Developers in Toronto are very cheap compared to large cities in the US like NYC and SF. A lot of really good Canadian developers move to the US because they get paid 2-3x as much.
There is very little "startup tech culture" in Toronto itself which is good or bad depending on what you want. That being said Kitchener/Waterloo, although very small, is actually closest feeling I've seen to SV with regards to engineering focus and community. It's about 2 hours outside of Toronto.
Most early stage startup investing in Canada is done by BDC (or Business Development Canada). Even with incubators like Extreme Ventures, the company she is working at in the article did Extreme, the majority of the money they invest is from the government of Canada. Canadian founders I know who have taken Canadian money always say that you are better off taking money from investors in the US.
Canadians, in general, are more risk averse. Even Americans who wouldn't start a company understand what entrepreneurship is about as it is kind of baked into the American raison-d'etre -- but this is not the case in Canada.