UPDATE: I was wrong: *RANT* Edmontonians HATE people from Ontario

I just recently moved to Edmonton from SW Ontario (Chatham) and am shocked at how rude and judgemental many of the people are that myself and my husband have come into contact with. And I have examples too:

1) Just today, I was driving and following behind a woman who was impeeding traffic (going 10 below the posted speed limit) and decided to do the "oh there's a fictional squirrel in front of me and I must slam on my brakes" - FYI, there was no squirrel and no one in front of her, just me behind. She turns into a shopping complex that I actually have to turn into as well (I'm still behind her), then with now three cars behind me trying to get through the parking lot, she decides to slam on her brakes, get out of her car, then scream and yell at me (very histerical) b/c I was "tail gating her". I realize within 5 seconds of her blowing her lid that there's no point in speaking to her b/c of the amount of screaming that she's doing, so I roll up my windows and start hitting the horn until she gets back in her car and starts moving again. BUT WAIT, its not over yet. After I pull into a parking spot and am getting out, this woman is now driving around the parking lot then pulls up directly behind my car in an attempt to yell and "scold" me again but then drives off again when she sees me getting my ds out of the car. Yes, I did start following closer to her when she decided to jeopardize mine, my sons, and her life (I believe a child was in a car seat in her car as I could see a small hand waving out the back window) when she slammed on her brakes, but I was still far enough away that I could easily stop and not even come close to kissing her bumper if she slammed on her brakes again.

2) The moment I say I am from Ontario, I am immediately met with anger and hostility by SOME of the residence here. I had no idea why they treated me this way, especially since I was being kind and curteous to them. But their body language and facial expressions told me that they immediately hated me. Then my husband provides the answer. It seems many people here believe ALL people from Ontario are from Toronto, and they HATE Toronto b/c supposedly people from Toronto believe they are better then everyone else - no really, this is what my husband's fellow co-workers have told him. My husband said that some of the other men he works stopped speaking to him and made it quite clear they hated him the moment they discovered he was from Ontario, whereas a few hours earlier they had no issues or concerns with him. My husband, my children, and I even get the stink eye from a woman who lives in the same townhouse complex as us, and we've never even spoken to her or anyone else in the complex for that matter....all b/c our vehicles had Ontario plates on them.

3) In an attempt to register my 7 yr old for the 2013 school year this past June, I was kindly told my the Callingwood P.S. receptionist to wait and call back in a few days when he completed his last day of school. I was completely fine with this and did call back the day after his last day of school (Friday morning, the Edmonton school board was having their last day that day but the Lambton-Kent School Board was finished the day before). The principal of the school begins speaking with me in a kind tone until she asked which school my ods was transfering from, when I told her which school, province, and town she immediately drops all informal/friendly tones and speaks to me as if I was an irrate parent who didn't understand a word she was saying to me. Needless to say my son is not going to that school but one that was A LOT more friendly and didn't even bat an eye when I said which school he was transfering from.

Now these are only a few of the examples that have stood out in my mind, I have met some very nice people from Edmonton as well who have been nothing but friendly. Maybe I just moved/walked into an entire orchard of rotten wormy apples with very few good ones on the branches still (some of those good apples may be Ontarians though lol). Unfortunately we cannot leave Edmonton for another 2 years as my husband is bound by contract with his work, but once he is no longer bound, our butts our out of this highly unfriendly and rude town and going somewhere where EVERYONE is Canadian, not just the people from that one section of a province.

Rant finished, thanks for taking the time to read it :)

I had no idea! That's kind of weird. I've never heard anyone in Ontario talking badly about people in Edmonton. I guess I won't be moving there anytime soon. :)
Did the lady driver say something about your Ontario plates? She just sounds crazy in general.

Ahhh, this is sad. Sorry you have not been welcomed to Edmonton. I promise not everyone is rude and bitter about people from Ontario :)
How long have you been here?

.jnkujtydckl

.... ignore the angry parking lot lady. Them are everywhere. :) Sorry you feel out of place. Best advice? Kill em with your kindness. Especially if these are people you encounter daily. Eventually they will either a) see that you aren't so bad after all and start thinking you're the exception tot he rule, or b) will continue to be a jerk, in which case you'll know for sure that it's just their bad attitude. :)

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Originally Posted by abbasgirl

I had no idea! That's kind of weird. I've never heard anyone in Ontario talking badly about people in Edmonton. I guess I won't be moving there anytime soon. :)
Did the lady driver say something about your Ontario plates? She just sounds crazy in general.

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We actually have our Alberta plates now...which throws me off to begin with since there is no front plate, just a back. I drove the same way I did in Windsor, Chatham, London, and Toronto and I see A LOT of people from Edmonton who actually drive a lot worse (in and out of traffic with inches to spare between vehicles, speeding at exceptionally high speeds in a residential area, speeding through pedestrian cross walks when pedestrians are crossing).....I don't understand why she was so hysterical. This is the first time in the 10 years I have had my G license that I have every had someone actually get out of their car and scream at me....maybe she was having a VERY bad day and I just made it worse by expecting her to drive the speed limit.

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Originally Posted by DolceBella

Ahhh, this is sad. Sorry you have not been welcomed to Edmonton. I promise not everyone is rude and bitter about people from Ontario :)
How long have you been here?

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I have met some very nice people here, even those who I told I was from Ontario. I am highly proud that I am Canadian and feel no need to hide the fact about which province I am from....believing that we are all Canadian in the end....but some Edmontonians seem to believe differently it appears. I've only been in Edmonton since July 2013 and my husband has been here since April 2013.

I grew up in Edmonton and found people to be on average extremely friendly. Sure you have run into some a-holes but guess what, Chatham has a-holes too :) I assure you that just because you have had a miserable time thus far in Edmonton, not everyone there "Hates" you. I actually find that a bit offensive. The vast majority of Edmontonions will not judge you based on where you are from, they will judge you based on your personality.

Really??? Alberta, including Edmonton, is full of people from all across Canada. There are people in every province who are very friendly and a few who are not friendly. Labelling Edmontonians as haters of Ontarians is a pretty big generalization. I hope you find that your new province feel a little bit more like home every day. It always takes time to settle in no matter where one moves to, and some days are tougher than others. Hope tomorrow is a better day for you.

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Originally Posted by DianneS

Really??? Alberta, including Edmonton, is full of people from all across Canada. There are people in every province who are very friendly and a few who are not friendly. Labelling Edmontonians as haters of Ontarians is a pretty big generalization. I hope you find that your new province feel a little bit more like home every day. It always takes time to settle in no matter where one moves to, and some days are tougher than others. Hope tomorrow is a better day for you.

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This is a direct quote from my last paragraph:
Now these are only a few of the examples that have stood out in my mind, I have met some very nice people from Edmonton as well who have been nothing but friendly. Maybe I just moved/walked into an entire orchard of rotten wormy apples with very few good ones on the branches still (some of those good apples may be Ontarians though lol).

Please read the post fully before commenting so that you are able to make an informed comment/post. As you can see, I stated that I HAVE met some very nice Edmontonians, and chose my sons school b/c of the fact that the secretary, principle, and staff where quite nice and friendly.

I read your post as just you sharing your personal experiences and being baffled by them. I would be upset too if I moved to a new place and had several people express dislike toward me because of the province I came from when I wasn't even aware of any animosity between the 2 provinces.

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Originally Posted by nainai0585

Needless to say my son is not going to that school but one that was A LOT more friendly and didn't even bat an eye when I said which school he was transfering from.

I have met some very nice people from Edmonton as well who have been nothing but friendly.

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At least the school is nice.
At least you have met some nice people there.:shrug:

Back in 2005 I drove across much of Canada and US with my brothers truck that had Texas plates. It's rather sad that a few people are so emotionally unbalanced that they get upset with where people are from.

So my husband works in HR, he hires people from all over Canada to come work here. Last night he got home and I asked him "Do people hate people from Ontario". He looked at me like I was crazy. I explained your story. I think you have just met a few crappy people. I hope things here turn around :)

I realize you are just venting and have every right to voice your opinion.
Having said that everyone has the right to respond to your post :)

I personally felt angry when I read your post. I know a lot of people that live in Edmonton. Mostly family but also some very close friends. All of which are some of the friendliest people you'd ever meet.

I think maybe if you take a deep breath you would realize that there are a lot of people in your community that would rather help you feel welcome rather than make you feel hated. You seem to have a lot of situations where you feel hated and unwelcome and that's sad. I don't understand, however, how you can know someone doesn't like you just because you have Ontario plates without ever having spoken with them?

Maybe your response to these people should be one of friendliness and kindness so that you turn their opinion of Ontarians around and when the next family from Ontario moves to your complex they will be met with open arms.

Either way I hope these incidents are very isolated and as the weeks approach you feel more at home and more welcome in your community.

I personal love people from Edmonton. In fact, my son is moving out there next week and I know a lot of people are anxiously awaiting his arrival. :)

Sorry to hear it sounds like you're having a rough start of your life in Edmonton, I sincerely hope things will get better for you. I agree with some previous posters in that I truly hope these are just isolated cases of jerks that can be found most everywehere. I moved to Edmonton 15 years ago, lived there 10 years and never heard of any Ontario biases myself. Loved living there so your title "*RANT* Edmontonians HATE people from Ontario " threw me off, plus the "...out of this highly unfriendly and rude town" even though I did note you also did say "some people" at points. Best of Luck.