Ontario

Ontario is the southernmost province of Canada. It is in Central Canada and is the country's most populous province. In the 2021 Canadian census, more than 14 million people lived there. That is about 38.5% of the country's population. Ontario is the second-largest province by total area, after Quebec. It is the fourth-largest jurisdiction among all the Canadian provinces and territories. Its capital is Toronto, the country's most populous city. The province is also home to the country's national capital, Ottawa.

Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west. To the north, it meets Hudson Bay and James Bay. Quebec lies to the east and northeast. To the south, Ontario borders the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania (through Lake Erie), and New York. Most of Ontario's 2,700-kilometre (1,700 mi) border with the United States follows rivers and lakes. It runs from the western Lake of the Woods eastward along major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes system. Only about one kilometre (0.62 mi) is land border. That land is made up of portages, including the Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border in Quetico-Superior Country. Detroit–Windsor connects Ontario to Michigan. It is North America's largest and wealthiest transborder agglomeration.

Most of Ontario's people and arable land are in Southern Ontario. Agriculture is still an important industry there. However, the province's economy depends heavily on manufacturing.

Northern Ontario is very different. It has few people, cold winters, and large forests. Its major industries are mining and forestry.

Etymology

The name Ontario is thought to come from Indigenous origins. It may be Ontarí:io, a Huron (Wyandot) word meaning "great lake." It may also be skanadario, which means "beautiful water" or "sparkling water" in the Iroquoian languages.

Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes. The name was first used in 1641 to describe the land on the north shore of the easternmost part of the Great Lakes. It became the official name of the new province at Confederation in 1867.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Ontario

See also: List of census divisions of Ontario, Geography of Canada, and List of parks and protected areas of Ontario

The Canadian Shield covers more than half of Ontario's land. It has many lakes and rivers and is rich in minerals, but it is hard to farm. Northern Ontario covers about 87% of the province. It is split into Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The Hudson Bay Lowlands in the far north are mostly swampy and have very few people. Southern Ontario is home to about 94% of the population. It has four parts: Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, the Golden Horseshoe, and Southwestern Ontario. The highest point is Ishpatina Ridge. It is 693 metres (2,274 feet) above sea level, in Temagami.

Southern Ontario is home to Niagara Falls, which is part of the Niagara Escarpment. The Saint Lawrence Seaway lets ships travel from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay. Point Pelee, near Windsor and Detroit, Michigan, is the southernmost point of Canada's mainland.

Climate

See also: Climate of Ontario

Ontario's climate changes with the season and the location. Cold air from the north affects the province most in winter. Warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean also plays a part. The Great Lakes help keep winters in southern Ontario milder than in areas farther inland. Northern Ontario has much colder winters, and snow stays on the ground for much of the year.

Severe thunderstorms happen most often in summer. Windsor has the most lightning strikes in Canada. In a typical year, Ontario has about 11 confirmed tornado touchdowns. Hurricane Hazel hit Southern Ontario, centred on Toronto, in October 1954.

History

Main article: History of Ontario

Further information: Monarchy in Ontario § History

Main article: Settlement of the Americas

Main articles: Exploration of North America, New France, and Pays d'en Haut

Main article: Province of Quebec (1763–1791)

Main article: Upper Canada

Main article: Canada West

Paleo-Indians were the first people to live on the land that is now Ontario. They arrived about 11,000 years ago, after crossing the Bering land bridge from Asia. For many years, Indigenous groups hunted, gathered, and traded along the St. Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes. Later, they began to grow crops. Many groups, including the Wendat (Huron) and Ojibwe, lived in Ontario. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain started France's first colony in New France. It was called the Habitation de Québec, and it is now Quebec City. French explorers called the region Pays d'en Haut ("Upper Country"). In the Seven Years' War, the British defeated the French. Under the Treaty of Paris 1763, France gave most of its North American lands to Britain. The British then reorganised the land into the Province of Quebec.

After the American Revolution, about 5,000 United Empire Loyalists moved to what is now Ontario. In 1791, the Constitutional Act of 1791 split Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada. During the War of 1812, American troops invaded, but they were pushed back. They did capture the capital, York, in the Battle of York. Later, William Lyon Mackenzie led the Upper Canada Rebellion, which quickly failed. In 1841, the two colonies joined to form the Province of Canada. Upper Canada became known as Canada West. On July 1, 1867, the British North America Act took effect and created the Dominion of Canada. Ontario was one of its first four provinces. Toronto became Ontario's capital. In 1872, the lawyer Oliver Mowat became Premier of Ontario. Ontario's factories and industries grew, and the car industry became very important to its economy. After World War II, the province grew quickly and became very diverse. Today, English is the official language of Ontario. There are also French-speaking communities across Ontario.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Ontario

See also: List of population centres in Ontario

Main article: Demographics of Ontario § Ethnic origins

Main article: Demographics of Ontario § Visible minorities and Aboriginals

Main article: Demographics of Ontario § Religion

Main article: Demographics of Ontario § Language

See also: Franco-Ontarian

In the 2021 census, Ontario had 14,223,942 people. They lived in 5,491,201 of the province's 5,929,250 homes. This was an increase of 5.8 per cent from 13,448,494 people in 2016. In 2021, the province had about 15.9 people per square kilometre. The largest cities were Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener, London and Oshawa. Each had more than 300,000 people. Most Ontarians are of English or other European descent, including large Scottish, Irish and Italian communities. Slightly less than 5% of people are Franco-Ontarian, which means their first language is French. Over the last two centuries, immigration has been a huge source of population growth in Ontario. It has mattered more than moving from other provinces or having more babies. Newer immigrant communities include East Asians, South Asians, Caribbeans, Latin Americans, Europeans and Africans. Most of these groups have settled in the bigger cities. In 2021, 34.3% of people were visible minorities, and 2.9% were Indigenous. Most Indigenous people were of First Nations and Métis descent. A small number were Inuit. The Indigenous and visible minority populations have been growing faster than the rest of Ontario.

In 2021, 52.1% of Ontarians were Christian. The largest groups were the Roman Catholic Church (26.0%) and the United Church of Canada (4.1%). Other religions included Islam (6.7%) and Hinduism (4.1%). 31.6% of Ontarians had no religious affiliation. Catholics are represented by the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, and Anglicans are represented by the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario. The main language of Ontario is English. It is the province's de facto official language. About 97.2% of Ontarians can speak English, although only 69.5% reported English as their mother tongue in the 2016 Census. English and French are the official languages of Ontario's courts. English is also one of Canada's two official languages, along with French. In the 2021 census, the most spoken languages were English, French, Hindi, Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Italian and Urdu. Franco-Ontarians live mostly in the northeast, east and far south of the province. Under the French Language Services Act, provincial services must be available in French if at least 10% of an area's people name French as their native language. They must also be available if a city has at least 5,000 French speakers. Many other languages are spoken in Ontario, including Malayalam, Marathi, Sinhalese, Somali, Tagalog and Telugu.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Ontario

Ontario is Canada's leading manufacturing province. In 2004, it made 52% of the country's factory goods. Its biggest trading partner is the American state of Michigan. In 2012 and 2013, the credit rating agencies Moody's, S&P, and Dominion Bond Rating Service gave strong ratings to Ontario debt. The province's public debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to be 38.4% in the fiscal year 2023–2024.

Pulp and paper, other forest products, and mining are important to Northern Ontario. As of 2011, about 200,000 hectares are clearcut each year, and herbicides for hardwood suppression are used on a third of that area. There has been debate about the Ring of Fire mineral deposit, which is valued at CAD$60 billion, and about whether the province can afford to spend CAD$2.25 billion on a road from the Trans-Canada Highway near Kenora to the deposit. Ontario's natural resources, its transport links, and its Great Lakes, which let ocean ships such as container ships reach the province, have helped make manufacturing its main industry. Most of this manufacturing is in the Golden Horseshoe, the largest industrial area in Canada. The southern end of that region is part of the North American Rust Belt. Hamilton is Canada's largest steel-making city, followed closely by Sault Ste. Marie, and Sarnia is the centre of petrochemical production. Hamilton Harbour, which can be seen from the QEW Skyway bridge, is an industrial wasteland. In 2013, Stelco, owned by U.S. Steel, announced it would close in 2014, costing 875 jobs. Algoma Steel still runs a plant in Sault Ste Marie.

Ontario passed Michigan in car production, assembling more than 2,696,000 vehicles in 2004. Car makers have plants across the province, including Chrysler, General Motor (GM), Honda in Alliston, Ford Motor Company (Ford), and Toyota. In 2005, GM announced large layoffs across North America, including at two Oshawa plants and a drive train facility in St. Catharines, which caused 8,000 job losses in Ontario alone. In 2006, Ford announced 25,000 to 30,000 layoffs spread out until 2012. Ontario was spared the worst, but jobs were lost at the St Thomas facility and the Windsor Casting plant. New plants are also coming, including a hybrid vehicle facility at Ford's Oakville plant and GM's return of the Camaro, which will be built in Oshawa. In December 2008, Toyota opened the Toyota RAV4 plant in Woodstock. Ontario has not yet fully recovered from the big layoffs during the Great Recession. Its unemployment rate was 7.3% in May 2013, compared with 8.7% in January 2010. The Greater Toronto Area is a centre of business, finance, insurance, banking, and industry. The federal government is the largest single employer in the National Capital Region, which centres on Ottawa and Gatineau. Information technology is important, especially in Silicon Valley North in Ottawa and in the Waterloo Region, where BlackBerry has its headquarters. Tourism is big in Central Ontario, peaking in summer, and hunting, skiing, and snowmobiling are popular in other seasons. Border cities with large casinos, such as Windsor, Cornwall, Sarnia, and Niagara Falls, also depend on tourism.

Agriculture was once the dominant industry but now employs a small share of the workforce. Massey Ferguson, a farm-implement maker, was founded in the province in 1847. Farms are fewer and larger, and better machines have increased food supply for a growing population. The wine industry is mainly on the Niagara Peninsula and in Prince Edward County, and tobacco farms are found along the northern shore of Lake Erie. Holland Marsh near Newmarket grows market vegetables. The Corn Belt covers much of southwestern Ontario, and apple orchards line Nottawasaga Bay. Tobacco production, centred in Norfolk County, has declined, allowing crops like hazelnuts and ginseng to grow. However, urban sprawl and farmland severances have caused the loss of thousands of acres of farmland each year. To protect farmland and green spaces, the governments introduced greenbelts around Ottawa and the Golden Horseshoe.

Ontario's rivers make it rich in hydroelectric power. In 2009, Ontario Power Generation produced 70% of the province's electricity, which was 51% nuclear, 39% hydroelectric, and 10% fossil-fuel power. Hydro One controls the transmission of power. Ontario has had to buy power from Quebec and Michigan during peak times. The Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 takes a two-pronged approach to commercializing renewable energy. It aims to bring more renewable energy sources to the province and to adopt more energy-efficiency measures to help conserve energy. The Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, the second largest operational nuclear power plant in the world, uses eight CANDU reactors to make electricity. Ontario had the most wind energy capacity in Canada, with 4,900 MW, or 41% of the country's total.

See also: Energy policy of Canada, Renewable energy in Canada, and Smart grid

Government, law and politics

Further information: Monarchy in Ontario, Executive Council of Ontario, and Local government in Ontario

Ontario has a Legislative Assembly of Ontario with 124 seats. People are elected from ridings across the province using first-past-the-post voting. The government meets at the legislative buildings at Queen's Park. The leader of the party with the most seats becomes the "Premier." The Premier chooses the cabinet, which is also called the Executive Council. The province's law officers, the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General, answer to the Legislature. The Municipal Act is the main law that governs towns and cities in Ontario, except for the City of Toronto.

Further information: Courts of Ontario

Ontario has many political parties. The four main parties are the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, the Ontario New Democratic Party, the Ontario Liberal Party, and the Green Party of Ontario. In the 2018 Ontario general election, the Progressive Conservatives won a majority government under Doug Ford, who became Premier. The province is divided into three types of areas: single-tier municipalities, upper-tier municipalities (regional municipalities or counties), and districts. Cities and towns can be counted as a "Census Metropolitan Area," which means a core city is counted together with nearby communities where people commute to work.

Main article: Politics of Ontario

See also: Ontario general elections

See also: Golden Horseshoe, National Capital Region (Canada), and Detroit–Windsor

Education

Main article: Education in Ontario

Ontario has four publicly funded school systems. There are English and French public schools, and Catholic school systems in both languages. About half of the publicly funded school boards in Ontario are Catholic. A few publicly funded schools have religious links. One example is Eden High School, which is run by the District School Board of Niagara. In 2021, two million children were students in the province. Elementary schools teach kindergarten and grades 1 to 8. Secondary schools teach grades 9 to 12. Four- and five-year-olds may join kindergarten programs. They do not have to attend by law until they turn six that year.

Higher education

Main article: Higher education in Ontario

See also: List of colleges in Ontario and List of universities in Ontario

Higher education in Ontario covers education after high school and job skills training. It is overseen by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. The current minister is Jill Dunlop. Recognized institutions include universities, colleges, and private career colleges. Universities and colleges in Canada are similar in some ways, but they have different goals. Universities focus more on academic study, while colleges focus more on work-integrated learning. Both can offer undergraduate degree programs. Some programs are partnerships between a college and a university. Some students choose college because it is often more affordable.

Culture

Category:Works about Ontario, Hollywood North, Southern Ontario Gothic, Northern Ontario § Culture, and Franco-Ontarians § Culture

Main article: List of museums in Ontario

See also: Music of Ontario and Canadian art

Main article: List of professional sports teams in Ontario

Many cultural events and festivals happen all over Ontario. People enjoy outdoor activities like fishing for walleye and hunting moose. Ontario has more than 250,000 lakes and borders four of the five Great Lakes. About 15% of the province's surface area is water, so boating is very popular here. In 2019, the government passed a law that created the Poet Laureate of Ontario. Ontario is home to the largest museum in the province and in Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. It opened in 1912. It is also Canada's most popular museum, with over one million visitors each year. Its famous objects include Goedo, a Barosaurus, the world's largest faceted cerussite gem, Light of the Desert, four large totem poles from the Nisga'a and Haida peoples, and a Neo-Babylonian wall relief called Striding Lion. Ottawa is in Ontario, so the province also has several national museums. These include the Canadian War Museum, which focuses on Canada's military history, the Canadian Museum of Nature, which focuses on natural history, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum, which focuses on the history of science and technology in Canada.

Ontario plays an especially important role in Canadian music, especially in Toronto, Canada's largest city. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra are known around the world, and many smaller cities have their own orchestras. The Canadian Opera Company, based in Toronto, is the country's largest and most important opera company. Other well-known places in the province include the Royal Conservatory of Music, MuchMusic, the National Ballet of Canada, and concert halls such as Roy Thomson Hall, Massey Hall, the National Arts Centre, and the Four Seasons Centre.

Regional foods from Ontario include butter tarts, peameal bacon, hawaiian pizza, sushi pizza, windsor-style pizza, beaver tails, dutchies, persian rolls, and Thunder Bay bon bons. In 2022, Ontario had 357 newspapers, 32 of them daily. This is more than any other province. The province is home to Canada's largest newspaper, the Toronto Star, and the newspaper of record, The Globe and Mail. Many local weekly papers are printed less often now because people share local news on sites like Facebook.

In 1973, the first slogan on licence plates in Ontario was "Keep It Beautiful." In 1982, it was replaced by "Yours to Discover," which had first been used as a tourism slogan starting in 1980. In 2020, the slogan was changed to "A Place to Grow," inspired by the song A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow. That change was reversed the same year because of visibility concerns. The plates still use "Yours to Discover." That song was first made for Ontario's pavilion at Expo 67 and became an unofficial province anthem. Ontario has professional teams in baseball, basketball, Canadian football, ice hockey, lacrosse, and soccer. Major teams include the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Blue Jays, and Toronto Raptors. Other teams include the Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Redblacks, and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League, the Scarborough Shooting Stars, Brampton Honey Badgers, Ottawa BlackJacks, and Niagara River Lions of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, and the Atlético Ottawa, Forge FC, and Inter Toronto FC of the Canadian Premier League. The Canadian Baseball League includes the Barrie Baycats, Brantford Red Sox, Chatham-Kent Barnstormers, Guelph Royals, Hamilton Cardinals, Kitchener Panthers, London Majors, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Welland Jackfish.

Transportation

The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario looks after roads in Ontario. Transport Canada looks after air, rail, and water travel. Ontario has two international airports in Ontario that Transport Canada has named. The biggest is Toronto Pearson International Airport, the busiest airport in Canada. It served about 44 million passengers in 2023. The other is Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport, which is the second largest airport in the province and served over 4 million passengers in 2023. The province also runs 11 other airports of entry.

Many Ontario cities have smaller regional airports. Some of these have regular commuter flights run by Jazz Aviation or by smaller airlines and charter companies. For example, flights go from medium-sized cities like Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie to the bigger airports in Toronto and Ottawa. Bearskin Airlines also flies along the northern route across the province. It connects North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and Thunder Bay directly. Some remote and isolated communities in the north depend on air service for travel and for bringing in goods. Air service also helps with ambulance trips (MEDIVAC). Much of the far north cannot be reached by road or rail, or cannot be reached by road all year.

Via Rail runs the passenger trains that travel between regions. These include trains on the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, along with The Canadian, a transcontinental rail service from Southern Ontario to Vancouver, and the Sudbury–White River train. Amtrak trains connect Ontario with cities in New York State, including Buffalo, Albany, and New York City.

Ontario Northland runs trains as far north as Moosonee, near James Bay. These trains connect the north with the south of the province.

Only the provincially owned GO Transit provides regional commuter rail. It runs a network of trains and buses across the Golden Horseshoe region. Union Station in Toronto is the main transport hub. Freight rail, which carries goods, is mostly run by Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (formerly CP Rail). As of 2021, there are 19,979 km of railways in operation.

Several cities have their own rail systems. The Toronto Transit Commission runs subways and streetcars. Its streetcar system is one of the busiest in North America. OC Transpo runs a light rail system in Ottawa. The Waterloo region has a surface light rail system called Ion. Construction is underway on new light rail lines, such as the Hurontario LRT in the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is expected to be finished by late 2024.

An Ontario Northland freight train crossing the Missinaibi River at Mattice-Val Côté in Northern Ontario

The main road network in the south of the province is made up of 400-series highways. At several points, these highways connect to border crossings to the United States and to Quebec. The busiest crossings are the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel, the Ambassador Bridge, and the Blue Water Bridge, which is reached through Highway 402. Some of the main southern highways are Highway 401, Highway 417, and Highway 400. Highway 401 is the busiest highway in North America. Other provincial highways and regional roads connect the rest of the province. The Trans-Canada Highway links Ontario to the rest of the country.

See also: Boat building industry in Ontario

The St. Lawrence Seaway runs across most of the southern part of the province and connects to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the main water route for cargo, especially iron ore and grain. In the past, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River were also an important route for passengers. This was especially true during the early 1900s, when Canada Steamship Lines grew. Passenger travel went down a lot in the 1930s. Some cruise ships still sail, but as of 2022, less than 20% of ship traffic was for things other than cargo or passengers. Ontario's three largest ports are the Port of Hamilton, the Port of Thunder Bay, and the Port of Nanticoke. Ontario's only saltwater port is in the town of Moosonee on James Bay.

Notable residents

Main article: List of people from Ontario