# Ask the Guy From Northern Ontario. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421 "2010-05-31T20:48:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/41 "2010-06-02T20:42:40Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > Hates Toronto as much as the rest of Canada hates Toronto. I mentioned upthread that though I can’t stand the Maple Leafs, I don’t hate the city of Toronto itself. Nobody hates the city itself, it’s the Torontonians that are the problem! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/42 "2010-06-02T20:48:13Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > And if I feel I need to get out, I have North Bay, a city of about 55,000 about a half hour to the east; or Sudbury, with more than 150,000 people (at least in the new megacity) about an hour to the west. So it’s not quite like I’m totally in the middle of nowhere. 😕 Please don’t tell me they actually refer to a city of 150,000 as a “megacity”. Is that supposed to be tongue-in-cheek? ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/43 "2010-06-02T20:49:16Z")
> [@MrSquishy](#): > > Nobody hates the city itself, it’s the Torontonians that are the problem! 🙂 Exactly. 🙂 Although to be more specific, it’s the Torontonians that have never been north of Highway 7 that are the problem. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/44 "2010-06-02T20:50:53Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Oh a question.. hmm. How’s the weather up there this year? Is it dry (forest fires)? or wet (mosquitoes)? I have to know what to pack for. How do you pack for a forest fire? ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/45 "2010-06-02T20:59:27Z")
> [@MrSquishy](#): > > 😕 Please don’t tell me they actually refer to a city of 150,000 as a “megacity”. Is that supposed to be tongue-in-cheek? Nah, that’s probably a poor word choice on my part. There used to be the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, which was comprised of the City of Sudbury, and the surrounding suburbs/towns, including Rayside-Balfour, Valley East, Capreol, etc. [Wiki article here.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Sudbury) Anyways, in 2001, the City of Sudbury and the rest of the towns in the R.M. of Sudbury were amalgamated into the single entity of Greater Sudbury, or _Grand-Sudbury_ in French. Similar amalgamations have happened in Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton, which have been called “megacities” by some people. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/46 "2010-06-02T21:02:19Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > My in-laws have a summer cabin in NW Ontario, sort of between Ignace and Atitkoken. Never really been northeast of Sudbury, though. We’ll be up there in July for a week of fishing and hiking! > > Oh a question.. hmm. How’s the weather up there this year? Is it dry (forest fires)? or wet (mosquitoes)? I have to know what to pack for. Ignace and Atikokan are not currently under a fire ban right now, that I am aware. [This is a map with the restricted burning areas highlighted.](http://forest.lrc.gov.on.ca/AFFM/fire/interactivemap/RFZ/map.html) Pretty much the rest of Northern Ontario is under a ban. No campfires or fireworks. Propane stoves can be used for cooking and warmth, but be careful with them. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/47 "2010-06-02T21:42:11Z")
Can you buy crown land in Northern Ontario ? I eventually want to retire early buy a good piece of land, build a cabin and live off the grid and the local resources. I hear the mosquitos are nasty in NO, true ? ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/48 "2010-06-02T21:44:24Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Awe, I won’t kiss and tell. What’s his initials? No but I will tell you a funny story. When we first moved up there in 2000/2001 (I forget exactly when) he was in charge of getting the isotopes produced. They were always so far behind in production that they sometimes had trouble meeting their contractual obligations. I asked him one day exactly how they go about making the isotopes and he told me. Well I could easily see how they were going about it all wrong time-wise and came up with a suggestion. He said “actually that’s a really good idea” and proposed it to his boss who had him implement **my idea** and it worked! And that’s how I saved the plant. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/49 "2010-06-02T23:04:19Z")
> [@MrSquishy](#): > > 😕 Please don’t tell me they actually refer to a city of 150,000 as a “megacity”. Is that supposed to be tongue-in-cheek? True story. I was recently called by Decima and agreed to answer a survey about the RCMP.\* At the end, there were a couple questions to categorize me, by income etc, and one was rural vs. small town vs. “large metropolitan area over 100,000.” I said, “Errr, I guess the last one, but that’s the first time I’ve ever heard Saskatoon called a large metropolitan area.” \*One of the questions was “Do you see the RCMP as compassionate?” I wanted to answer, “That depends, am I an eastern European in an airport holding a stapler?” But that wasn’t one of my options. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/50 "2010-06-02T23:19:31Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > True story. I was recently called by Decima and agreed to answer a survey about the RCMP.\* At the end, there were a couple questions to categorize me, by income etc, and one was rural vs. small town vs. “large metropolitan area over 100,000.” I said, “Errr, I guess the last one, but that’s the first time I’ve ever heard Saskatoon called a large metropolitan area.” At 233 923 residents in the [greater metropolitan area](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_100_largest_metropolitan_areas_in_Canada) (defined by Stats Canada and the 2001/2006 Census), Saskatoon is in the Top 20 at number 17! It doesn’t take long on that list before getting to under a half million people, and with that London still manages to be in the Top 10! > [@](#): > > \*One of the questions was “Do you see the RCMP as compassionate?” I wanted to answer, “That depends, am I an eastern European in an airport holding a stapler?” But that wasn’t one of my options. 😃 My cousin is RCMP. I still haven’t forgiven him for forgetting to wear his hat at my wedding! ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/51 "2010-06-03T00:27:19Z")
How are the biting flies? ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/52 "2010-06-03T00:40:46Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > How are the biting flies? Well they like to anesthetize you first so you don’t notice them drinking your blood. Then you walk past a mirror and wonder why you’ve got dried up blood all over your head. If you go swimming and there’s a horse fly after you and you go underwater to get away from it, when you come back up, it will still be there, waiting. In the summer when it reaches 100% humidity, you’ll have black flies stuck all over you. In other words, they really suck. Forgot to add: at night if you hold your hand up to an opened, but screened in window, when you remove it, you’ll have a mosquito hand-print on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/53 "2010-06-03T01:16:45Z")
> [@Ibanez](#): > > Can you buy crown land in Northern Ontario ? I eventually want to retire early buy a good piece of land, build a cabin and live off the grid and the local resources. I hear the mosquitos are nasty in NO, true ? The Ministry of Natural Resources doesn’t actively market or sell Crown land for private recreational or residental use. Your best bet is probably to check various real estate listings on the [Multiple Listing Service](http://www.realtor.ca) website. It does appear, though, that you can seek out exclusive rights to a chunk of Crown land for commercial activity. [The MNR website](http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/CrownLand/2ColumnSubPage/STEL02_176761.html) has some more information. And yeah, the bugs can be bad, especially during the day. They don’t seem to be nearly as bad at night though. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/54 "2010-06-03T02:00:39Z")
See, now I always thought that ‘Northern Ontario’ started at Hearst and Horne Payne. Learn something new everyday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421.md?page=2)