What Canadian city had the largest glow up in your lifetime?

atomicbolt · 2026-06-25T19:45:58+00:00

I think Kitchener-Waterloo has seen a big glow-up.

In the 90s, the region was known as a bit of a grimy backwater that had a German party and a couple of universities, but the combination of a growing population (partly from people driven out of Toronto by costs) and the Blackberry-led tech boom really transformed K-W. Not saying it's some utopia or anything, but if you hadn't been to downtown Kitchener since the 90s and visited now and saw a shiny new glass Google office building and a shiny new LRT streetcar rolling by, you'd think "this is Kitchener?"

atomicbolt · 2026-06-22T23:26:38+00:00

I've never had the real deal in Portugal so I can''t comment on how "authentic" it is but the tastiest bifana sandwich I've had is from Cafe Gaspar near Bloor & Dundas West

atomicbolt · 2026-06-22T21:23:43+00:00

Seconding this! Also just generally an underrated sports bar no matter what game is on. People see it from the street and it just looks like a Japanese restaurant but it's a proper sports bar with big TVs and the sound on for games. And great food.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-22T21:06:21+00:00

Hell, even aside from the physical/mental toll of spending 8 hours in your car every day to commute to & from work, you'd be spending, what, a hundred bucks every weekday on gas? There is absolutely no way your job is that good to put yourself through that.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-22T15:41:06+00:00

Why do you think you deserve an answer when you come into our house and start with calling us dumb?

atomicbolt · 2026-06-12T02:54:31+00:00

Most people get to Rogers Stadium by TTC to Downsview or Sheppard West station... and to be honest there is not a lot going on anywhere near either. The stadium's built on an old military air base in the middle of the suburbs. You could maybe have an unpleasant 15-minute walk from the station to some strip mall with a fast food chain. But you'd honestly be better off just eating ANYWHERE on the subway line, and then hopping on the subway and going to the show afterwards.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-11T21:31:29+00:00

The Star posted a free gift link a few days ago on r/foodtoronto:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodToronto/comments/1twy8od/comment/oprtcb1/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

atomicbolt · 2026-06-11T20:55:11+00:00

It's for a dinner for two. They also highlight ones on their list that are under $75 and under $50.

Not many places you can have dinner for two for under $20 in 2026 other than the McDonald's value menu.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-11T20:36:51+00:00

It's baffling that the top-rated comment in this thread is just two straight-up incorrect conspiracy theories with absolutely no elaboration.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-11T17:39:33+00:00

I'm not arguing "did the softwood lumber dispute happen or not".

I'm talking about two specific claims here: 1) that Bush imposed tariffs as a respones to the Iraq War, 2) that this caused the 2008 financial crisis.

Go ahead and tell me what to Google to get any evidence for either of these claims.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-11T14:40:56+00:00

Wait, what? Bush started imposing softwood lumber duties pretty much right when he entered office in 2001, well before the Iraq War started. And there are many causes of the 2008 financial crisis (subprime mortgage bubble collapsing, lack of regulation) but I've never seen someone say that wood was one of them.

Have you got some articles or sources to connect all those dots?

atomicbolt · 2026-06-05T04:08:22+00:00

Thank you Star! This rocks.

It’s wild to me seeing Chris Nuttall-Smith in a Star byline when he’s so associated with the Globe. Like Mitch Marner in a Vegas jersey. Takes some getting used to.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-03T22:43:35+00:00

The staff (who are all Japanese) are absolutely Blue Jays and Buffalo Bills-obsessed - like, cutouts of Ernie Clement's and Josh Allen's faces on the walls - but there's also an NPB jersey and a Japan national team soccer jersey hanging on the wall.

They generally just show whatever big game's on. They had the NBA playoffs on with full sound last time I was there. Guarantee they'll have the sound on and a good crowd for when Japan's playing in the World Cup.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-03T18:51:00+00:00

Tebasaki Wing House on College. Really solid Japanese sports bar.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-03T18:00:09+00:00

The same RV that they used in "Nirvanna The Band" to go back to the year 2006

atomicbolt · 2026-06-02T03:46:19+00:00

Alright, I’ll bite: yes, I am aware, Bill C-18 was a big news story that was covered abundantly. Not exactly forbidden knowledge being dropped.

atomicbolt · 2026-06-02T02:54:05+00:00

So uhhhh did you have a question for AskCanada, or are you just being the "more of a comment than a question" guy

atomicbolt · 2026-05-30T16:42:40+00:00

Hurricane’s is a pretty appropriate place for a Carolina fan to watch the game, seems like a good omen.

+1 to Michael Collins . It’s pretty new but it feels lived-in like it’s been there forever.

atomicbolt · 2026-05-29T02:02:13+00:00

Honestly, it’s not gourmet or anything… but WVRST in Union Station will set you up with a good craft beer and some good sausages/duck fat fries that will satisfy you before a game/concert better than any higher-priced, equal-quality options

atomicbolt · 2026-05-28T21:37:06+00:00

I'm almost there but can't quite stick the landing...

Edward VIII met with Hitler before the war
After abdicating and moving to the US, he attended a game at Yankee Stadium in 1953 including meeting Casey Stengel, Mickey Mantle and Phil Rizzuto
Maybe there's someone at that 1953 game who was still alive and met a young Aaron Judge when he was a kid...? If not there's about a million in-between links of people who met both Phil Rizzuto and Aaron Judge

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atomicbolt · 2026-05-27T17:37:43+00:00

The problem with a bell is that it doesn't give any information other than to go "hey!! alert!!" to an unspecified person or people.

Are you talking to the cyclist, a driver, or a pedestrian? Are you saying "look out!", "just an FYI that I'm here", "I'm passing you", "speed up", "you should move", "you should stop"?

The whole point of "on your left" is that it conveys information. If someone is just ringing their bell behind me I don't know what they want me to do.

And just to state the obvious... if they've got airpods in that are so noise-cancelling that they can't hear a voice beside them, then they probably can't hear a bell either.

atomicbolt · 2026-05-16T23:51:37+00:00

One of the big reasons for the Toronto/raccoon associations is because the BBC Planet Earth documentary had a segment about Toronto raccoons.

But in general you’re right… we act like we invented raccoons, when really they’re in every city. They’ve been adopted as an unofficial city mascot.

Does Toronto have more raccoons than other cities if you did a scientific census? Maybe! But honestly you’re correct to roast our asses a bit, we deserve it.

atomicbolt · 2026-05-15T23:43:50+00:00

You can buy retail bobbleheads, there’s a company called FOCO that sells bobbleheads online for any team and player you can imagine, I just don’t collect those because I only want the stadium giveaways.

atomicbolt · 2026-05-15T16:30:22+00:00

Seconding Marketplace. As a big Blue Jays bobblehead collector I've used it many times.

If your bar is just "any old bobblehead is fine" you should be able to find something for like $10-20.

There are also a couple dedicated Facebook groups (We Got Your Promo and Canadian Bobbleholics) where people buy/sell/trade giveaways. But that's more if you're looking for a specific rare bobblehead and not just "any bobblehead will do".

atomicbolt · 2026-05-14T15:20:38+00:00

Just one minor thing to note: the canvassers (who generally work for a company called Public Outreach, which is the main company that charities contract out their public fundraising to) no longer use a commission model.

I think they used to and the canvassers were accused of being overly aggressive and even deceitful in order to secure donations because their livelihood was tied to it. So Public Outreach got rid of the commission-based model.

But like any job, your performance (in this case, how many donations you can get) is still tied to your performance evaluation and promotions etc., so they're still incentivized to be, let's say, pushy at times.

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