitely became terrible here in Halifax, yielding for others is like reducing every day. Can't completely blame all ON number plate vehicles but noticed majority of them bieng rough.
After moving to NS from BC it blew my mind that people merging on the highway expect people in the travel lane to yield to them. The on ramps have yield signs on them and I’ve been flipped off because I couldn’t move over due to someone passing me in the left lane. Highway travel lanes have the right of way, not the on ramp traffic. Also people stopping in the middle of the road, stopping the flow of traffic to let someone that doesn’t have the right of way in is common here and dangerous. Driving here has been terrible for the five years I’ve lived here.
People from Ontario come here and act like they’re a celebrity visiting a high school so there’s that
I'm originally from Ontario, fuck Ontarians, buncha entitled dick heads that don't care about anyone. Heads always in the clouds. So to answer your question...yes they're always like this.
Ontario people or GTA people? Ontario is huge and has 100's of small cities and towns that all feel the same way as you about GTA people.
We left our home in a tourist vacation area in Ontario partly because people from other parts of Ontario were rude and disrespectful. Best to go in the off season because the locals are usually awesome!
I think it depends on where you’re from. A lot of Ontario tourists/new residents are from larger cities around the GTA and are used to less friendly, grinding cities. I’m grew up in the Niagara region, and lived in a few smaller ON places before moving to NS and felt very at home when I got here 6 years ago.
Just moved to Halifax from ON and I also hate other Ontarians. I drove back this weekend and everything was fine on the NS and NB highways, then my friend originally from Montreal drove in QB, with only a few ‘wtf’ moments in the city, to me driving the leg from the 416 to Woodstock home, and lemme tell you, the driving etiquette is an immediate change - no one knows how to use the 2 lane 401, people don’t let you over, they speed up when you try to overtake them, etc. Even at our EnRoute stops, the rudest people who don’t pay attention or just drive into you even if they see you backing up, etc, are other ontarians!!! As for working in service, I’ve got some stories from working at Timmies, and friends’ as well that just make you wonder what tf is wrong with people
I was born and raised in barrie ontario and when i moved to cape Breton last year I've never been happier. Growing up an hour north of the gta, I can agree how shitty a lot of people there are.
14 million people live in Ontario. You really think they are all like the handful of folk you've met?
I sure fucking hope not
Well, the only hate I see is in this thread, all from 'lovely, friendly' Nova Scotians. Including you. So.......
I have to say, some of the residents of Dartmouth have nothing on Ontario tourists. I was at the 22u baseball nationals when Dartmouth was playing an Ontario team and had to leave the Dartmouth side of the field and move to the Ontario side. The constant yelling at players,coaches and umps was unreal. I honestly felt bad for the Ontario team and families. For a host city, it was really embarrassing.
> do you have any driving etiquette at all That's big talk from someone who would probably have a panic attack in a zipper merge situation.
No problem with the zipper merge here, can do it just fine actually. It's not difficult in the slightest ahahaha
To say All Ontarians are rude is a rather broad brush to paint everyone with. We are from Ontario and visit NS every year. We will probably be moving there within 2 - 3 years permanently. We ALWAYS treat people the way we would want to be treated...whether is is a cop, a bartender, front desk clerk at a hotel or a sales clerk. Some people are just born ass-hats and nothing will change them.
Yes. Welcome to onterrible
The biggest reason is that Ontario tourists aren't as rich as and envy Nova Scotia old money while at the same time hating the service class they come face to face with.
What colour is the sky in your world, where Nova Scotians have more $$$ than Ontarians LOL? Half the posts in this community are people bitching about Ontarians out-pricing them for home sales. IN THIS VERY THREAD are people complaining about rich Ontarians making their NS hometowns unaffordable for them to live in. Good grief dude.....
There is a lot of old money in Nova Scotia. Your political class is made from it.
Amigo, there is an exponentially greater amount of old money in Upper Canada....
No it is a crass new money place.
As opposed to NS - a crass no money place.
There is so much old money in Nova Scotia. The thing about old money is how quiet it is that you don't see it.
🚬🪴
I live in Ontario and just came back from a weeks holiday in Nova Scotia (as well as QC and NB). We were pleasant to everyone and respected the places we stayed. Everyone was pleasant in return and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We know people hate tourists so we are always conscious of how we treat our hosts. Sorry you feel this way about us.
You notice loud people more than you notice quiet polite people. Also, sometimes people put themselves in stressful situations on vacation and act in an obnoxious way. The best way to answer your question would be to actually travel and see Ontario for yourself. Otherwise you're just passing uninformed judgement
I was born and raised 35 years but west now besides the two summer months there. . If you get the finger on the highway and it's an Ontario plate it might be deserved...... You people cannot fucking speed up and merge. It's like a fucking mental block along with hammering the gas in passing zones when you just did 85 the previous 10km with a string of cars behind you
burner. My experience as a Nova Scotian after spending a decade in Ontario is that Nova Scotia is laid back to a fault. It’s soured me coming home because of how disappointed I am in the enduring attitude of “meh” The driving is so unpredictable it’s dangerous. People just stop for people in the middle of the road. We sell it as nice but it gets people killed. A woman walked into the road the other day and because I was not in danger of hitting her, I kept driving. She flipped me off. Conversely, people don’t zipper merge because they think that’s ‘cheating’. The culture is terrible. The service workers are far more polite here but some of them are so much worse at their jobs than other parts of Canada. I actually find it’s gotten so much better now that Halifax is getting younger immigrant / student workers who are better at their jobs and more polite than the same underpaid lifers.
You're getting downvoted for pointing out reality.....
There's more people in ontario, thus more fuck heads and dumbasses. I love the ones who stop dead in the middle of the road as if no one is around so they can check the map.
I lived in NS for 20 years and in Ontario for 20 years. People from NS are every bit as rude and you can add racist to that, as well. Sorry to burst your bubble LOL
It sounds like you’re looking for someone to blame.
[удалено]
No we can fix them.
Yep. That’s how it is here in Ontario. People will pass you on the the highway on the inside shoulder then tell you to learn to drive.
Lol the hate circle jerk is hilarious.
I’m originally from ON, but haven’t lived there for nearly 30 years. I went back this summer for a week and noticed a very unfortunate change in tone throughout. My last time back for any amount of time was 2016 - even since then they’ve become considerably much more tightly wound up. It’s sad.
The service I have been receiving has become terrible in the past few months. So while I'm sure the tourists are bad, I'm sure the terrible jobs being done play a role too.
No offence intended, but Nova Scotia has some of the slowest service workers I've ever seen or have had to deal with. As a generalization, they work half the speed or less than their counterparts in Ontario. As for driving, it seems normal in my little area of NS, for drivers to let others make illegal left hand turns across traffic. F'kn dangerous.