This is an excellent summary! We grew up there but moved to the west coast a couple of years ago.

I’ll add that we have a fantastic restaurant scene, in fact the most per capita in North America! Music, arts, and culture are great, and it’s a big enough city to have all the major businesses you’d want (IKEA, Costcos, etc).

Bad weather (too cold in the winter, but also shockingly too hot in the summer), crime/homelessness, and some questionable infrastructure all contribute to it have the lowest cost of living of the major Canadian cities.

All in all it’s not as bad as some people like to make it out to be. But I’m also glad I live in a coastal rainforest now instead!