Toronto and Vancouver are turning into the Club of Two these days, with a pair of reform-minded, green-focused mayors who have several links between their offices, via staff and political organizers. I recommend that anyone who wants to know what Vancouver or Toronto might be doing next keep an eye on what their alter egos (i.e. each other) are up to.
Toronto is hot on open-source government? So, following closely behind, is Vancouver. Vancouver shuts down a lane for trafffic? Guess what Toronto just did. You can read the story here. Which two Canadian mayors are hot on Twittering? You guessed it.
Canadian cities have always been amenable to building on each other’s ideas. The country is a natural Darwinian lab for urban issues, with hundreds of cities and towns constantly experimenting, trying different strategies, and then picking out what looks like success from what they see elsewhere. But the similarities between Toronto and Vancouver, with their two like-minded moderate reformer mayors, are unusual.
Oh, and for one more parallel, check out this Toronto Life article on the crazy condo market that dominates the city and its current collapse.