NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, called Toronto “Canada’s most important city” Monday — while in Vancouver.
The comment was in response to a question about Toronto bidding for the 2024 Olympics.
People in Vancouver were less than impressed.
“It makes it seem like he only cares about Toronto,” says Zachary Davis, a political science major. “He doesn’t say why he thinks Toronto is the most important, but the people he said it to — the people weren’t even from Toronto. If this is a political strategy focused on Toronto since it has the greatest population in Canada, it’s going to come back to bite him.”
The comment has resonated with Torontonians as well as with Vancouverites, and not in a positive way.
“The strange thing is, he wants to be prime minister of all of Canada — he isn’t running for a position specifically for Toronto,” says Andrew Alexandris, a university student who has lived in both Vancouver and Toronto. “I love Toronto and I love Vancouver. They are both great cities in their own way. How can we trust someone to run the country, if they can’t believe all of Canada’s cities are equally important?”
After the comment, which wasn’t the first time that Mulcair referred to Toronto in such terms, Twitter and other social media sites blew up in response.
Mulcair telling crowd of Vancouver NDP supporters that Toronto is most important city makes me think this campaign is a social experiment.
— Adam Stirling (@Adam_Stirling) September 14, 2015
News flash to Tom Mulcair: Toronto is not the centre of the universe http://t.co/Jk2XUoG5t8 pic.twitter.com/ptPF1lFHwO” — Khara (@khara1977) September 15, 2015
Mr Harper pits 1 region of Canada against another. Mr Mulcair says Toronto is the most important city. We deserve better leadership #elxn42
— Michael Haack (@michaelhaack) September 14, 2015
Really insulted by today’s comment by Mulcair – ” Toronto is Canada’s most important city ” from an angry proud Haligonian !!!! — Shelley Scribner (@shellscrib1) August 6, 2015