Mississauga ranked 4th rudest city in GTA, Brampton ranked 3rd rudest in all of Canada

When you’re in Brampton or Mississauga, do you find that people won’t look away from their phones, are noisy or refuse to let you merge in traffic? 

If so, you’re not alone, as it appears these observed behaviours put Mississauga on the list of rudest cities in the GTA and Brampton high up on the list of the rudest cities in all of Canada. 

Preply, a website that connects people with tutors, recently released a survey ranking the levels of rudeness and politeness in major Canadian cities. On its website, Preply says it surveyed over 1,500 Canadian residents across 44 cities to find out which city is the rudest and whether the stereotype of apologizing too much is true.

Preply says it asked respondents how often they see rude behaviours (extreme phone absorption, noisiness and inconsiderate driving, to name a few), how often they swear and what they think of the stereotype that Canadians are more polite than the average person.

According to the survey, the rudest cities in Canada are Vaughan, Coquitlam, B.C., and Brampton. 

As for why Bramptonians come off as rude to respondents, the survey posits that–like residents in nearby Vaughan–people are grumpy from dealing with gridlock and are, therefore, less likely to let someone merge in front of them in traffic. 

The other “rude” cities rounding out the top 10 include Surrey, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Regina, Edmonton, Sudbury and Winnipeg. 

The survey also ranked the rudest cities in the GTA, a vast 7,124 km² area that includes a range of big cities and small towns. According to the survey, rudeness in the region “varies considerably.” 

The rudest cities in the GTA include Vaughan, Brampton, Toronto, Mississauga, Richmond Hill, Burlington, Oshawa, Oakville and Markham. 

But it’s not all bad news when it comes to Canadians’ moods. The survey also ranked the most polite cities, with Markham topping the list. Other polite municipalities include Saguenay, QC, Cape Breton, NS, Chatham-Kent, Levis, QC, Quebec City, St. Catharines, Oakville, Kingston and London. 

The survey also found that over four in five Canadians agree that their fellow countrymen and women are polite and that Canadians swear nine times per day on average (with people from Burlington using more foul language than most). 

As far as apologizing goes, the study found the average Canadian says sorry about nine times a day. In Burlington, however, residents might apologize up to 18 times a day (perhaps for swearing?). 

Oakville residents also like to apologize, uttering “sorry” up to 15 times a day. 

The study also found that Guelph residents are remiss when it comes to picking up after their pets. 

Despite the subject of the study, Preply says Canadians are generally quite pleasant. 

“While our study may have outlined some cities that are ruder than others, it’s important to note that overall, Canadians are relatively polite in public. With an average rudeness score of 5.41 on our scale of one to ten (ten being the rudest) and a strong tendency to apologize, Canada’s reputation still rings true,” the study says.