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I’m sorry, Toronto.

I’m sorry that we Montrealers continue to measure our city’s value in relation to yours. This despite Ontario’s metropolis leading Quebec’s by virtually every measurable metric, including the most important: economic development.

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I’m sorry that, in promoting a year’s worth of purposeless publicly subsidized activities, we’ve somehow managed to yet again highlight our collective inferiority complex, desperately seeking your recognition and approval.

And I’m sorry we don’t seem to have learned much at all about city-building from your success over the past few decades.

As part of Tourism Montreal’s marketing campaign surrounding the three-and-three-quarter-century anniversary celebrations, a series of ads were released last week aimed, presumably, at the many Torontonians who regularly travel the 401. A plane was even chartered to pull a “Sorry” banner across downtown Toronto in a stunt described by many who witnessed it as “confusing.”

“I wasn’t sure what was happening,” one Torontonian told a local radio station.

“I think people in Montreal should be less snobby so people in Toronto will visit them more often,” said another.

The “Sorry” ads on their own make no sense, but their creators envisioned that the accompanying YouTube video would provide sufficient explanation, and enticement. Montreal actors were filmed knocking on doors in Toronto, apologizing to their “neighbours” for partying too loudly, even though celebrations haven’t begun.