Certainly Toronto is safer than the west. When a comparison is made, it is the rate, and not the absolute number that is important.
To take an extreme example, suppose a city with 100, 000 population has 1000 murders. Suppose a city with 1,000,000 population has 1001 murders. Then according to your absurd argument, the city with 1 million population is less safe (since it has more murders), which is nothing short of idiotic.
When two cities are compared it is the rate of crime, per 100,000 population that is important, not the absolute number.
So yes, Toronto is definitely safer than Vancouver or Winnipeg.