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Originally Posted by hipster duck
I've never met a Torontonian who referred to Toronto as being on the "east coast".
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All of my examples were Torontonians (and Montrealers) who'd lived here for a bit, so maybe the local use of the term "East Coast" and highly approximate understanding of eastern North American geography rubbed off on them. Still, it seems weird.
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It's patently obvious to just about everyone from Toronto that the city is not on an ocean, and even after you've left the city for many years this is basic knowledge that you don't lose sight of.
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I would agree with this although some people do like to say that the Great Lakes scenery is equivalent or comparable to either coast while to me they seem like apples and oranges. The Great Lakes don't remind me of an open coastal area at all; they are more like a scaled up version of a small lake. Even Vancouver is not really like Tofino or the exposed Oregon coast. It is less rugged and less marine-influenced in general.
In a lot of ways Toronto is a "jack of all trades" city within Canada, not just as far as cultures and demographics go but when it comes to the scenery and natural environment and the city's history. It's not as young as the west but not as old as eastern areas. It's on the water but it's not really a port or maritime city at all. It's got a lot of ethnic groups and subcultures but it's hard to point to any particular, unique local culture that you can't get more of in some other place.
This all adds up to something decent overall; the city is a practical and good place to live with few major downsides (except for infrastructure that hasn't really kept pace with growth over the past 20+ years). However, the lakeshore vs. seacoast comparison serves as an example of how the city's individual characteristics tend to stack up with other places.
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To Americans who I meet in Vancouver, I say I'm "originally from Ontario, on the eastern side of the country", because Ontario is in the eastern half of Canada geographically, and I don't want to explain the concept of "Central Canada" to them when I'm really just making small talk.
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I've had Americans tell me a few times that I'm wrong when I tell them that Atlantic Canada is one hour ahead of Eastern time (+30 minutes in Newfoundland). New York is eastern time and it's at the edge of the continent therefore there is no North American landmass that can be farther ahead. I guess they know just enough to be dangerous.
Similarly a lot of them think of Canada as being "north" of the US. If they are aware that a place like Nova Scotia exists for example they often think you get to it by going to Portland ME then heading due north. Back in the 90's a few American newspapers were referring to Halifax (~44N) as "Seattle North" (~48N). I guess the fact-checking was substandard even in those days.
To be clear, I don't expect any real knowledge of Canadian geography from Americans, although it is suspect when they have a strong opinion but have no idea what they are talking about.
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