Queen Elizabeth looks at a bowl given to her as a gift, as Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, left, looks on. Photo: Kevin Frayer/AFP

Toronto — It's a favourite Canadian pastime to hate Toronto, to deride it as ugly, loud, crowded, expensive and overly populated with buffoons — and the Queen might now be an avid participant in the hobby.

Who could blame her after what she's seen of Toronto in her latest visit to the city, this time on her Jubilee tour?

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Backgrounder: Royal Visit 2002

Instead of the city's many colourful ethnic neighbourhoods, expansive parks, stately tree-lined streets, historical sites and chic shopping and dining areas, the Queen's first night in Toronto on Wednesday involved a long and noisy walkabout in a cavernous conference hall featuring some 80 exhibits meant to present a slice of Ontario life.

The event was planned months in advance for the Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, but was roundly criticized as being one of the worst stops so far on the monarch's Jubilee tour to Canada. It featured everything from a town crier whose yells could barely be heard over the ear-splitting cacophony of the festivities to displays from the Toronto fire department and a cow-milking enthusiast.

What some described as a dreary speech by the province's Premier, Ernie Eves, capped the evening.

"If, upon returning to their suite at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, they did not immediately head for the bar, it was because they were already stupefied," National Post columnist Christie Blatchford wrote Thursday.

Some of Toronto's best tour operators were equally appalled.

"It seemed like a bit of a disaster, but that's what happens when you let governments and bureaucrats organize things they're not qualified to organize," said John Anderson, director of operations for Personal Tours, a private tour company.

"We would have loved to have shown the Queen around. This city has so much to see, from geological wonders like the Scarborough Bluffs to historical landmarks like the old downtown courthouse on Adelaide Street to Yorkville, the Beaches and all the other great neighbourhoods in Toronto. We would have shown her the early days of Toronto and weaved a wonderful cloth and brought her up to current days."

Robert Townshend of Total Advantage Travel and Tours was just as perplexed that organizers considered an indoor exhibit at a crowded conference hall on the largely abandoned grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition just the ticket for the Queen of the Commonwealth.

"What a waste, just taking her down to the CNE grounds with no opportunity for the public to see her or for her to see the many great parts of Toronto," Mr. Townshend said.

"If it was just Toronto they wanted her to see, I would have taken her to Little Italy, Greektown, all the wonderful ethnic neighbourhoods in this city where she would have seen what Toronto is really all about."

There was no hope of that on Thursday, either. Instead of seeing the city, the Queen was whisked west to the bedroom community of Oakville, where she visited a community college, and Hamilton, where she addressed soldiers and presented them with new regimental flags.

She leaves for Fredericton at noon on Friday.

Kyle Rae, a Toronto city councillor, said he was astonished at the dearth of imagination that went into organizing the Queen's Toronto event.

"I was living in England 25 years ago, during the Silver Jubilee, and still remember what a public and joyous and celebratory time it was. Ontario took what should have been a public celebration and turned it into a private function for political hacks, and a badly staged one at that."

The openly gay Rae said the Queen should have been shown Toronto's neighbourhoods, including its vibrant gay village.

"She would have been warmly welcomed by the queens of Church Street," he laughed.