Hello,
I have lived in a bunch of those small towns and they aren't so artsy and aren't so good for single people. To be honest, if you are looking 1 hr from toronto then you are looking in the suburbs which have very little other then the typical 'cookie cutter stores' and people farms (also known as new housing subdivisions). Some of the small towns outside Kitchener Waterloo area have some life but it is just over an hour outside of toronto.

I would take a look around the Outskirts of Ottawa since it has a lot of cultural events being the nations capital