Spotlight on Toronto, Ontario

Home of the Toronto Maples Leafs
Fast-paced yet clean and safe
Some of Toronto's finest meeting and convention places

Lindsay Wood discovers there are more things in life than burly Russian hockey players.

Toronto is the home of the Toronto Maples Leafs, and that should give you the only reason you ever need to visit the Canadian city. However, if you're not a fan of the Great Canadian Sport, there are plenty of other things to do.

Once upon a time, the Huron Indian tribe congregated on the northwestern shores of Lake Ontario. There, they traded, worked, and socialized.

They called the area "Toronto", which meant "place of meeting". Today, the name continues to fit. The Greater Toronto area is Canada's top visitor destination, and the most popular city for both group tours, and meetings and conventions.

The city is abuzz, blending multicultural heritage with urban chic. Toronto has some 80 ethnic groups (speaking more than 100 languages), one of North America's busiest stock exchanges, the world's third-largest theater center (after New York and London), nearly 5,000 restaurants and cafes and fine shopping complexes.

It also has soaring futuristic architecture (along with tiny Victorian and Edwardian gems), museums, galleries, opera, ballet, symphony, professional sports teams, a people-friendly waterfront, nearly 10,000 acres/4,000 hectares of parkland and a fine public transportation network. For a large city, it's very clean and safe-a pleasant place to conduct business or go sightseeing.

Canada's largest city has a population of 2.4 million, with 4.4 million when you count the immediate metropolitan area. As many visitors have remarked, Toronto is a city of interesting, distinct neighbourhoods. We have three substantial Chinatowns, two variations of Little Italy, an east-Indian pocket, Greektown, and a map full of mixed cultures. Historic pockets exist beside new developments.

Fast-paced yet clean and safe

The downtown core, with the Entertainment District, sky-high bank towers, and bustling activity, is fast-paced yet clean and safe. Connecting them all and adding plenty of green to our world is a vast assortment of parklands--nearly 10,000 acres, with rivers, forests, wilderness preserves, beaches, extensive lakefront paths, and the tranquility of the Toronto Islands a short ferry ride from the harbour.

Cosmetically, Toronto's skyscrapers and neatly gridded streets are strikingly reminiscent of New York, a resemblance that has not gone unnoticed by Hollywood. Toronto has spent millions in recent decades on spectacular public works projects: the world's tallest free-standing structure - the CNN tower, the biggest retractable roof - the Sky Dome, outstanding lakefront development and significant sponsorship of arts and museums. A great place to have a corporate meeting.

Some of Toronto's finest meeting and convention places

NATIONAL TRADE CENTRE Since the mid 1700s, the grounds of Exhibition Place - just west of Toronto's downtown core, on the Lake Ontario waterfront - have served as a gathering place for people participating in trade. Today, the 192 acre area is home to many events - from high-profile annual celebrations (the Canadian National Exhibition, for example) to giant consumer shows (the Toronto Sportsmen's Show) to major trade shows (the National Gift Show). The new National Trade Centre also offers 24 divisible meeting/function rooms and inhouse catering facilities, plus state-of-the-art telecommunications technology.

METRO TORONTO CONVENTION CENTRE The Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC "located right in the bustling heart of downtown Toronto" has doubled in size and capacity. The $180 million expansion (known as Phase II), confirms and strengthens the MTCC's leadership role within Canada's convention and trade show industry. Phase II's innovative design positions most of the new building under 15 acres of parkland, with a link to the existing structure by a glass enclosed bridge. Features include four large exhibit halls (250,000 square feet in total), which can be booked individually or in combination; 34 meeting rooms (69,000 square feet), each a multimedia command centre; and a dramatic Ceremonial Entrance, which allows visitors to move about easily and access MTCC event information. One of the top three most occupied convention centres in North America, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre is within easy walking distance of 13,000 hotel rooms, the city's major subway/rail system and the waterfront; it's adjacent to the CN Tower and Sky Dome; and it's close to top Toronto theatres, restaurants and shopping centres.

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE After its third expansion since 1992, the International (Centre popular for its close proximity to Toronto's Pearson International Airport and Metro's main highways) now offers more than 500,000 square feet of space. The new 93,000-sq.-ft. Hall 5, completed July 1996, is user-friendly for both trade shows and audience events. Home to more than 100 trade and consumer shows each year, the International Centre also includes The Meeting Place, a 10,000-sq.-ft. business centre with 12 function rooms.

TORONTO CONGRESS CENTRE Toronto's newest meeting and convention facility - strategically located in the heart of the city's dynamic "airport strip" - offers unlimited support and resources for exhibitions, conferences and corporate functions. Just three minutes from Pearson International Airport, the centre is close to all major highways (including the 401, 403, 409 and 427) and at least eight hotels with more than 10,000 rooms in all price ranges. Features include 500,000 square feet of continuous space; 14 meeting rooms ranging in size from 400 to 9,600 square feet; and soundproof conference rooms enhanced by excellent lights and air circulation.

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