Ontario

For other uses, see Ontario (disambiguation).

Ontario
Country	Canada
Confederation	July 1, 1867 (1st)
Government
• Lieutenant-Governor	James K. Bartleman
• Premier	Dalton McGuinty
Federal representation	Parliament of Canada
House seats	106 of 338 (31.4%)
Senate seats	24 of 105 (22.9%)
Population
• Total	14,223,942
Canadian postal abbr.	ON
Postal code prefix	K L M N P
Rankings include all provinces and territories

Ontario is the most populous and second-largest in area of Canada's ten provinces. It is found in east-central Canada. Its capital is Toronto. Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is also located in Ontario. As of July 1, 2005 there are 12,541,410 Ontarians (residents of Ontario), representing approximately 37.9% of the total Canadian population and an area of 1,076,395 km² (415,598 sq. mi.).

Geography

Further information: List of Ontario counties

Ontario is bounded on the north by Hudson Bay and James Bay, on the east by Quebec, on the west by Manitoba, and on the south by the American states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Ontario's long American border is formed almost entirely by lakes and rivers, starting in Lake of the Woods and continuing to the Saint Lawrence River near Cornwall; it passes through the four Great Lakes on which Ontario has coastline, namely Lakes Superior, Huron (which includes Georgian Bay), Erie, and Ontario (for which the province is named; the name Ontario itself is a corruption of the Iroquois word "Onitariio" meaning "beautiful lake" or "Kanadario", variously translated as "beautiful water"). There are approximately 250,000 lakes and over 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) of rivers in the province.

The province consists of three main geographical regions:

• the thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, a mainly infertile area rich in minerals and studded with lakes and rivers; sub-regions are Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario.
• the mostly unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the extreme north and northeast, mainly swampy and sparsely forested; and
• the temperate, and therefore most populous region, the fertile Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Valley in the south where agriculture and industry are concentrated. Southern Ontario is further sub-divided into four regions; Southwestern Ontario (parts of which formerly referred to as Western Ontario), Golden Horseshoe, Central Ontario and Eastern Ontario.

File:DSCN0019.JPG

Bruce peninsula

Despite the absence of any mountainous terrain in the province, there are upland regions within the Canadian Shield which traverses the province from northwest to southeast and above the Niagara Escarpment in the south. The highest point is Ishpantina Ridge at 693m a.s.l. located in Northeatsern Ontario.

The Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern section, its northern extent is parts of the Greater Toronto Area at the western end of Lake Ontario. The most significant geographic feature in the south is the Niagara Escarpment which runs from Niagara Falls to Tobermory. The Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 85% of the surface area of the province; conversely Southern Ontario contains 94% of the population (see article Geography of Canada).

Point Pelee National Park is a peninsula in southwestern Ontario (near Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan) that extends into Lake Erie and is the part of Canada's mainland furthest south. Pelee Island in Lake Erie is even further south. Both are south of 42°N – slighty further south than the northern border of California.

Demographics

The major racial/ethnic groups in Ontario are:

• European: 80.9% (Major groups: English, Irish, Scottish, French, German, Italian, Polish)
• South Asian: 4.9%
• Chinese: 3.7%
• Black: 3.6%
• Indigenous: 1.7%
• Filipino: 1.3%
• Latin-American: 0.9%
• Other: 3.0%

The major Religious Groups in Ontario are:

• 34.9% Protestant
• 34.7% Roman Catholic
• 3.1% Muslim
• 2.7% other Christian
• 2.3% Orthodox
• 1.9% Hindu
• 1.7% Jewish
• 1.1% Buddhist
• 0.9% Sikh
• 16.7% other, non-professing

External link: Ontario at Statistics Canada

Increasing immigration from all parts of the world, especially to Toronto and its environs, is rapidly diversifying the province's ethnic makeup. About five per cent of the population of Ontario is Franco-Ontarian.

10 largest municipalities by population

Municipality	2001	1996
Toronto	2,481,494	2,385,421
Ottawa	808,391	721,136
Mississauga (part of Greater Toronto)	612,925	544,382
Hamilton	499,268	467,799
London	336,539	325,669
Brampton (part of Greater Toronto)	325,428	268,251
Markham (part of Greater Toronto)	208,615	173,383
Windsor	208,402	197,694
Kitchener	190,399	178,420
Vaughan (part of Greater Toronto)	182,022	132,549

Climate

Lake Ontario sandbanks during summer

The weather in Ontario is very diverse. The south, including the Greater Toronto Area, receives very hot, humid weather in the summer, as the stronger the Bermuda high pressure over the Atlantic Ocean, the more warm, humid air is transported northward from the Gulf of Mexico. Severe thunderstorms peak in frequency in June and July. The severe weather prone regions are Southwestern and Central Ontario, much of them resulting from the Lake Breeze Front 1.

Northwestern Ontario also receives short periods of hot weather and severe storms despite much of the area being north of 50°N latitude.

In the winter, lake effect snow squalls affect three primary areas in Ontario known as the "snowbelts", the Algoma District in Northeastern Ontario on the east end of Lake Superior; much of the Georgian Bay shoreline including Killarney, Parry Sound District, Muskoka and Simcoe County; the Lake Huron shore from east of Sarnia northward to the Bruce Peninsula.

Wind-whipped snowsqualls or lake effect snow can affect areas much further inland, as far as 100 km (62 mi) or greater from the shore but the heaviest snows usually occur within 20 km (12 mi) from the shoreline.

During winter, all regions of the province may encounter snow squalls making for limited or almost zero visibilty for drivers but the winter is far less severe and shorter in the south than in northern regions.

Toronto: Canada's largest metropolis

Economy

Ontario's rivers, particularly its share of the Niagara River, make it rich in hydroelectric energy. This competitive advantage, as well as excellent transportation links to the American heartland, has contributed to making manufacturing the principal industry, found mainly in the Golden Horseshoe region, the most industrialized area in Canada. Important products include motor vehicles, iron, steel, food, electrical appliances, machinery, chemicals, and paper. Ontario surpassed the American state of Michigan in car production, assembling 2.696 million vehicles in 2004 (see Canada-United States Automotive Agreement).

As a result of steeply declining sales, on November 21, 2005, General Motors announced massive layoffs at production facilities across North America including two large GM plants in Oshawa and a drive train facility in St. Catharines by 2008 resulting in 8,000 job losses in Ontario alone. Subsequently in January 23, 2006 money losing Ford Motor Co. announced between 25,000 and 30,000 layoffs phased until 2012, Ontario was spared the worst, but job losses occurred at the St. Thomas and Windsor casting plant. These losses will be offset by Ford's recent announcement of a hybrid vehicle facility slated to begin production in 2007 at its Oakville plant.

Some economists believe that the North American Free Trade Agreement has contributed to a decline in manufacturing in part of North America's manufacturing "Rust Belt" that includes a portion of Southern Ontario from roughly Windsor east to St. Catharines (south of Toronto). This area and the Greater Toronto region contain the bulk of the auto sector in the province. Increased globalization of the economy has likely played a role as well. Competition with increasing manufacturing power from China also plays a huge role in the transformation of the area's economy from an industry-oriented one to a service-oriented one.

Toronto is the centre of Canada's financial services and banking industry. Surburban cities in the Greater Toronto Area like Brampton and Mississauga are large product distribution centres, in addition to having automobile related industries. The information technology sector is also important, especially in Markham, Waterloo and Ottawa. Hamilton is the largest steel manufacturing centre and Sarnia is the centre for the petrochemical production. Construction employs about 7% of the work force. Ontario has enjoyed a boom in this sector over the last ten years due to steadily increasing new house and condominium construction as well as low mortgage rates and climbing prices, particularly in the Greater Toronto area. Mining and the forest products industry, notably pulp and paper, are important to the economy of the Canadian Shield of Northern Ontario. Tourism contributes heavily to the economy of Central Ontario, peaking during the summer months owing to the abundance of fresh water recreation and wilderness found there. At other times of the year, hunting, skiing and snowmobiling are among the out of high-season draws. This region has some of the most vibrant fall colour displays anywhere on the continent and tours directed at overseas visitors are organized to see them. Tourism also plays a key role in border cities with large casinos, among them Windsor and Niagara Falls which attract many US visitors.

Nominal Gross Domestic Product in 2003 was an estimated C$494.229 billion (40.6% of the Canadian total), larger than the GDP of Austria, Belgium or Sweden. Broken down by sector, the primary sector is 1.8% of total GDP, secondary sector 28.5%, and service sector 69.7%.

Further economic information on provincial GDP etc. at Ontario Facts

Professional Sports Teams

Major League Baseball

• Toronto Blue Jays

National Hockey League

• Toronto Maple Leafs
• Ottawa Senators

National Basketball Association

• Toronto Raptors

National Lacrosse League

• Toronto Rock

Canadian Football League

• Toronto Argonauts
• Hamilton Tiger-Cats
• Ottawa Renegades

American Hockey League

• Toronto Marlies
• Hamilton Bulldogs

Minor League Baseball

• Ottawa Lynx

Agriculture

Once the dominant industry, agriculture occupies a small percentage of the population. The number of farms has decreased from 68,633 in 1991 to 59,728 in 2001, but farms have increased in average size. Cattle, small grains and dairy were the common types of farms in the 2001 census. The fruit, grape and vegetable growing industry is located primarily on the Niagara Peninsula and along Lake Erie. The Ontario origins of Massey-Ferguson Ltd., once one of the largest farm implement manufacturers in the world, indicate the importance agriculture once had to the Ontario economy (see Geography of Canada for more detail).

History

Pre-1867

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the region was inhabited both by Algonquian (Ojibwa, Cree and Algonquin) and Iroquoian (Iroquois and Huron) tribes. The French explorer Étienne Brûlé explored part of the area in 1610-12. The English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed the area for England, but Samuel de Champlain reached Lake Huron in 1615 and French missionaries began to establish posts along the Great Lakes. French settlement was hampered by their hostilities with the Iroquois, who would ally themselves with the British.

Map of Ontario, showing CMA's and CA's

The British established trading posts on Hudson Bay in the late 17th century and began a struggle for domination of Ontario. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War by awarding nearly all of France's North American possessions (New France) to Britain. The region was annexed to Quebec in 1774. From 1783 to 1796, the United Kingdom granted United Empire Loyalists leaving the United States following the American Revolution 200 acres (0.8 km²) of land and other items with which to rebuild their lives. This measure substantially increased the population of Canada west of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence during this period, a fact recognized by the Constitutional Act of 1791, which split Quebec into The Canadas: Upper Canada southwest of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence, and Lower Canada east of it. John Graves Simcoe was appointed Upper Canada's first Lieutenant-Governor in 1793.

American troops in the War of 1812 invaded Upper Canada across the Niagara River and the Detroit River but were successfully pushed back by British and Native American forces. The Americans gained control of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, however, and during the Battle of York occupied the Town of York (later named Toronto) in 1813. Not able to hold the town, the departing soldiers burned it to the ground.

After the War of 1812, many settlers from the British Isles immigrated to Upper Canada, and began to chafe against the aristocratic Family Compact that governed the region, much as the Château Clique ruled Lower Canada. Accordingly, rebellion in favour of responsible government rose in both regions; Louis-Joseph Papineau led the Lower Canada Rebellion and William Lyon Mackenzie led the Upper Canada Rebellion. For more on the rebellions of 1837, see History of Canada.

Although both rebellions were crushed, the British government sent Lord Durham to investigate the causes of the unrest. He recommended that self-government be granted and that Lower and Upper Canada be re-joined in an attempt to assimilate the Québécois. Accordingly, the two colonies were merged into the Province of Canada by the Act of Union (1840), with Ontario becoming known as Canada West. Parliamentary self-government was granted in 1848. Due to heavy immigration the population of Canada West more than doubled by 1851 over the previous decade, and as a result for the first time the English-speaking population of Canada West surpassed the French-speaking population of Canada East.

A political stalemate between the French- and English-speaking legislators, as well as fear of aggression from the United States during the American Civil War, led the political elite to hold a series of conferences in the 1860s to effect a broader federal union of all British North American colonies. The British North America Act took effect on July 1, 1867, establishing the Dominion of Canada, initially with four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The Province of Canada was divided at this point into Ontario and Quebec so that each linguistic group would have its own province. Both Quebec and Ontario were required by section 93 of the BNA Act to safeguard existing educational rights and privileges of the Protestant and Catholic minorities. Neither province had a constitutional requirement to protect its French- or English-speaking minority. Toronto was formally established as Ontario's provincial capital at this time.

From 1867 to 1896

Once constituted as a province, Ontario proceeded to assert its economic and legislative power. In 1872, the lawyer Oliver Mowat became premier, and remained as premier until 1896. He fought for provincial rights, weakening the power of the federal government in provincial matters, usually through well-argued appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. His battles with the federal government greatly decentralized Canada, giving the provinces far more power than John A. Macdonald had intended. He consolidated and expanded Ontario's educational and provincial institutions, created districts in Northern Ontario, and fought tenaciously to ensure that those parts of Northwestern Ontario not historically part of Upper Canada (the vast areas north and west of the Lake Superior-Hudson Bay watershed, known as the District of Keewatin) would become part of Ontario, a victory embodied in the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889. He also presided over the emergence of the province into the economic powerhouse of Canada. Mowat was the creator of what is often called Empire Ontario.

Beginning with Sir John A. Macdonald's the National Policy (1879) and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1875-1885) through Northern Ontario and the Prairies to British Columbia, Ontario manufacturing and industry flourished.

From 1896 to the present

Mineral exploitation began in the late 19th century, leading to the rise of important mining centres like Sudbury, Cobalt and Timmins. The province harnessed its water power to generate hydro-electric power, and created the state-controlled Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, later Ontario Hydro. The availability of cheap electric power further facilitated the development of industry. In 1904, the Canadian automobile industry was launched in what is now Windsor, Ontario with the establishment of the Ford Motor Company of Canada. General Motors of Canada Ltd. was formed in 1918. The motor vehicle industry would become the major industrial component of the Ontario economy.

In July 1912, the Conservative government of Sir James P. Whitney issued Regulation 17 which severely limited the availability of French-language schooling to the province's French-speaking minority. French-Canadians reacted with outrage, journalist Henri Bourassa denouncing the "Prussians of Ontario". It was eventually repealed in 1927.

Influenced by events in the United States, the government of Sir William Hearst introduced prohibition of alcoholic drinks in 1916 with the passing of the Ontario Temperance Act. Prohibition came to an end in 1927 with the establishment of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario by the government of George Howard Ferguson. The sale and consumption of liquor, wine, and beer are still controlled by some of the most extreme laws in North America to ensure that strict community standards and revenue generation from the alcohol retail monopoly are unheld.

The post-World War II period was one of exceptional prosperity and growth. Ontario, and the Greater Toronto Area in particular, have been the recipients of most immigration to Canada. Changes in federal immigration law have led to a massive influx of non-Europeans since the 1980s. From a largely ethnically British province, Ontario has now become very culturally diverse.

The nationalist movement in Quebec, particularly after the election of the Parti Québécois in 1976, contributed to driving many businesses out of Quebec to Ontario, and Toronto surpassed Montreal as the largest city and economic centre of Canada.

Ontario has no official language, but English is considered the de facto language. French language services are available to the legal and educational systems under the French Language Services Act of 1990.

Government

File:OntarioGovLogo.gif

The logo of the Government of Ontario

The British North America Act 1867 section 69 stipulated "There shall be a Legislature for Ontario consisting of the Lieutenant Governor and of One House, styled the Legislative Assembly of Ontario". The assembly has 103 seats representing ridings elected in a first-past-the-post system across the province. The legislative buildings at Queen's Park in Toronto are the seat of government. Following the Westminster system, the leader of the party currently holding the most seats in the assembly is known as the "Premier and President of the Council" (Executive Council Act R.S.O. 1990). The Premier chooses the cabinet or Executive Council whose members are deemed "ministers of the Crown". Although the Legislative Assembly Act (R.S.O. 1990) refers to members of the assembly, the legislators are now called MPPs (Members of the Provincial Parliament) in English and députés de l'Assemblée législative in French, but they have also been called MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly), and both are acceptable. The title of Prime Minister of Ontario, while permissible in English and correct in French (le Premier ministre), is generally avoided in favour of "Premier" to avoid confusion with the Prime Minister of Canada.

Politics

Currently under a Liberal government headed by Dalton McGuinty

Main article: Politics of Ontario

Territorial evolution 1788-1899

Land was not legally subdivided into administrative units until a treaty had been concluded with the native peoples ceding the land (see Royal Proclamation of 1763). In 1788, while part of the Province of Quebec (1763-1791), southern Ontario was divided into four districts: Hesse, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Nassau.

In 1792, the four districts were renamed: Hesse became the Western District, Lunenburg became the Eastern District, Mecklenburg became the Midland District, and Nassau became the Home District. Counties were created within the districts.

By 1798, there were eight districts: Eastern, Home, Johnstown, London, Midland, Newcastle, Niagara, and Western.

By 1826, there were eleven districts: Bathurst, Eastern, Gore, Home, Johnstown, London, Midland, Newcastle, Niagara, Ottawa, and Western.

By 1838, there were twenty districts: Bathurst, Brock, Colbourne, Dalhousie, Eastern, Gore, Home, Huron, Johnstown, London, Midland, Newcastle, Niagara, Ottawa, Prince Edward, Simcoe, Talbot, Victoria, Wellington, and Western.

In 1849, the districts of southern Ontario were abolished by the Province of Canada and county governments took over certain municipal responsibilities. The Province of Canada also began creating districts in sparsely populated Northern Ontario with the establishment of Algoma District and Nipissing District in 1858.

The northern and western boundaries of Ontario were in dispute after Confederation. Ontario's right to Northwestern Ontario was determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1884 and confirmed by the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. By 1899, there were seven northern districts: Algoma, Manitoulin, Muskoka, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, and Thunder Bay. Four more northern districts were created between 1907 and 1912: Cochrane, Kenora, Sudbury and Temiskaming.

• Early Districts and Counties 1788-1899

See also

• Canada
• Franco-Ontarian
• List of Ontario-related topics
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario
• Lieutenant-Governors of Ontario
• List of Ontario premiers
• List of communities in Ontario
• List of Ontario counties (census divisions)
• List of cities in Canada
• List of Canadian provincial and territorial symbols
• Coat of Arms of Ontario
• Flag of Ontario
• List of Ontario Universities
• List of Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology
• Ontario Academic Credit
• Northern Ontario
• Northwestern Ontario
• Ontario Court of Appeal
• Ontario Superior Court of Justice
• Order of Ontario
• Timeline of Ontario history

External links

• Government of Ontario
• Tourism Ontario
• Map
• Ontario MPP Contact Information
• Daily News and Guide to Ontario
• Andy's Northern Ontario Wildflower Home Page
• Learn about and see photos of historic bridges in southwestern Ontario

Canada