Right now, if you want an internet domain name that screams 'Toronto,' your best bet is to actually invest thousands of kilometres away in the far-off island kingdom of Tonga, which has .to as its internet country code top-level domain.

But that all could soon change according to a new lobbying file opened by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), which could create a brand new top-level domain code specifically for the City of Toronto.

News of the new domain appeared in the City of Toronto's lobbyist registrar in a March 31 application that claims "CIRA will be discussing the merits for the City of Toronto to apply or not to apply for the .TORONTO top-level domain when the next application round is opened by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers."

It opens up some amazing possibilities for joke URLs like youcantafford.toronto or the905isnot.toronto, or even more serious ones for existing entities like universityof.toronto or cityof.toronto.

And it isn't just a novelty. Top-level domains like the .ca seen at the end of many Canadian websites immediately indicate to online shoppers and other web surfers that they are in the right place, and not browsing prices in foreign currency or accidentally looking at a similarly named business abroad.

Though currency is not as much of a factor when introducing city-specific domains, they can still help to establish a sense of place for businesses trying to fine-tune their online presence.

Dozens of cities around the globe already have their own top-level domains, including a few right here in North America like Boston (.boston), Miami (.miami), New York City (.nyc), and Las Vegas (.vegas), while the province of Quebec also has its own .quebec domain.