Question for (eastern) Canadians

[RainDog]

Which cities have the best reputations for people who love to read, people who keep up with new writers, etc.

I would assume Toronto and Montreal, but that's only because I'm a stupid American.

However, I would like to visit your fair area of the world, and I'm interested in independent bookstores. Which ones are the best...not just biggest, of course.

Which areas of the two cities above, and what other cities are areas with large university populations?

Are there "college towns" you really like?

I sort of posted some of this on the tail end of a thread the other day, so I don't know if someone was kind enough to answer or not cause then I went to work and I'd forgotten to bookmark the thread.

Also, which Universities in which areas have the best reputations in which areas?

[david_vincent]

1. A very recent issue - or maybe the current ish - of Maclean's

has their annual rundown on Canadian colleges and universities. It's a pretty complete report. Your library should have it. I can't remember if it breaks down reputation by discipline, though. McGill in Montreal is very strong in hard sciences. Univ. of Toronto is, overall, usually considered the best university in Canada. Univ. of Western Ontario has an outstanding business school, as good as any in the U.S. Montreal has a number of universities, not only McGill but also the Universite de Montreal and Concordia, which is pretty good. Ottawa has a couple, and Kingston has Queen's, which is strong in some areas, while Trent, a smaller school that focuses on innovative undergrad programs, is in Peterborough.
Other universities in southwestern Ontario include McMaster, which IIRC has a good med school, Guelph, which is strong in ag sciences and generally underrated even by Canadians, Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier, and Brock.

[RainDog]

2. Thank you!

Does McGill have both French and English speaking classes?

of all the universities you mentioned, which ones are known for liberal arts? (assuming Toronto would again be considered the top dog, simply by elimination.)

Which areas of Toronto and Montreal are "interesting" -- are there "Greenwich Village" areas of each -- or "left bank" or however you would describe them?

I'll google for Macleans online...and see about getting a hard copy, too.