As someone who has been an expat for far longer for you, I understand some of what you speak of. Well, maybe not the love for Toronto! (BC boy) But I can assure you, after more time away, your views will change again, and you will be able to view Canada in much more realistic ways. For now, your anti-US edge still shows: there is no conceivable way US embassy security would "train their guns" on you while you were running - hyperbolic nonsense. And the comments on the election of Trump are also revealing. (I note that it wasn't enough to convince you to move back to Canada). You cannot reduce one country to negative cliches without acknowledging you are doing the same by romanticizing Canada. It's fascinating to see what happens when Canadian liberalism runs up against the real world outside its borders.

Yes, you are incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to live and work in New York. Don't diminish that by pining over a vision of Canada that only exists now in old NFB footage.