Chicago vs. Canada: 9 Ways The Windy City Beats The Great White North

All right, Canada, we get it.

Yadda yadda, Toronto (Canada's New York) these days is claiming to have hustled past Chicago (Canada's Disneyland) to become North America's fourth largest, yadda yadda, poutine.

Sure, Toronto yanking away Chicago's pewter medal at the North American City Olympics appears to square with the facts. It is true that, based on the most recent population data available, Chicago's population has declined to 2,707,120 while Toronto's has climbed to 2,791,140.

And yes, it's probably also true that "Toronto is a desirable location for people to live and work," as its Mayor Rob Ford wrote in a statement.

But you know what else is true? Chicago, for all of our serious problems that have made headlines around the world, is seriously a pretty amazing place to live. Sure, it may not be the happiest place on Earth, but we're very far from miserable. (What's up, Forbes?)

As Neil Steinberg wrote in the Sun-Times this week, Canadians shouldn't be partying quite yet, per the humility of the Canadian Business magazine's take on the situation:

The magazine calmly points out that the Greater Toronto Area is about 6 million people, while Chicago has almost 9.5 million, and that many claim "Toronto still has a long way to go to catch up with Chicago." ... I'd rather be the 500th most important person in Chicago than the King of Canada."

Now, nobody likes a gloater -- right Homer? America! -- but while we're at it, here's a few reasons why Chicago still arguably has Toronto beat, many of them at Canadians' own game: