Toronto is Canada’s first “low-trust” city

It finally struck home for me that the reason Toronto now feels so maniacally different from the rest of Canada is that it has completed its transition out of high-trust society. The "assumption" you have when you talk to a stranger in the city is that they are trying to scam you, to grift you, or to otherwise manipulate you. Everyone is permanently on the defensive. For those of you that have never lived elsewhere, this is not the Canadian norm, nor was it ever.

The common moral consensus that used to exist has become incommon; among the populace, politeness has been replaced with a strong-eat-the-weak mentality. Torontonians that still try to adhere to the old culture are now putting on kabuki, trying to pretend that they aren't now the ones acting foreign. I fear this is a sign for all of Canada to come, but hopefully contained to 'ronto for the next few years.