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Still, it's the provinces that provide the most glaring example of Canada's failure to keep up with its own evolution. Not only have they outlived their usefulness, these relics have become a divisive force that stand in the way of Canadian cities, which is where the future will unfold. Just look at Calgary and Edmonton, which despite being the most populous centres in Canada's richest province, are dull, dreary and decades behind the times.

The fact is that the gap between Canada and its political system has grown into a chasm. Our leaders – civic, provincial and federal – no longer reflect or operate in the real world. Unencumbered by the demands of reality, they are free to devote their time to their own needs and inter-governmental squabbling. It's really all they are able to do.

The likely winner, however, is Toronto landscape architecture firm, Janet Rosenberg Associates. It envisions a square by the water, hard-surfaced and dotted with armchairs. The highlight would be an environmental artwork by California-based Ned Kahn.

The three-part piece would have a shallow pond, a "roof" and a giant 20- by 13-metre "screen" made of clear "pixels" that blow in the wind.

The idea is to embrace the weather, to make it a part of the square, to illustrate it somehow and actually make it visible.

The double row of trees that extends along the lake's edge would break up here to allow for maximum access to the water.

Though the three finalists are all quite different, in their own way each takes conventional notions of public space and carefully turns it upside down. This is exactly what Toronto's waterfront needs.

It's reassuring, too, that the square will sit on land that could easily have been ignored and left untouched. Yet it is precisely this sort of detail that will bring the waterfront to life and attract an audience beyond the immediate.

Perhaps the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. – now Waterfront Toronto – should create an idea bank, an inventory of schemes that can be brought out when opportunities arise. In this case, all three finalists have done projects on the waterfront; it might be that this familiarity allowed them to produce such excellent schemes.

"I'm very excited," says Chris Glaisek, Toronto Waterfront vice-president of planning. "This space didn't exist, but now I think it's going to be one of the best public places on the water's edge. It'll be a space people love to come to."

Relax, Toronto, all is not lost; the wheels of change grind no slower here than in any other city.

So says Dutch landscape architect Adriaan Geuze, whose firm, West 8, is now redesigning the central waterfront in partnership with Toronto's DTAH.

"Bureaucratic resistance is normal," he says, smiling reassuringly. "It's the same everywhere."

Geuze makes it clear he's not advocating the complete abolition of the car; he feels a certain amount of traffic is healthy. Besides, he adds, large pedestrian zones can "become scary places at night."

The intention, he insists, is to establish a state of equality between cars and people: "People will be happy, shop owners will be happy, and police will be happy."

"Toronto is ready to have a waterfront with its own identity," Geuze asserts. "It's a marvellous site, a south-facing waterfront. What more you could ask for?"

The answer, many might say, is greater public access. As well as controlling the car, we must ensure the waterfront is as inviting as possible. That's not to say people won't be living and working on the lake – they definitely will – but as Geuze likes to say, it's a question of balance. The point must be that we won't have to live on the waterfront to feel at home there.