Ontarian

Ontario (English pronunciation:/ markings.( listen); French pronunciation:/ /ta/jo/abbreviated frequently ON u ONT) is one of the ten provinces that, together with the three territories, make up the thirteen federal entities of Canada. Two of the largest Canadian cities, Toronto and Ottawa, the latter the country's capital. The province is located in the center-east of the nation, bordering north with Hudson Bay, east with Quebec, south with the Great Lakes and the Niagara River that separate it from the United States, and west with Manitoba. With 14,279,196 inhabitants in 2017—more than a third of the country's population—it is the most populous entity, with 1 076 395 km2, the fourth largest—behind Nunavut, Quebec and Northwest Territories—and with 12 ha/km2, the third most densely populated, behind Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. The Ontario peninsula (on the coast of the Great Lakes) is the southernmost point in Canada.

Ontario is a tourist attraction when you get to know Canada for its culture, its ethnicities and its natural beauty. Ontario's main source of income is industry. The value of industrial products produced in Ontario is greater than the sum of the total value of industrial products manufactured in all other Canadian provinces and territories. The strength of its manufacturing industry earned it the nickname Manufacturing Heartland of Canada. The province is noted primarily for its strong automotive industry—the most competitive in the entire American continent. with the exception of Michigan in the United States. Other important sources of income are tourism and the provision of financial and real estate services.

The origin of its name derives from the lake of the same name, Lake Ontario, a name given by the Iroquois, which means "beautiful lake" or "shining waters". Ontario was initially colonized by the French, becoming part of of the French colony of Canada, one of the colonial provinces of New France, which then included the southern region of the present-day Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

In 1763, the Kingdom of Great Britain annexed Canada. In three decades, Anglophones became the majority in the southwest of the colony, which is why the United Kingdom decided to divide the colony in two in 1791. Both divisions were reunited again in 1840, in a single province of Canada. With the independence of Canada, on July 1, 1867, the province of Canada was definitively separated into two, into the current provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Originally an agricultural powerhouse, Ontario became a major industrial center at the turn of the 20th century, becoming the main economic center of the country during the 1960s and 1970s.

As of August 2006, 12,792,619 Ontarians resided in the province, representing approximately 37.9% of the total Canadian population, spread across by an area of 1 076 395 km².

History

Up to 1800

Before the arrival of the first European explorers, the region that is now the province of Ontario was inhabited by various Native American tribes, belonging to three families. The Chippewa lived north and northeast of Lake Superior, and hunted and they collected fruits for their sustenance. The Hurons lived in the Lake Huron and Lake Ontario region, and lived primarily from agriculture. Both the Chippewas and the Hurons feared the Iroquois, a highly aggressive and nomadic Native American family of six allied tribes who constantly attacked them.

Frenchman Étienne Brûlé was the first European to explore the region, doing so in 1613, on the orders of Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec. That year, Brûlé reached the southern bank of the Ottawa River, in the region where the Canadian capital, Ottawa, is currently located. By 1615, Brûlé had reached Lake Huron. Brûlé and Champlain noted that the region was abundant with animals such as beavers, whose fur was prized on the European mainland. French hunters began hunting animals from the region beginning in the 1620s, at the same time that French traders began trading furs with the Hurons. During the 1630s, other French explorers explored the region of the southern Great Lakes. The region that currently constitutes southern Ontario became part of the French colony of New France.

French missionaries—accompanied by some French families—founded some villages throughout the region, such as Fort Sainte Marie, where the cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario are located today. and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The missionaries' primary goal was to convert the region's natives, such as the Huron, to Christianity, as well as to assimilate European culture. However, Iroquois attacks forced these missionaries and settlers to abandon these villages. The French would continue to explore the northern Great Lakes region throughout the 1610s.

The expansion of New France—which until the 1620s was bounded by the region that now makes up the Canadian provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia—to the northwest, west, and south alarmed the United Kingdom, prompting which caused the British to create the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. The British would end up allying with the Iroquois. Both constantly attacked French hamlets and merchants throughout New France. In 1754 war began between the French and the British. The French lost the war. In the Treaty of Paris (1763), France ceded all of the French colonies located north of the Great Lakes—the colonies of Acadia (present-day New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) and Canada—which constituted what it is currently the southern provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

John Graves Simcoe, first governor of Upper Canada.

Until then, the only French villages in what is now Ontario were located where the cities of Niagara Falls, Kingston and Windsor are today. Until 1784, population growth in the Ontario region, still part of the English colony of Canada, was very small. Beginning in 1784, with the end of the American Revolution of 1776, about ten thousand American colonists, loyal to the British Crown, emigrated to the south of the colony of Canada. Then the number of Anglophones in southern Canada was greater than the number of Francophones. These settlers received land, shelter, food, clothing, and other aid from the British.

In 1791, the United Kingdom divided the colony of Canada into two, Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) and Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). Both were divided by the Ottawa River. Niagara-on-the-Lake was chosen as the capital of the newly created colony. The United Kingdom would be in charge of choosing the new Lieutenant Governor. The first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada was John Graves Simcoe. Simcoe built several highways throughout Upper Canada, and promoted further settlement of the colony. Simcoe eventually decided to change the capital of the colony, Niagara-on-the-Lake, to York, present-day Toronto. By 1797, all government posts had made their transfer from Niagara to York.

1800 - 1867

The population of Upper Canada began to grow gradually. Many of these settlers were European immigrants (mostly English and Scottish) who had recently arrived in the United States, while many others were Americans. Several of these settlers came to Upper Canada in groups and on their own. Many others were brought by specialized companies. These companies owned farms in the colony, and these settlers were brought in as laborers. Some of the wealthiest American settlers came to Upper Canada for the land. There was even the case of a village in Pennsylvania, whose population emigrated entirely to Upper Canada, settling in what is now the city of Waterloo.

William Lyon Mackenzie.

In 1812, the War of 1812 began. The United States of America invaded Upper Canada, seizing and burning its capital, York. In 1814, British troops, along with Canadian militia, drove the Americans out of the colony. The war ended in 1815, in status quo. The population of Upper Canada and Lower Canada began to develop anti-American sentiments, such as anti-democratic sentiment (the United States, at that time, was the only country in the world that had adopted democracy as a form of government). This anti-democratic sentiment carried a heavy weight in 1837, when the Upper Canada Rebellion took place. During the 1830s, the population of Lower Canada began to resent the immense power the British held in the region—the British chose to the Lieutenant Governor of the colony, and he had great power in the region. The rebellion was led by William Lyon Mackenzie. This rebellion called for greater powers for the colonial government, although it did not gain popularity among the local population, being seen as "an attack by democracy on the monarchy". This rebellion was quickly put down, not by British troops, but by a Canadian militia. Mackenzie fled to the United States, while other leaders of the rebellion were executed.

In 1840, the United Kingdom decided to unite Upper Canada and Lower Canada into a single colony, the Colony of Canada. In 1841, this merger took place. His goal was to force a cultural assimilation of the Francophones by the Anglophones. Alarmed by the war, the British ceded to the new colony the right to form a government based on parliamentarianism, which would have powers over matters relating exclusively to Canada. Upper Canada and Lower Canada would have the same number of seats in the Legislative Assembly.

Between the 1820s and the 1850s, the Ontario region received large numbers of English and Irish immigrants. The anglophone population of the colony of Canada grew rapidly, and by the 1850s had already outnumbered the francophone population, generating a political and social crisis among the anglophone population, which felt slighted by the fact that francophones were had the same number of seats in the Assembly, even with a smaller population, and among the French-speaking population, which feared a possible assimilation of the Anglophone culture.

In 1864, politicians from the colony of Canada met with politicians from the British colonies of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador, in three different meetings. Canadian politicians proposed to the other British colonies the formation of a Confederation. Of these colonies, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia accepted Canada's proposal. On July 1, 1867, the Canadian Confederation was created. The former colony of Canada was divided into two: Ontario and Quebec. These two, plus New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, were the four founding members of Canada.

1867 - 1945

The Ontario coat of arms and motto were created in 1868. Curiously, the motto (Ut incepit fidelis sic permanent) was added to the shield by Sir Henry William Stisted, First Governor of Ontario; who was a great friend of General José de Bascarán y Federic (XVII Lord of Olvera). On one of his visits to this, Sir Stisted observed the aforementioned motto on the heraldic shield that presided over the hall of General Bascarán's house and after thinking that it perfectly represented the feelings of the Ontareños, he asked his friend for the pertinent authorization to include it in the coat of arms of the Canadian city. Hence, Ontario's motto is the same as Olvera Manor's.

Oliver Mowat.

Justice Oliver Mowat, Ontario's second governor, fought in Canada's Parliament for greater rights and powers for provincial governments. He took over the government of Ontario in 1872, ruling until 1896.

Ontario's population and economy grew slowly in its first two decades as a province. Despite the fact that agriculture had strengthened in the region, and that some industries had developed, many people left Ontario -as well as Canada- and marched to the United States, in search of better wages and living conditions.

Finally, agriculture in Ontario, thanks to the use of modern agro-livestock practices (at that time), became the province's largest source of income until the 1910s. In 1883, the largest mine was discovered of aluminum and zinc of the world (of that time), in Sudbury. These mines remained untouched for nine years, until a cheap and efficient process for separating aluminum from zinc was discovered. The mining of these minerals began in 1892, and immediately became one of the main sources of income for the province.

Ontario's economy developed rapidly from the turn of the 20th century. Various mines continued to be discovered, especially gold and silver. At the same time, factories and hydroelectric power stations were created, thus stimulating the demographic growth of the province. The lumber industry also became important. With the start of the First World War in 1914, in which Canada actively participated, Ontario's economy grew rapidly, with the construction of several factories in various cities. At the end of the war, in 1918, these factories, which had previously manufactured weapons and military materials, gradually switched to manufacturing automobiles and communication equipment such as radios and telephones. This economic growth, also stimulated by the discovery of iron mines in the north of the province, attracted numerous immigrants; Finns, Norwegians, and Quebecers immigrated to Ontario in large numbers. At this time, Ontario—formerly a small strip of land stretching east from Lake Huron to Quebec—had expanded to its present limits.

The Great Depression put an end to this economic growth. The unemployment problem became a big problem—unemployment rates peaked at 30%. Several companies went bankrupt, many factories and stores closed, while other companies and stores began laying off workers to cut costs. The farms ran up huge debts. Despite this, the population growth of Ontario grew in the same way, due to emigrants coming from other parts of Canada, hoping to find employment in one of the large cities of the province, and due to the arrival of Jews Germans beginning in 1933, when Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime came to power in Germany. This depression ended in 1939, with the start of World War II, when Ontario once again experienced great economic growth.

1945 - Present Day

Map of Ontario.

Map of Ontario.

With the end of World War II in 1945, Ontario received many immigrants from various European countries, who were ruined by the war. Large numbers of English, German, Scottish, Polish and Dutch emigrated to Canada. Between 1945 and 1970, the population of the province increased from 4.5 million to more than 7 million inhabitants. This time was also one of great economic development, the greatest in all of Ontario's history. In just five years, between 1945 and 1950, the province's industrial production doubled, and would double again between 1950 and 1960.

In 1945, the first Canadian nuclear power plant was built, in 1952 the largest uranium mine in the world was found in Elliot Lake, in 1960 the first particle accelerator in the country was inaugurated, in the 1950s several gas pipelines were built, and in 1960, Hamilton became the largest steel center in North America, surpassing Pittsburgh. In 1962, the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for commercial use was inaugurated in Rolphton. In 1967, a new nuclear power station was built in Darlington, and in 1971, another one was inaugurated in Pickering. All of these events occurred in Ontario, between the 1940s and 1970s.

In 1965, the Canadian and American governments signed a free trade agreement for automobiles in general. This benefited Ontario, then already a large automotive industrial center. This great economic growth gradually made Toronto Canada's leading financial and industrial center. Gradually, companies previously based in Montreal began to transfer their headquarters to Toronto. In addition to that, the approval of Law 101 in 1977 - which made the use of French mandatory in all companies with more than 50 workers installed in Quebec - caused several financial institutions to move from Montreal to Toronto. The Toronto Stock Exchange became the only official one for international transactions in 1999, replacing the Montreal one.

In 1972, the Ontario government began covering hospital services for the elderly and poor. In three years, this coverage was extended to all the inhabitants of the province. In the 1970s, Ontario became an increasingly world-renowned tourist hub, making tourism an increasingly important source of revenue in the province's economy. During the 1970s, and up until the beginning of the 1980s, Canada went through a major economic recession. The effects of this recession were less felt in Ontario than in the rest of the country thanks to the diversity and strength of its economy.

However, Ontario faced serious problems during the 1980s and early 1990s, when the provincial deficit and provincial debts grew dramatically, slowing the growth of Ontario's economy. In 1995, Michael Harris became the Governor of Ontario. Harris cut provincial spending in the area of health, education and social welfare, as well as cuts in budgets for cities. Harris also lowered the province's income tax, in an attempt to create jobs. These measures took effect, and Ontario's economy grew again.

In 1997, the Ontario government decided to merge the City of Toronto with 5 other neighboring cities, into a single City of Toronto. This change occurred in 1998. In 1999, the provincial government effected similar mergers in Ottawa, Greater Sudbury, and Hamilton (such mergers took effect in 2001). In 2003, the province's economy went into decline again, with the threat of severe acute respiratory syndrome that infected hundreds of Toronto residents, killing 44 people. It was not until 2005 that Ontario's economy returned to grow up.

Geography and environment

Relieve from Ontario.

Ontario is bordered to the north by Hudson Bay and James Bay, to the east by Quebec, to the west by Manitoba, and to the south by the American states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. The long border between Ontario and the United States is largely bounded by natural obstacles such as lakes and rivers. The series of these natural obstacles begins at Lake of the Woods, passes through the Great Lakes (Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario), and ends at the St. Lawrence River.

Ontario has vast boreal forests, covering about two-fifths of the province—466,000 km² out of 1,076,000 km².

Geographic Regions

Niagara Falls.

Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.

We can divide the province into four large geographical regions:

• The Hudson Bay Plains extend to the north of the province. They are characterized by their rocky and poor soil, almost impermeable.
• The Canadian Shield, a vast region covering eastern Ontario, south of Hudson Bay and north of Lake Superior and Lake Huron, extending to the centre-east of the province. It is characterized by its rough terrain, its presence of small streams and lakes and vast boreal forests. In this region is located the highest point in Ontario, the Ishpatina Ridge, 693 metres high. The region has large mines, which made mining one of the main sources of income of the province until the 1970s. The south of this region is reasonably fertile and its climate is not as rigorous as in the north, allowing the existence of large flocks of cows in the south of this region, which feed on the grass that grows there.
• The Plains of the Great Lakes are located south of the Huron Lake, east of the St. Clair, north of Lake Erie and south of the Canadian Shield. It is an extremely fertile region, where 70% of food products of vegetable origin are cultivated. It is also the most inhabited region: about 60% of the population in the province live in cities of the Great Lakes Plains. Other outstanding features are its altitude, and the presence of Niagara Falls.
• The Plains of San Lorenzothe lowest of the four regions. It extends immediately to the northeast of the Plains of the Great Lakes, to the southeast of the Canadian Shield and to the north of the San Lorenzo River. It is a low altitude region, with a fertile soil, ideal for agriculture. 20% of food products of vegetable origin are grown here.

Hydrography

Canadian Litoral of Lake Ontario.

Ontario's coastline stretches 2,300 miles, along Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Counting all the regions washed by the Great Lakes—bays, estuaries, and islands along the Great Lakes province's coastline—this number rises to 8,452. The largest island in the world to be entirely located within a continent is the Island Manitoulin, located on Lake Huron, with an area of 2,765 km². Much of the province is covered by rivers and lakes. In total, the bodies of water cover approximately 14.7% of the province, or what is the same, a sixth of Ontario. The province has more than 250,000 lakes, and more than 100,000 kilometers of rivers.

The Great Lakes cover about half the total area of the approximately 177,390 km² of inland waters. It is precisely the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes that have drawn explorers, traders, soldiers, and settlers to the heart of the continent. More recently, Ontario's many lakes and rivers have allowed for the exploitation of hydroelectric power and the development of further industrialization.

Rideau River in Ottawa.

Abundant rainfall feeds the waterways of the province of Ontario (in most parts of the province it is snowfall). The precipitations are quite regular in the south and the center, where the variations between winter and summer or between spring and autumn are not particularly notable. However, winter and spring precipitations are less abundant in the north and northwest.

The Great Lakes Basin drains most of the water from the southern half of the province along the southern border, representing an average annual flow of 5,700 m³/s of water into the Niagara River.

Unlike the rivers that connect the Great Lakes, and whose volume of water does not experience great variations from one month to the next, inland rivers increase their volume during the melting season, with the consequent risk of flooding.

Climate

Frozen Lake in Ontario. The city at the bottom is Toronto.

Enjoying the summer at the Sandbanks Provincial Park on Lake Ontario.

Ontario has a temperate climate for the most part, although the regions in the extreme north of the province have a semi-polar climate. The presence of the Great Lakes softens the winters along their coasts. The average temperature drops as the latitude increases. Southern Ontario generally has hot summers and cold winters. In the north of the province it is cold almost all year round.

The average temperatures in the south of the province, in winter, are -8°C, with minimums between -42 °C and 1 °C, and maximums between -35 °C and 12 °C. The average of the maximums is -1 °C, and the average of the minimums is -8 °C. In summer, the south of the province registers highs of up to 38 °C, and lows of up to 9 °C. The average maximum is 26 °C, and the minimum is 15 °C. In the extreme north of the province, the average temperature in winter is -25 °C, and in summer, 7 °C. The highest recorded temperature was 42 °C, measured at Atikokan, on July 11 and 12, 1936, and at Fort Frances, on July 13, 1936. The lowest recorded temperature was -58 °C, in Iroquois Falls, on January 23, 1935.

Mean annual rainfall rates vary between 60 and 70 centimeters in the north of the province, and between 80 and 90 centimeters in the south. In winter, in the south of the province, it snows on average every 2 days. Average annual snowfall rates range from 123 centimeters in the far north to 267 centimeters in southern Ontario.

Fauna and flora

The Trillium grandiflorum is the provincial flower of Ontario.

The relatively mild climate in the south of the province allows the development of a wide variety of plants, both native and from Europe.

Many species of migratory birds pass through Ontario each year: Point Pelee is the meeting point for monarch butterflies on their annual migration. The town of Aylmer often makes a stopover for the 60,000 tundra swans that migrate to the Arctic every year.

The most common aquatic species in the rivers and lakes of the province are North American pike and trout. In the north live caribou, moose, musk oxen, beavers, eagles and wolves. Polar bears live in the far north, along Hudson Bay.

Government and administration

View of the Ontario Legislative Assembly, in the provincial capital, Toronto.

Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is located in Ontario, at the eastern end of the province, on the Ontario-Quebec border. The capital of Ontario is Toronto.

Ontario's highest official, in theory, is the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently King Charles III.

The Lieutenant Governor (Lieutenant Governor) represents the head of state of Canada, current monarch of the United Kingdom, and is elected by the Prime Minister of Canada, along with the Governor of the province. However, the Lieutenant Governor does not possess any theoretical power in the politics of the province. In practice, the leader of Ontario is the Governor (Premier). From the beginning of Ontario's history as a province of Canada, the official title of this Governor was Premier. In 1906, this title was changed to Prime-Minister, prime minister. In 1972, the provincial premier of Ontario decided to rename this title Premier.

Provincial elections generally take place every five years, although on occasions, especially when the political party in power does not maintain sufficient popular or political support, they may occur before this term —if the Lieutenant Governor, indicated by the Governor, so wish. Ontario is divided into 103 electoral districts. During elections, electors from each constituency—who must be over 18 years of age and Canadian citizens to vote—vote for one representative. The winner of the election in a given constituency will represent that constituency in the Legislative Assembly of the province. The Governor of Ontario will be the leader of the political party that, at the end of the elections, has the most members in the Legislative Assembly.

The change of guard in the Parliament of Canada, in the capital of the country, Ottawa.

Ontario's legislative branch is the Legislative Assembly, which has the power to make and pass provincial laws. It is made up of 103 members, each representing each of the 103 constituencies in the province. The maximum term of office for members of the Assembly, as well as for the Governor, is 5 years. Before the elections, the Assembly is dissolved. All members of the Assembly, including the Governor, can participate in the elections as many times as they want.

In fiscal year 2006, 75% of all Ontario government budget revenues came from provincial taxes, such as income tax or value-added tax. The remainder comes from budgets received from the federal government and from loans.

Administrative Regions

Ontario has two basic levels of political subdivisions, called administrative regions or census divisions. Regional municipalities, counties and districts are subdivisions that group several municipalities. The inhabitants of a given municipality within these subdivisions mentioned above receive government services from both the municipality and these subdivisions—except in the case of districts, where all public services are provided by cities or the province of Ontario. The inhabitants of independent-municipalities, which are not part of any of the subdivisions mentioned above, receive services only from said municipality, and not from the municipality, in case the municipality in question groups together more than one town or city. Most of these municipalities, however, are made up of a single city, and therefore can also be considered as a proper city.

In 1996, the number of municipalities in the province was 815 and the number of regional municipalities was 13. Since 1996, the Province of Ontario has merged several of these municipalities and municipalities together. The number of municipalities was reduced to 447 and the number of regional municipalities to eight. In addition to that, four independent cities were created, resulting from the merger of several municipalities into a single great city: Toronto, Ottawa, Sudbury and Hamilton. Two new counties were also added. Half of all Ontario municipalities have fewer than 5,000 residents. Most of the northern part of the province, being so sparsely populated, is not organized into subdivisions such as counties or regional municipalities.

Counties and regional municipalities provide regional services such as policing, housing, and education for neighboring cities and villages that are too small to bear the costs of these services.

Politics

Ontario politics has always been characterized by its tripartite system. In recent decades, the Ontario Liberal Party, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and the Ontario New Democratic Party have governed the province at least once.

Between October 23, 2003, and February 11, 2013, Ontario was under a Liberal government headed by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

In the federal field, Ontario is known for being the province that offers the most support to the Liberal Party of Canada. The majority of the party's current 101 seats in the Canadian House of Commons come from Ontario. With Ontario holding more seats than any other province in Canada, winning votes in this province is crucial for any party hoping to win. a federal election.

Demographics

Ontario population density.

Ontario is Canada's most populous province. Over 80% of Ontario's population lives in cities, and this rate is increasing. This province has more large cities than any other Canadian province.

The 2001 Canadian national census estimated the population of Ontario at 11,410,046, a 6% growth over the 1996 census estimate of 10,753,573. More than 92% of the province's population lives in a narrow strip that runs from Windsor to Ottawa. This region comprises only 12% of the area of Ontario. The metropolitan region of Toronto concentrates, alone, 5.6 million inhabitants, and the metropolitan region of Ottawa has another 1.1 million.

Source: Statistics Canada

Ontario demographic evolution figure between 1871 and

Ethnic composition

High bilingual sign in Ottawa, an example of bilingualism at the federal government level.

Racial composition of the population of Ontario:

Toronto.

The Parliament of Canada, in Ottawa.

Waterloo.

• 80.9% White - Main ethnic groups: English, Irish, Scottish, French, German and Italian.
• 4.9% South-Asian
• 3.9% Hispanics (of any ethnicity)
• 3.7 % Chinese
• 3.6% Afro-Canadian
• 3.0 % Other ethnic groups
• 1.7 % First nations (aborigines)
• 1.3 % Filipinos

The largest ethnic groups that make up the population of Ontario are English, Scottish, Irish, French, German, Italian, Chinese.

Ontario is home to approximately 66,000 Native Americans. 45% of them live in one of the 186 indigenous reserves administered by the province, which cover a total of more than 700,000 hectares. Another 150,000 inhabitants of the province have indigenous ancestry.

Languages

In 2001, 71.6% of Ontarians had English as their first language. Among the rest of the population, 4.4% spoke French as their mother tongue and 23.7% had another mother tongue.

English is the only official language, although French-speakers in Ontario play an essential role in the cultural life of the province and make up the largest linguistic minority. The provincial government provides French-language services in regions where the French-speaking population is high enough, as is the case in the city of Ottawa, where French and English are co-official. Toronto has more Italian speakers than any other city outside of Italy.

Religions

The major religious groups in Ontario are as of 2019:

• 37.9 % Protestant
• 32.7 % Catholics
• 16.3 % No religious affiliation (atheism, agnosticism, etc.)
• 3.1 % Muslim
• 2.3 % Orthodox Christians
• 1.7 % Other Christians
• 1.9% Indian
• 1.7 % Jews
• 1.1 % Buddhists
• 0.9 % Sikhs

Main cities

• Toronto
  • Ottawa
  • Brampton
  • Oakville
  • Oshawa
  • Markham
  • Vaughan
  • Pickering

• Mississauga

• Hamilton
• London
• Windsor
• Kingston
• Kitchener - Waterloo
• Guelph
• St. Catharines - Niagara Falls
• Sudbury
• Thunder Bay
• Sault Ste. Marie
• North Bay
• Timmins

Economy

Toronto's financial center at night.

Ontario is one of the wealthiest and most economically prosperous national subdivisions in North America, thanks to its strong and diverse economy, gradually growing population, and skilled workforce. Ontario's gross domestic product in 2003 was C$538.386 million (39.3% Canadian) and per capita income was C$33,428. For its part, the unemployment rate stood at 6.6%. Ontario's economy benefits from its proximity to the major centers of consumption in the United States. The Canadian province is close to several large American cities, potential markets for Canadian products.

Distribution by sectors

• The primary sector is responsible for 1.5 percent of Ontario's GDP. Currently, it has about 67 thousand farms, which occupy about 5 % of the province. Agriculture and livestock together employ about 140 thousand people, accounting for 1% of GDP. The decrease in the number of farms in recent decades made the average size of the Ontario farms grow. Forestry accounts for about 0.5 per cent of GDP, employing approximately 90 thousand people. Fishing is less than 0.01 per cent of GDP, employing about a thousand people.

Byward Market, Ottawa.

• The secondary sector is responsible for 27.5% of the GDP of the province. Manufacturing is responsible for 22% of the provincial GDP, employing approximately 1.1 million people. Industry is the largest source of income in the province. The manufacturing industry in Ontario employs more than half of all industrial workers across Canada. The main products manufactured in Ontario are cars, trucks and similar, electronic products such as televisions and computers, steel (Hamilton is one of the world's largest steel centres) food products and chemicals.

The construction industry employs approximately 325,000 people and is responsible for approximately 4.5% of the province's GDP. And mining, once a major source of revenue for the province, has steadily declined with the diversification of Ontario's economy and increasing modernization in this area in recent decades—currently, mining accounts for only about 1 % of Ontario's GDP, employing about 35.2 thousand people. The province has large reserves of nickel—an eighth of the world's nickel is produced in Ontario—cobalt, copper, gold, silver, and zinc.

• The tertiary sector accounts for 71 per cent of all GDP in Ontario. Community and personal services account for 23 per cent of the provincial GDP and employ more than 2.25 million people. Financial and real estate services employ 390 thousand people, and are responsible for 22% of Ontario's GDP. Toronto is the financial capital of Canada. The wholesale and retail trade accounts for 15 per cent of GDP in the province, and employs approximately 1.4 million people. Transport and telecommunications employ approximately 44,000 people and correspond to 8 % of the GDP of the province. Government services account for 5% of Ontario's GDP and employ 275 thousand people. Finally, public services account for 3 % of the GDP of the province, employing about 560.3 thousand people. Nearly 50% of the electricity generated in Ontario is produced in nuclear power plants, 25% in hydroelectric power plants, and most of the remaining is produced in general thermoelectric power plants (which can use coal, oil or natural gas as fuel).

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

A farm in Kitchener.

Whitby's port.

Once the dominant sector, agriculture today employs a small percentage of the population. The number of farms has decreased from 68,633 in 1991 to 59,728 in 2001, although they have increased in average size and many other they are being mechanized Cattle farms, barns, and dairies were the most common types according to the 2001 census. The fruit, grape, and vegetable growing industry is located primarily on the Niagara Peninsula and along Lake Erie, where they are also located. tobacco farms. Tobacco production has declined markedly, which has led to an increase in new crop alternatives that are gaining great popularity, such as hazelnuts or ginseng. Massey Ferguson Ltd., one of the world's largest farm tool manufacturers, arose in Ontario, highlighting the importance agriculture once played in the province's economy.

Forests cover 700 million hectares of the province (65%), of which only a third is classified as exploitable. Most of it (90%) is owned by the province, which means that logging companies must obtain authorization from the government before beginning any logging activity. In 2001, profits from this industry amounted to US$18 billion. More than 90% of paper and pulp production is destined for the American market.

Ontario's once thriving fishing industry has seen a major meltdown. This is due to, among other things, overharvesting and deteriorating water quality in Lake Erie.

Because of this decline, this sector makes a very small contribution to the provincial economy, although it is still an important source of income in northern communities. Ontario's modest commercial fishing industry has fallen victim to water pollution, which also affects sport fishing, a very popular activity in the province's rivers and lakes, with 814,887 regular practitioners in 2000.

Industry

Came in Sudbury.

Ontario has long been Canada's quintessential industrial province. It was already so at the time of the Confederation, and this trend has later favored the subsequent industrial development of the province, thanks to its efficient transportation network, abundant natural resources, and proximity to the United States market. The total value of products manufactured in Ontario in 2005 was C$300 million, representing 51% of Canada's manufactured products. Toronto is home to a large number of Canadian companies in the industrial sector. In addition, the fact that the province is close to the main centers of the US automobile industry (the case of Detroit, for example) has also favored the establishment of factories there.

The Greater Toronto Area is the most industrially dynamic area, with half of all manufacturing industries in the province, followed by Hamilton, Windsor, St. Catharines-Niagara and London. In the late 1970s, Ottawa was emerging as Canada's high-tech industrial center, in the style of California's Silicon Valley. The province accounts for about 60% of Canada's high-tech industries.

Mining

The development of the mining industry is closely linked to the consolidation of Toronto as the financial center of Ontario and Canada. Nickel stimulated the prosperity of the Sudbury region. At the turn of the century, deposits of silver, lead, and zinc drew prospectors to the town of Cobalt, and gold helped stimulate economic activity in the province (and, to some extent, of the country) during the 1930s. In the 1950s, the discovery of an exceptionally rich uranium vein at Elliot Lake boosted the Ontario economy again.

Mines have always played a fundamental role in the economy of the province, although it has known times of crisis in the 80s and early 90s, when the international market registered a decline in all mining sectors. Nevertheless, in 2005, the value of all mineral production in Ontario was $7.22 billion, of which metallic minerals accounted for 66 percent and non-metallic minerals 34 percent. That same year, the province produced 36% of the metallic ores and 23% of the non-metallic minerals in all of Canada. Following in 2005, the five most valuable minerals mined in the province were nickel (2.116 billion), gold (1,227 million), copper (797 million), platinum group metals (328 million) and zinc (183 million). Combined, they account for 97% of the total value of Ontario's metal mineral production.

Energy

Pickering Nuclear Central, in Pickering

Ontario has always had to import energy. In the days of the first settlers, the wood from the forests covered the fuel needs, but due to rapid urban and industrial growth, coal had to be imported from the mines of the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, since it was better and less expensive than that mined in Nova Scotia. In the vicinity of James Bay, Ontario has coal deposits, although their exploitation does not appear to be profitable. When it comes to oil and natural gas, the province has the advantage: its oil deposits have been developed since the late 1970s. 1850s. On the other hand, natural gas was discovered somewhat later, and for a long time Ontario was the first producer of these products in Canada. However, this contribution currently does not represent more than a small part of global energy production. In the 1890s, Canada began to develop its large-scale hydroelectric potential with the construction of generators and transmission lines at Niagara Falls, Ontario.

CANDU Reactor from the Bruce nuclear power station.

In 2004, nuclear power accounted for nearly half of Ontario's electricity production. Bruce Nuclear Power Station, in Tiverton, opened in 1967, and is Canada's first nuclear power generating station, becoming fully operational in 1969. In 1997, Ontario Hydro authorized the closure and overhaul of 7 of its 19 reactors because it felt that the company had neither the money nor the personnel to run them safely.

Ontario is the leading oil refining region in all of Canada, with seven refineries. The province is self-sufficient in petroleum products, exporting them to other Canadian provinces and states in the United States. Natural gas is the essential fuel for all sectors of the provincial economy except for transportation. It is used in domestic, commercial and industrial heating systems. The industry is turning to natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Commerce and Finance

Toronto's financial center.

Toronto's Bay Street is the heart of Canada's financial sector. Not surprisingly, most of the headquarters of the large Canadian banks and many large companies are located in Toronto. The Toronto Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in the country. The First Canadian Place, populated by offices of lawyers, accountants and administrators, is the tallest skyscraper in the country (290 meters). For its part, the CN Tower, 533 meters high, another commercial building, is the tallest structure not supported by cables on the mainland in the world. Toronto is home to the headquarters of large insurance companies. Other Ontario cities, such as Kitchener-Waterloo, and especially London, are also home to several insurance company headquarters.

In 2005, Canadian banks operated about 3,644 branches in Ontario, representing 43% of all bank branches in Canada. In addition, approximately 55.4% of Canada's banking-related jobs are located in Ontario. The number of branches clearly demonstrates the preference of Ontarians for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), which has a long presence in the province.

In 2005, Ontario's total export value was C$200.7 billion, and imports another C$228.5 billion. The United States is Ontario's largest export market (88.9 percent of all exports) and the main supplier of imported products (72.5 percent of all imports). Other export markets are the United Kingdom, Mexico, China and Japan. The main import markets are Mexico, China, Japan, and Germany.

The strong population density of southern Ontario makes it the most active region in Canada (in economic terms) for supermarkets, motor vehicle dealers, general stores and service stations. Ontario's proximity to major US markets means that products produced in the province are not far from a large part of US consumers.

Taxes

The level of taxation in Canada benefits if we compare it with that of other developed countries. Canada has a comprehensive social security system, as well as education and public health systems that are renowned for their efficiency. Even with the full burden of these state-subsidized public services, corporate and professional taxes remain competitive compared to the United States and the G-8 average.

The tax rate for corporations established in Ontario is generally 36.12%. Retail sales tax is 8% and applies to most products and some services. Many products are exempt, in particular food, children's clothing and energy, as well as material and machinery for industry and research.

In 2003, the average Ontario family had a median income of C$81,437. That same family paid an average of $39,071 in taxes.

Culture and arts

The Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto.

Little remains of indigenous art forms, though early Ontarians left behind considerable cultural vestiges, from the Serpent Mounds near Peterborough to more modern and sophisticated works of sculpture and pottery. Later, the settlers brought their own cultural heritage, inspired by the European model. Shapes from the mid-19th century century, embodied in contemporary works of art, are still somewhat popular. In general, Ontario artists follow international styles, whether in literature, art or architecture. Arts and cultural endeavors are supported by various federal or provincial government grants, offered by, among others, organizations such as the Ontario Arts Council, founded in 1963, which awards grants to individuals and arts organizations.

Provincial government underscores the fact that art creates jobs: Arts Council documentation reminds taxpayers that every dollar in orchestra grants directly generates nearly $7 in salaries, dues, and operating expenses.

Ontario has symphony orchestras in Toronto (the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the largest in Canada), Ottawa, Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo. A major Shakespearean festival takes place every year: the Stratford Festival, instituted in 1953. Two of the province's most important museums, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum are located in Toronto. This city is a leading cultural center, and its theater productions are world famous, such as The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and, most recently, Mamma Mia! . More than 100 professional companies perform plays, cabaret, opera, and dance in Toronto. It is also home to the largest film festival in North America, the Toronto International Film Festival, which takes place in September. Ottawa, for its part, has important state-level museums such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Canadian Museum of Nature, and the Canadian War Museum.

Sports

View of the Rogers Centre.

The Canadian Tire Centre, home of the Ottawa Senators.

Toronto's Rogers Center (old name: SkyDome) the world's first stadium with a fully retractable roof, and is the home of the Toronto Blue Jays, a baseball team that in 1992 became the first Canadian team to win the World Series. Women's hockey has grown in popularity and is widely played in Ontario. The National Women's Hockey League has five teams from this province.

The Mosport Park racetrack has hosted numerous world and North American categories of motor racing and motorcycling, such as Formula 1, the Motorcycle World Championship, the World Endurance Championship, the USAC National Championship, the American Le Mans Series and the NASCAR Canada Series. The Toronto Grand Prix is a single-seater CART/Champ Car motorsport race from 1986 to 2007 and the IndyCar Series since 2009. It is the third-oldest street race in North America.

Snowmobiling the province's 50,000 kilometers of trails (the largest snowmobile trail system in the world) is a very popular winter activity.

Here are the major sports teams in Ontario and the leagues they play in:

Education

Schools

M.M. Robinson High School, Burlington.

The first schools to be built in what is now Ontario were inaugurated during the 1780s. These schools —common schools— taught only up to what today constitutes basic or elementary education. In 1807, a law forced the then-British colony of Upper Canada to build a secondary school — grammar school — in each of the colony's eight boroughs. The colony gave the cities and towns where such schools were located the responsibility of administration. Many of these cities and towns charged for tuition.

During the 1870s, the Ontario public school system acquired its present-day format—an organization between elementary schools (grades 1er 8th).) and high schools (grades 9-12). Each city—or, in less densely populated regions, educational districts, comprising a large area and several surrounding villages—is served by a school district. All education institutions in Ontario must follow patterns dictated by the province, such as the textbooks to use, and the prohibition of charging for tuition, for example. In addition to the public schools run by the municipalities, there are also schools run by the Catholic Church and various private schools. Education is compulsory for all children and adolescents over six years of age, until the conclusion of secondary education or until sixteen years of age.

In 1999, the province's public schools served nearly 2.038 million students, employing approximately 110,000 teachers. For their part, private schools served about 90.6 thousand students, employing approximately 7.1 thousand teachers. The province's public school system used about C$17.108 million, and public school spending per student is approximately C$8,000.

Both public schools and Catholic schools are supported through council taxes and grants provided by the Ontario government. Most of the existing schools in the province teach in English, although there are some, located in cities with a significant French-speaking population, that do so in French.

In November 1997, the Ontario teachers' unions called a strike that lasted two weeks. It was the longest teachers' strike in North America.

Libraries

The Toronto Reference Library.

Ontario's first public library was built in Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1800. This number had increased to 60 by the year of Canadian independence, 1867. Today, there are hundreds of public libraries throughout throughout the province, managed by the provincial government, municipalities or educational institutions. Besides that, the National Library of Canada is located in the province, in Ottawa.

The Toronto Public Library is the largest public library system in Canada and the second most dynamic (by number of visits) in the world after the Hong Kong Public Library. It consists of 99 libraries and has a heritage of 11 million materials, including books, CDs and videos.

Institutions of Higher Education

View of the central campus of the University of Toronto.

The University of Toronto is the largest university in Canada, and one of the most renowned in the country. It was founded in 1827, as King's College. In 1850, the name of the institution changed to its current name. It is internationally known mainly for its programs in the area of medicine, law and languages in general. It is the university that receives the most budgets from the provincial and national government, and one of those with the largest budget in the world.

In addition to the University of Toronto, Ontario is home to 27 other universities and colleges. The University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, is known for its engineering program. Queen's University, Kingston, is known for its program in Mineral Geology, along with McMaster University, Hamilton, are known for their medicine programs. The University of Guelph is renowned for its research program.

Transportation

View of the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway and the crossroads in clover that forms with the Leslie Street in Toronto. The Macdonald-Cartier is considered the highway that supports the greatest traffic in the world.

Rivers, lakes and waterways have played essential roles throughout Ontario's history. The first European explorers to explore the region—mostly French—explored the region by following existing rivers and lakes, such as the St. Lawrence River, the Ottawa River, and the Great Lakes, for example. They followed these bodies of water by land, traveling along the coastline of the body of water in question, or by waterways, through canoes or boats.

Currently, during the navigation season, when the waters of the San Lorenzo River are not covered with ice, between April and December, several ships circulate between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. A system of artificial channels, which is 869 kilometers long. During the ice season —from January to March— the waters of the St. Lawrence River become dangerous for the navigation of ships, and this is interrupted until the beginning of the navigation season.

Ontario has about 45,000 miles of public roads, most of them paved. The region most densely covered by roads is the south of the province. Among the countless highways in Ontario, the most frequented is Highway 401, which begins in Windsor, passes through London, Oakville, Mississauga, Toronto, Pickering, Oshawa and Kingston, extending to the border with the province of Quebec. This highway is the busiest highway in the world, especially in the section that passes through the Greater Toronto region.

Interior of one of the terminals of the International Airport Lester B. Pearson

Ontario has 13,351 kilometers of railways, which corresponds to a quarter of the Canadian railway network. Most of Ontario's rail network runs through the southern part of the province—this is the region most densely covered by rail per square kilometer in the entire country. The main railway companies operating in the province are the Canadian National Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway and VIA Rail. GO Transit serves about 195,000 passengers a day, transporting them between Toronto and neighboring cities, extending as far as Hamilton and Oshawa.

Lester B. Pearson International Airport, located in Mississauga, is Canada's most dynamic airport. It serves about 29 million passengers per year, and is the main airport hub in the country. Other major airports in the province include Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport and John C. Munro International Airport in Hamilton, which is also a major hub for mail and cargo aviation.

Media

One Yonge Street, the drafting building Toronto Star.

Ontario's cities each have at least one English-language newspaper, and these newspapers are almost always owned by the same company. The exception is Toronto, with three different newspapers. The vast majority of the country's leading magazines are published in this city (Maclean's, Canadian Business and Saturday Night) and where the headquarters of the country's large publishing companies are located (McClelland and Stewart and the publishing house from the University of Toronto). International Thomson, a multinational publisher, is also based in Toronto and is Canada's largest media company.

The first newspaper published in what is now the province of Ontario, the Upper Canada Gazette, was published in 1793, in former Newark (present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake). Four years later, the newspaper would go on to be published in York (present-day Toronto), having been published until 1849. Currently, about 450 newspapers are published in the province, of which about 50 are daily newspapers. Most of these newspapers are published in English, although many others are published in Chinese, French and Italian. The newspaper with the largest daily circulation in Canada is the Toronto Star of Toronto.

The Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto.

The main studios of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the private CTV network are located in Toronto. In addition to the English-speaking media, Ontario has three French-language television networks, as well as numerous repeaters and radio stations, not counting networks that broadcast in other languages. The province's public television network, TVOntario, broadcasts primarily in English, although it does dedicate a channel—TFO—specifically to Ontario's French-speaking community. broadcasts of the big television companies in the United States, such as NBC, ABC, CBS or FOX. Thus, Southern Ontario enjoys one of the largest repertoires of televised broadcasts in the world.

Ontario's first radio network opened in Hamilton in 1922. The first television network began broadcasting in 1952, in Toronto. Today, the province has about 170 radio and 30 television networks.

Since 1990, Telemundo has 3 local stations in Toronto/Ottawa, Kingston/Windsor and Mississauga/Hamilton. Same with Univision.

Health

The main building at the Ottawa Hospital.

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (in English Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and in French Ministère de la Santé et des Soins de longue durée) is responsible for the administration of the province's health system and the provision of services to the people of Ontario through various programs, such as health insurance, medication programs, care for the mentally ill, long-term care, home care, community health and public health services, health promotion and disease prevention. It also regulates hospitals and nursing homes, manages psychiatric centers and medical laboratories, and coordinates emergency services.

The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), founded in 1924, represents 159 public hospitals in the province.

In the spring of 2003, Ontario was hit hard by an epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, better known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, in the province's hospitals. The competent health authorities ordered the quarantine of thousands of people. In total, there were 44 deaths and 375 cases of infection in two waves.