The current provincial government in Ontario hates Toronto and has repeatedly enacted policies to make life in the city worse. I'm pretty sure they're aware that the province exists outside of the GTA. Otherwise, who exactly are they pandering to?
Seriously? My (previous) rural area has trouble getting doctors, the hospital is ok but not great, schools are not good, road costs for secondary highways have been dumped on municipalities, the OMB is clearly prodeveloper and indifferent to local concerns. I lived and live in areas with high Francophone populations, and Amanda Simard left the Conservative caucus over language and education. She is a local hero over that, btw. And the present government has reintroduced the OMB in its old form. And is very prodevelopment which really hits rural areas, we don't have the population to fight big companies over environmental issues, and the rural residents are the ones who will have to live with the results. Of course the same holds true for urban areas, but with more people comes more community resources.
I wasn't talking about the present provincial government, however, I was talking about decades of indifference. Highway example - highway 17 starts at Hawkesbury. Westbound is a bumpy ride to Ottawa. Secondary highway maintence downloaded to local municipalites, remember, and these are not municipalities with lots of money. Eastbound ends at the ramp for 417 eastbound to Montreal. There is no ramp to the 417 westbound to Ottawa. 417 was built for the 1984 Montreal Olympics, but in the decades since no government has bothered to add 2 ramps, one for 17 to 417 westbound, and one on 417 eastbound to get onto 17 for Hawkesbury. The local MPPs have tried, no success. So the only way to get to Ottawa is take 17, or take roundabout routes to get to 417. And no commuter train.
So
There is a reason Toronto is not popular elsewhere.