Only In Canada, eh!

Today I went to lunch in a Chinese restaurant. It had been one of those chain fast food restaurants, but the location did not provide the traffic necessary to meet the company quotas. An independent businessman new to Canada had taken over the lease and started his Chinese restaurant. The food was not fancy but it was good, the atmosphere was not luxurious, but simple and acceptably clean, the staff was not well trained but friendly. A Chinese immigrant ran the restaurant and in the background there was a radio station playing with a German-speaking announcer and German music, with commercials in both English and German. Clients in the restaurant were of various ethnic groups due to its central location in a very commercial part of Toronto. There was a Latino couple, a mixed couple consisting of a Caucasian male and an Oriental female and their young child, there was a single Caucasian male and a single Asian (Indian) male, and a Caucasian couple, tourists from the UK and myself. The tourists were confused as when they went to pay the bill were confused as to why the price charged was 15% more than the published price. They probably thought it was a mandatory service charge as the cashier/waitress had limited English and did not try to explain that there it is a provincial sales tax of 7% and a GST (Goods and Services Tax) of 8%. Why are these prices not included in the quoted price versus being added after the fact? It is a result of our history with the British Empire. The colonies deplored the heavy taxes imposed on imported goods from the mother country, so as we became more independent our tax laws would not allow us to hide these taxes but they were to be added so that in fact we were aware of what we were being taxed. A noble concept in its time but now in a global world with lots of tourists it makes more sense to quote prices taxes included!

Toronto is now made up of almost 50% immigrants. On my way home from the restaurant, I took the street car which passed through China Town (the second largest in North America), then through Little Portugal and Little Brazil (It’s location next to Little Portugal for obvious reasons.), then through a mixed area with a smattering of Korean business, through the Polish part of town, past a Croatian club, past a Latvian retirement home to a largely Ukrainian area where I was staying. Toronto one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world is representative of the world and how it has changed with people immigrating to other countries. Welcome to Canada.