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Upper Canada College (UCC) is an all-male elementary and secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, the oldest independent school in the province, and the third oldest school in Canada. It is widely considered to be the leading school in Canada. It has educated many of the country's elite, powerful and wealthy and declares its goal as being a "private school with a public purpose."[http://www.ucc.on.ca/Admissions/about.htm] UCC is a non-denominational school administered by a Board of Governors as a public trust. All of UCC's 1,000 day students and 110 boarders study the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme during Grades 11 and 12. The College maintains a traditional link to the Royal Family through Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who acts as Visitor to UCC. He is also a member of the school's Board of Governors. The current Chairman of the Board of Governors is Andrew Pringle, C.C. the Chairman of the Foundation is Roland Browning Watt, Q.C and Principal is Dr. James P. Power. The Heads of the Upper School are Bradley K. Adams and Michaele Robertson, while the Preparatory School is headed by Donald Kawasoe. The students are represented by Head Steward Jonathan Tam, and the Board of Stewards.

History

The College was founded in 1829 by then-Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada Sir John Colborne (later Lord Seaton). Teaching at the College began in 1830. The school was founded in the hopes it would serve as a feeder school to the newly founded King's College (later the University of Toronto), and was modelled on the great public schools of Britain, most notably Eton College. The school was closely associated with the colonial establishment at this time. UCC's student militia assisted Sir Francis Bond Head's Family Compact government in suppressing the pro-democracy William Lyon Mackenzie Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. They were awarded Battle Colours by the monarch - one of only two schools in North America to be given this honour. The College initially shared facilities with the Royal Grammar School (now Jarvis Collegiate Institute). Its first permanent buildings stood on Russell Square, on land that is now bounded by King, Simcoe, Adelaide and John Streets in downtown Toronto. After rapid industrial growth in the area, UCC moved to its current site, the Deer Park campus, 200 Lonsdale Road at Avenue Road in Forest Hill. In 1867, W. George Beers, a Canadian dentist, codified the game of lacrosse. The world's first game played under Beer's rules was at UCC,when the Toronto Cricket Club beat the hosts by a score of 3-1. Since 1902 the Preparatory School has been located in its own buildings at the south edge of the Deer Park campus, creating two physically seperate schools. Nearly 600 graduates perished during both the First World War and the Second World War. According to historian Jack Granatstein, UCC graduates accounted for more than 30% of Canadian generals during the Second World War, including General Harry Crerar, Commander in Chief of the Canadian Army, and Major-General Bruce Matthews, Commander of the 2nd Canadian Division and later Chairman of the College's Board of Governors. Unlike many other Canadian independant schools, UCC has a long history of ethnic students since its founding. The first black student appeared in 1831, the first Jew in 1836 and the first aboriginal in 1840.

Today

UCC is Canada's wealthiest independent school, having an endowment of $45 million (CDN), which it has devoted to physical expansion, financial aid, scholarships, and advanced computer and laboratory equipment. 2nd Canadian Division Tuition fees range from $20,350 to $37,975, representing a 16 per cent increase since 2002. Today, only 8 per cent of the school population received financial aid, far less than at many other leading independent and private schools in North America. UCC is well-known for challenging admissions standards, accepting less than 22% of all applicants. The current student-to-teacher ratio is 18:1. UCC has four gyms, four theatres, a hockey rink, a swimming pool, two Learning Centres (to study the way boys learn), six tennis courts, eight sports fields, an extensive library collection, and a sports activity bubble. UCC also maintains its own archives. The College has a notable collection of art work, war medals and real estate. The school houses a large collection of original paintings from the Group of Seven. Moreover, UCC is the owner of the world's first Victoria Cross awarded in 1854 to Old Boy, Alexander Roberts Dunn. Aside from Norval (see below) and the Deer Park campus, UCC's real estate portfolio also includes other sites in the Greater Toronto Area.

Houses

UCC, like several other Commonwealth schools, divides its students into ten houses, each led by a Housemaster and a student-elected Head of House. Heads of Houses are among the sixteen "stewards" who form the student government of the College. The house system was first adopted in 1923-4, previous to that members of the residence community were referred to as living in "the House" while day students were part of "the Town". There were only five houses until the late 1950s. There are now ten. Two of these houses, Wedd's and Seaton's, are boarding and the remaining eight are for day students. The houses are:
- Bremner's
- Howard's
- Jackson's
- Martland's
- McHugh's
- Mowbray's
- Orr's
- Scadding's
- Seaton's
- Wedd's Each year, the houses compete for the "Prefect's Cup," under a traditionally British style of inter-house competition.

School publications

The school's biweekly newspaper is known as Convergence, a two-to-three extended, and double-sided leaflet which reports solely on school issues, as opposed to international, national, or municipal affairs. In recent years, Convergence has received numerous awards from the Toronto Star, and the Globe and Mail - most notably "Best Student-Run Highschool Newspaper", which it has won several times. It has also received numerous donations from the National Post. The current editors are Max Marcus, and David Hertzberg. The College Times is Canada's oldest school publication, as has been printed without fail since 1829. Past editors include Robertson Davies, and Stephen Leacock. The Blue Page is UCC's student-run opinion paper. It is published each Friday, and contains articles written by and for both students and faculty, and pertains to both external and internal affairs.

Norval

Similar to the problems that the College faced with its Russel Square property at the end of the 19th century, by the early 20th century the city was already growing quickly around the Deer Park campus. The College trustees began to explore the possibility of moving the school again, and a property of 450 acres on the Credit River, north of the city, was purchased in 1913. Plans for a new college building were even drawn up by a Toronto architecture firm. However, due to the depression, the plans to move the school were abandoned in the 1930s. Still, the property remained in the hands of the school, a simple bunk-house eventually being built to allow students a few days to a week of outdoor education. Though the original bunkhouse remains, in 1967 a more permanent building was constructed for students to reside in. Called Stephen House, the structure contains a bunk area, dining area, lounge area, kitchen, bathrooms, accommodation for teacher chaperones and staff, and a classroom/laboratory. Norval is today Canada's oldest "outdoor" school.

Recent events

Scandal

In 2004, UCC was embroiled in a very public $62 million class action lawsuit brought by eighteen students who sued the school over alleged sexual abuse by Doug Brown, a member of the faculty who taught at UCC from 1975 until 1993. The lawsuit was settled on the eve of the trial, but the some continue to criticise what they view as a poor handling of the scandal by the College. In October of 2004, Doug Brown was found guilty of 9 counts of indecent assault, while a housemaster and teacher at UCC. In January of 2005, he was sentenced to 3 years in jail. An appeal is currently in the works. In a media release, UCC has announced that they "continue to offer [their] support to those who were victims of abuse at the College, and [they] are committed to a fair process for determining the school's responsibility to compensate those who were victimized by Doug Brown."

Capital building project

UCC has launched a decade-long $90 million capital building campaign - the largest and most ambitious fundraising campaign of any pre-university school in Canada. The plans call for the creation of two new arena complexes, an Olympic-standard 50-metre swimming pool, a new racquet centre (squash, badminton and tennis), a rowing centre, expansion of both the Prep and Upper School academic buildings, and an expansion of the Archives.

Affiliations

The Bishop Strachan School (BSS), located three blocks away from UCC, is UCC's official sister school, although ties between the schools have been strained over the past few years. This has lead UCC to become actively involved with other nearby girls schools, including St. Clement's School (SCS), Havergal College, and Branksome Hall. Lower Canada College, a co-educational private school in Montreal, Quebec, is not affiliated with UCC. The College is a member of the Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario (CIS), the Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), the Secondary School Admission Test (SAT) Board, The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) and an associate member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), and the Principal is a member of the Headmasters Conference (HMC) in the UK. Furthermore, UCC plays a leading role in International Boys' School Coaltion (IBSC) and the Toronto Boys' School Coalition (TBSC).

Alumni

A more exhaustive list of UCC graduates can be found at List of Upper Canada College alumni. UCC has a reputation for educating many of Canada's powerful, elite and wealthy. As is common in single-sex male schools, UCC's alumni are known simply as "Old Boys." Examples include:
- Lord Kenneth Thomson - "Canada's wealthiest man" and Chairman of Thomson Corporation
- Stephen Leacock - writer and economist
- Robertson Davies - notable author
- Michael Ignatieff - noted academic, Harvard professor, and touted successor to Paul Martin
- Michael MacMillan - Academy Award winner and CEO of Alliance Atlantis
- Vincent Massey - the first Canadian-born Governor-General
- Lord Conrad Black - publishing tycoon (expelled)
- Galen Weston - owner, George Weston Ltd. and Canada's "second richest man"
- Peter C. Newman - journalist, author and biographer
- Ernest McCulloch - accredited with the discovery of the Stem Cell

Famous Masters

Many leading intellectuals have taught at UCC. They include:
- Sir George Parkin - Principal, leader of the British Imperial League and First Secertary of the Rhodes Scholarship
- Robertson Davies - Old Boy and English Master
- Stephen Leacock - Head Boy and English Master
- George Grant - Principal
- George Monro Grant - Principal
- Reverend Sowby - Principal and Canadian-education reformer
- J. Douglas Blakey - Principal and leading Canadian environmentalist
- George Sheppard - History Master and leading expert on the War of 1812
- Michael Eben - famous CFL footballer and Governor of Victoria College at University of Toronto
- Vernon Mould - Former Vice-Principal, leading Canadian intellectual
- Henry Scadding - Canadian intellectual
- Mary Gauthier - Renowned boys education expert

External links


- [http://www.ucc.on.ca Upper Canada College]

Sources


- [http://www.ucc.on.ca/A01000_moreaboutus.html More About UCC], UCC Website Category:Private schools in Ontario Category:High schools in Toronto Category:University-preparatory schools in Canada

Secondary

Secondary can mean:
- An ordinal adjective indicating "Second" or second hand, see Primary
- Secondary education refers to high school education.
- In music, a secondary dominant.
- The secondary in American football refers to the group of (usually four) defensive backs.

Toronto

:For other uses, see Toronto (disambiguation). Toronto is Canada's largest city and the provincial capital of Ontario. Toronto's population is 2,518,772, and the population of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is 5,603,686 (Statistics Canada, 2004). Residents of Toronto are called Torontonians (in French: Torontois). The city is part of the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, a densely populated region of around 8 million people. Approximately one-quarter of the Canadian population lives within the Golden Horseshoe, and about one-sixth of all Canadian jobs lie within the city limits. Toronto is a global city, exerting significant regional, national, and international influence, and is one of the world's most multicultural cities. Toronto is Canada's financial centre and 'economic engine,' as well as one of the country's most important cultural, art, and health sciences centres. In January 2005, it was designated by the federal government as one of Canada's cultural capitals. It is one of the safest cities to live in North America: its violent crime rate is lower than that of any major US metropolitan area and is one of the lowest in Canada. The current City of Toronto was – in 1998 – amalgamated from its six prior municipalities and regional government. The current mayor of Toronto is David Miller. His predecessor, and first mayor of the amalgamated city, was Mel Lastman. The last mayor of the pre-amalgamated city was Barbara Hall. __TOC__

History

The Toronto area was home to a number of First Nations groups who lived on the shore of Lake Ontario. The first European presence was the French trading fort Fort Rouillé established in 1750. The first large influx of Europeans was by United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution. In 1793 Toronto, then known as York, was named capital of the new colony of Upper Canada. The city steadily grew during the nineteenth century, becoming one of the main destinations of immigrants to Canada. In the second half of the twentieth century Toronto surpassed Montreal as the economic capital of Canada and as its largest city.

Demographics

Montreal Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. In 2004, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Toronto second, behind Miami, in its list of world cities with the largest percentage of foreign-born population. Though ranking first, Miami's foreign-born population is mostly Hispanic, whereas Toronto's is significantly more diverse. Toronto also ranked ahead of Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York City, Singapore, and Sydney. Toronto represents a multicultural mosaic. The 2001 Canadian census indicates 42.8% of Toronto's population being of a visible minority. In March 2005, Statistics Canada projected that the visible minority proportion will comprise a majority in both Toronto and Vancouver by 2012. A majority of Torontonians still claim their ethnic origins as from Britain and Ireland, either in whole or in part, with significant numbers of Chinese, Italians, Vietnamese, South Asians, and others in the city. This has yielded a unique combination of communities and neighbourhoods that are often strikingly different from one another. Roman Catholicism is the largest faith in the city, accounting for 31.4% in 2001, followed by the Anglican Church (21.1%) and other Christian denominations (8.8%), but the city has significant Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and other communities; 18.8% had no religious affiliation. While English is the predominant language (51.8%) spoken by Torontonians, Statistics Canada reports that other language groups are significant including Chinese and Italian. Only 1.4% of city residents claim French (Canada's other official language) as their mother tongue. Source: [http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil01/CP01/Details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=3520005&Geo2=PR&Code2=35&Data=Count&SearchText=toronto&SearchType=Contains&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=]

Geography and climate

French

The City of Toronto covers an area of 641 km² (247 square miles) and is bounded by Lake Ontario to the south, Etobicoke Creek and Highway 427 to the west, Steeles Avenue to the north, and the Rouge River to the east. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) extends beyond the city boundaries and includes the regional municipalities of Halton, Peel, York and Durham. The GTA is part of a larger, natural ecosystem known as the Greater Toronto Bioregion. This ecosystem is bounded by Lake Ontario, the Niagara Escarpment, and the Oak Ridges Moraine, and includes several watersheds that drain into Lake Ontario. It is also located at the northern extent of the Carolinian forest zone. Toronto's climate is moderated by Lake Ontario; its climate is among the mildest in Canada east of the Rocky Mountain range. It receives less snowfall during the winter than most other Canadian cities, and mild periods occur throughout the winter due to regular melting, so there are periods with little or no snow on the ground. However, recent years have shown a trend towards varying winter weather. During the winter months, daytime high temperatures average just at or below freezing, average January maximum is -1°C (30°F) (although residents usually endure two or three bitter cold snaps each year). Due to its location the northwest shore of Lake Ontario it is not so prone to heavy, wind whipped lake effect snow squalls experienced more often in nearby American cities such as Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse, NY or elsewhere in Southern Ontario, e.g. Barrie and London. Despite this, there is usually at least one or more heavy snowfalls with at least 20 cm (8") during each winter season. They are often accompanied by strong east or north-east winds fetching additional moisture from Lake Ontario. Average winter snowfall is 133 cm (52"). Summer maximum temperatures typically range from 25–32°C (77–90°F) and are usually accompanied by moderate to high humidity, though temperatures as high as 36°C (97°F), and sometimes higher, are not unexpected. Such intense "heat waves" generally last no more than a few days, and are usually coupled with high humidity and smog. In recent years, air pollution has become a greater problem on many summer days, mostly of as a result of vehicular exhaust and transported air pollution from heavy industry in the Midwest US and Southern Ontario. There was a record 52 days with "smog warnings" over the summer of 2005, far exceeding the previous annual record of 28 days in 2001. Sunshine is abundant through summer, but severe thunderstorms are a regular occurrence and can popup quickly, especially west and north of the city. In August 2005 there were two such heavy storms that created havoc, the first occurred on August 2, 2005 and is thought to have a played a contributing factor in the Air France Airbus crash landing into a ravine that afternoon. The second happened on the afternoon of August 19, 2005 in what has been described as a "once in a hundred year" event, up to 183mm (over 7") of rain fell in parts of the northern end of the city in under a couple of hours. Numerous roadways and bridges were washed out and insurance claims from backed up sewers and flood damage has exceeded $400 million. Spring and Autumn feature varied, changeable weather with typically alternating periods of dry, sunny weather and rain. Nights are generally cool, but frosts are rare in the city. Snow can fall in early spring or late fall but usually melts quickly or even before making contact with the ground. Along the Lake Ontario shoreline, spring days tend to be much cooler than further inland, whereas from late summer to early winter, nights are warmer the closer you are to lake. The highest temperatures in Toronto was 41°C (105°F) recorded on 3 consecutive days from July 7-July 9, 1936. The coldest -33°C (-25°F) was recorded on January 10, 1859. Annual average precipitation is 834mm (32.8").

Government

precipitation] precipitation] precipitation] Torontonians elect representatives to the federal, provincial, and municipal levels of government. 22 Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Toronto sit in the House of Commons in Ottawa, and another 22 Members of Ontario's Provincial Parliament (MPPs) sit in the Legislative Assembly in Queen's Park, located in Toronto. Being Ontario's capital, many provincial offices are located in the city. Toronto's local government consists of 44 elected councillors (representing around 55,000 people each), who along with the mayor, make up the Toronto City Council. Toronto elects a new government every three years, in November. The City of Toronto represents the fifth largest municipal government in North America, and has an operating budget of $7.1 billion CDN. This operating budget is comprised of $2.5 billion dollars of funds from the Government of Ontario for purposes they mandate such as Toronto Public Health, $2.0 billion for special purpose bodies including the Toronto Public Library and Toronto Zoo, $1.7 billion of directly controlled money, and $0.9 billion for capital financing and non-programs [http://www.toronto.ca/budget2005/pdf/2005op_wheremoneygoes.pdf]. The current municipal government is rooted in the creation of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (known more popularly as "Metro") in 1954. This new regional government, which encompassed the smaller communities of East York, Etobicoke, Forest Hill, Leaside, Long Branch, Mimico, New Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Swansea, Toronto, Weston, and York, was created in light of the need for more coordination of city services. The postwar boom resulted in suburbanization, and it was felt that a coordinated land use planning strategy, as well as shared services, would be more efficient. These thirteen townships, villages, towns, and cities continued to exist independently of the regional government, and continued to provide some local services to their residents. Gradually, the Metro government began taking over management of services that crossed municipal boundaries, most notably highways, water, and public transit. On January 1, 1967, several of the smaller municipalities were amalgamated with larger ones, reducing their number to six. Forest Hill and Swansea became part of Toronto; Long Branch, Mimico, and New Toronto joined Etobicoke; Weston merged with York; and Leaside amalgamated with East York. This arrangement lasted until 1998, when the regional level of government was abolished and the six municipalities (Toronto, Etobicoke, North York, East York, York, and Scarborough) were amalgamated into a single municipality or "megacity". Many people criticised this change, which came on top of a massive "downloading" of provincial services to the municipal level, with little to no new revenue available. A plebiscite indicated that a majority of the citizens of Toronto opposed amalgamation, but criticisms were raised about the leading nature of the question asked. In Canada (and Ontario), plebiscites are not legally binding. The Province of Ontario under Premier Mike Harris had the power to ignore the result and did so. Mel Lastman, the long-time mayor of North York before the amalgamation, was the first mayor of the new "megacity" of Toronto. Politically, Toronto is often perceived, especially by Torontonians themselves, to be a "liberal" city by North American standards. It has been described by many experts as even the most liberal city in North America surpassing the liberal bastions of San Francisco and Boston. Torontonians often perceive themselves to be more progressive and left-wing then other Canadians, although it is debatable whether this is, in fact, the case. While Toronto is in many ways quite progressive, on many points (willingness to vote for openly gay politicians, support for official bilingualism, support for drug-liberalisation, support for the New Democratic Party) other areas of the country, even quite rural regions, have been more progressive than Torontonians. In terms of electoral politics, Toronto has recently been a Stronghold for the Liberal Party both federally and provincially, except in the downtown area which tends to support the NDP provincially. The Conservatives have no Toronto members in either the federal or provincial legislatures, although, most of the right wing members of the Liberal Party are from Toronto. Toronto supported the right wing government of Mike Harris during the 1995 and 1999 Ontario elections, and a right wing Mayor, Mel Lastman during the 1997 and 2000 Toronto elections. Recently, prominent federal politicians including Paul Martin and later Jack Layton (NDP leader and for 20 years a Toronto City Councillor) began promising a "new deal for cities", and large banks began issuing papers on it. As of July 2005, signs point to some degree of awareness towards the problems facing the city by the two senior levels of governments, though willingness to address them remains uncertain.

Economy

Toronto City Council in the heart of downtown]]Toronto is a port of entry, as well as being an important commercial, financial, and industrial hub. It is the banking and stock exchange centre of the country, and is Canada's primary wholesale and distribution point. Its importance as a seaport increased after the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, but has since diminished and is disused (see: Waterfront). Ontario's wealth of raw materials and hydroelectric power have made Toronto a primary centre of industry. The city and its surrounding area produces more than half of Canada's manufactured goods. Until the 1970s, Toronto was the second largest city in Canada, after Montreal. The economic growth of Toronto was greatly stimulated by the development of the auto industry and of large mineral resources in its hinterland, and by the completion in 1959 of the St. Lawrence Seaway which allowed ships access to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean. Further growth in the Toronto area is often attributed to the rise of Quebec separatism, though the extent of its influence is still contested by some, who argue that its effect was exaggerated by the English media. During the 1970s, the Quebec Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois enacted a series of French-language laws, which were perceived as unfavourable towards English-language businesses (especially Multinationals, whose markets extended far beyond Quebec's borders) and English-speaking Montrealers, and some of the former and a number of the latter relocated to Toronto where French is not necessary for business.French-language laws; the TD Centre was partially built around and incorporated the TSX]] As the business and financial capital of the country, Toronto hosts the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the third largest stock exchange in North America by market capitalisation and sixth in the world (see List of stock exchanges for complete rankings). The TSX has led North American exchanges by being the first to trade electronically and become listed publicly; in the last decade, it has also generally outperformed various major stock exchanges worldwide. The Toronto financial industry is based on Bay Street, the city's equivalent to Wall Street in New York. A number of major corporations are based in the city, including the Hudson's Bay Company, TD Canada Trust, Celestica, Four Seasons Hotels, Air Canada, Rogers Communications, MDS Inc. and many others. Numerous other companies are based in the Greater Toronto Area outside of the city limits, such as Nortel, IBM Canada, and Magna International. In recent years, Toronto has become one of the centres of Canada's film industry, along with Montreal and Vancouver, due to the lower cost of producing films and television shows in Canada. The city's streets and landmarks can be seen in a variety of different films, mimicking the streets of major American cities such as Chicago and New York. The City of Toronto's GDP is $225 billion and Metropolitan Toronto's GDP is $305 billion, making it one of the richest cities on earth.

Education

New York]] Toronto is home to a number of educational institutions, including the largest university in Canada, the University of Toronto, which has a student population of more than 60,000 across three campuses (one downtown, one in Scarborough, and another in Mississauga). York University, the third largest university in Canada, has a student population of more than 50,000 students across two campuses. It houses Glendon College, one of the only educational institution in the country where all students receive education in both English and French (the others being McGill and University of Ottawa). Toronto is also the site of Ryerson University, home to approximately 20,000 full-time students. Other schools include the Royal Conservatory of Music and its associated Glenn Gould School are internationally-recognised centres for musical training and the highly respected Ontario College of Art and Design, the fourth-largest art school in North America. Toronto also has four post-secondary community colleges—Seneca College, Humber College, Centennial College, and George Brown College—scattered across 29 campuses. Recently, Toronto's community colleges have begun either offering their own bachelor's degree programmes or operating joint degree programmes with neighbouring universities. Toronto also has several private and independent schools, at the secondary and post-secondary levels. These include the International Academy of Design and Technology and Tyndale University College and Seminary. There are also specialty schools such as the Ontario Science Centre Science School. Toronto, like many other Canadian cities, hosts a growing number of private English as a Second Language (ESL) schools and is home to as many as 10,000 ESL students at a time. These students come primarily from Latin America, East Asia and German-speaking Europe with surprisingly few coming from nearby French Canada. These schools are represented by the [http://www.capls.com Canadian Association of Private Language Schools]. Toronto's public schools are operated by the Toronto District School Board and the separate Toronto Catholic District School Board. In addition there are several well known private primary and secondary schools including Upper Canada College (UCC), St. Michael's College School (SMCS), Havergal College, Bishop Strachan School (BSS), De La Salle College, Branksome Hall, Crescent School, Royal St. George's College (RSGC), St. Clement's School, University of Toronto Schools (UTS), The York School (TYS), and Toronto French School (TFS).

Transport

Railways

Toronto French School Toronto is served by intercity VIA Rail, Ontario Northland, and Amtrak trains through Union Station, a grand neoclassical structure in the heart of the city's downtown, which is shared with GO Transit's commuter trains. Toronto may soon have its own high-speed airport to downtown rail link with the proposed construction of the Blue22 transit route.

Bus Terminals

A large GO bus terminal is located next to Union Station. However, the main inter-city bus terminal is at Bay & Dundas.

Highways

There are a number of freeways that serve the city and the Greater Toronto Area. Forming part of Toronto's municipal expressway system, the Don Valley Parkway (or colloquially, the DVP or sarcastically as the 'Don Valley Parking Lot') connects the city's eastern and northern suburbs to downtown, while the Gardiner Expressway (or colloquially, "the Gardiner") connects its western suburbs to the downtown core. Extending northward from the Don Valley Parkway is Highway 404, towards Markham, Richmond Hill, Aurora, and Newmarket. Extending westward from the Gardiner Expressway is the Queen Elizabeth Way (often called the QEW), which heads towards Hamilton, Niagara, and Fort Erie. Highway 401 (or simply, "the 401") acts as a by-pass of downtown Toronto, and is one of the most congested highways in North America. It connects to Highway 427 (an important connector highway between the Airport and Downtown) , Highway 400 (north to Barrie and beyond into Ontario's "cottage country"), Allen Road, and Highway 409, a connector route from Hwy. 401 to Toronto Pearson International Airport. Highway 407 ETR is not located within Toronto proper, but is a major highway in the Greater Toronto Area acting as a secondary by-pass around the northern end of Toronto, stretching from Burlington in the west to Pickering in the east. It is an electronic toll road with no physical toll booths, instead depending on automatic recognition of license plates or electronic toll collection, undergoing continuous upgrades since the relatively high tolls make this affordable for the 407 ETR owners.

Public transport

electronic toll collection.]] Within the city, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) operates an extensive system of subways, buses, and streetcars, covering 1,200 km (754 miles) of routes and heavily used by people who live in or near the city. A single flat fare is good for any trip within the city regardless of distance or transfers required with the exception of contracted routes that travel outside of the city and downtown express routes. Toronto has the second highest transit system ridership in the US and Canada (after New York). The backbone of the TTC is a relatively simple subway system with two main lines, the U-shaped Yonge-University-Spadina Line and the east-west Bloor-Danforth Line, running along principal streets and connecting Toronto's outlying areas with its downtown core. Each line also connects to a secondary feeder near one of its outer ends: the Sheppard subway line in the north and the Scarborough RT in the east making it the second most extensive in Canada after the Montreal Metro. The rest of the city is primarily served by a network of about 150 bus routes, many of them forming a grid along main streets, and almost all of them connecting to one or more subway or RT stations. A more distinctive feature of the TTC is the streetcar system, one of the few remaining in North America with a substantial amount of in-street operation. Most of the 11 streetcar routes are concentrated in the downtown core, and all connect to the subway. Interregional commuter train and bus service is provided by GO Transit. GO trains and buses connect the city to the rest of the Greater Toronto Area.

Airports

Toronto's primary airport is Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), straddling Toronto's western boundary with Mississauga. Pearson's air traffic is just under 30 million passengers annually [http://www.airports.org/cda/aci/display/main/aci_content.jsp?zn=aci&cp=1-5_9_2__] and it is the world's largest originator of air traffic into the US. The city also has a smaller commercial airport, the Toronto City Centre Airport (YTZ). Situated on the Toronto Islands, the City Centre Airport is primarily a general aviation airport, but Air Canada Jazz does operate commercial flights. In recent years the destinations served from YTZ have been reduced, and currently Ottawa is the only destination for commercial flights. It is connected to the mainland by a short ferry that is free to airline passengers. The Hamilton International Airport is an alternate, relief airport to Pearson, but not in the GTA. Situated in Hamilton, 85 km (53 miles) southwest of Toronto, it is also a terminus for low-cost carrier, charter airline, and courier traffic. There are a number of other general aviation airports in and around the city, including Buttonville Municipal Airport, Markham Airport, Oshawa Airport, Brampton Airport, and Burlington Airpark.

Other

Passenger ferry service to the Toronto Islands is provided by the city's Parks, Forestry and Recreation division. Ferries run year-round from the Toronto Ferry Docks at the foot of Bay Street to Hanlan's Point, Centre Island, and Ward's Island. A high-speed passenger/vehicle ferry service across Lake Ontario to Rochester, New York was launched on June 17, 2004, using the vessel Spirit of Ontario I experiencing a financing-caused service interruption, returning to service June 30, 2005, operated by Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited, using the marketing term "The Cat".

Attractions

Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited] Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited Bay Ferries Great Lakes Limited] Toronto's most famous landmark is the CN Tower, a 553 metre (1815 feet) tall steel and concrete transmission tower, the tallest free-standing land structure in the world. Directly west of it is the Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome), the world's first sporting arena to feature a fully retractable roof. It is currently home to the Toronto Blue Jays and the Toronto Argonauts. Nearby, the Air Canada Centre is the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, and the Toronto Rock. It was originally built to replace the legendary Maple Leaf Gardens. Toronto's City Hall is one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Built to replace its predecessor — now known simply as Old City Hall — its modernist style still impresses today. (It has been used as a backdrop in American films to depict a city of the future.) Directly in front of City Hall is Nathan Phillips Square, a public space that frequently houses concerts, art displays, a weekly farmers' market, and other public events. It is also the site of a reflecting pool that, during the winter, becomes a popular skating rink. Dundas Square, nearby, is the city's newest and flashiest public square, located across the street from the Toronto Eaton Centre, a large, popular shopping mall. Queen's Park, a historic scenic park and public space, surrounds Ontario's Legislative Assembly. The Toronto Islands form part of the largest car-free urban community in North America. Accessible by ferry, "the Islands" include a public park and a children's amusement park, Centreville. The Islands are also home to the Toronto City Centre Airport. The city has several large parks, the best known being High Park to the west of downtown. The city is crisscrossed by a network of ravines that are still almost wholly undeveloped. Other popular attractions include the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Ontario Science Centre, the Leslie Street Spit, the Toronto Zoo, Little Glenn, and the city's oldest cathedrals, the Roman Catholic St. Michael's Cathedral and the Anglican St. James' Cathedral, both on Church Street. Casa Loma, a castle overlooking downtown Toronto, is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

Shopping

Many specialty shops can be found in Toronto near Bloor & Bay, including exclusive boutiques and toy stores. Thanks possibly to the climate, Toronto has an extensive set of underground shopping areas, typically operating 9am to 5pm in the PATH complex centered roughly at King & Bay, as well as a few others such as at Yonge & Bloor. These stores are generally fashion stores, but some specialy toy stores and access to larger stores are available in these complexes. Along Queen St. East can be found Toronto's biggest camera stores. Big-box stores are not generally found in Downtown Toronto, but the suburbs have many large malls, big-box stores as well as specialty stores, such as near Orfus Road (discount fashions, lighting, etc.) close to Yorkdale mall. The fashion district is located near King & Spadina, close to the old Chinatown to the north and entertainment district to the east. It is here that Sunday shopping in Toronto first got its start in the 1980s. The city itself has many large and unique malls and shopping centers. Shopping in Toronto has become a large draw for tourists, with for example, the Eaton Centre receiving a special designation as a tourist attraction in the 1980s.

Culture

Exhibits

Toronto has a world-renowned museum, the Royal Ontario Museum (frequently referred to as "the ROM"), and one of North America's largest art galleries, the Art Gallery of Ontario (also known as the "AGO"). Exhibition Place is the home of the Canadian National Exhibition (the CNE or "the Ex"), an annual event that takes place in August which also hosts the Canadian International Air Show. Nearby Ontario Place is a popular amusement park on the waterfront. It has a vibrant visual arts scene, with artist-run venues such as Mercer Union and YYZ Artists' Outlet presenting important exhibitions of contemporary art from both the local area and abroad.

Performing arts

Toronto is home to Canada's most active English language theatre scene, and is considered to be the third largest centre for English language theatre in the world, behind New York City and London. It is home to both acclaimed works by companies as Soulpepper, the Canadian Stage, and Tarragon and large Broadway style musicals. Several Broadway theatrical hits originated in Toronto, such as the 1993 revival of Show Boat and Ragtime. Venues for theatre include the Canon Theatre (formerly Pantages Theatre and Pantages Cinema), the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, the Princess of Wales Theatre, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, the Poor Alex Theatre, and the Harbourfront Centre. It is the mandate of Theatres such as The Factory Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille to produce distinctly Canadian Theatre and support local artists. Canadian artists that have started in these theatres include George F. Walker, Michael Healey and Ann Marie MacDonald. Musical venues in Toronto include the Toronto Centre for the Arts in North York; Roy Thomson Hall, home to Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO); and Massey Hall. The National Ballet of Canada is based in Toronto and performs at the Hummingbird Centre and formerly at the Walter Carsen Centre. It and the Opera will move to the Four Seasons Centre in 2006. As Canada's largest city and the main centre of its recording industry, Toronto is also home to many Canadian pop, rock, and hip hop artists. This includes both musicians native to Toronto and those who have moved to Toronto from other towns and cities. The live music scene in Toronto is centred primarily in the Queen Street West area, part of what is known as the Entertainment District, although not all of Toronto's music venues are in this neighbourhood. More established acts play at venues such as Lee's Palace, The Opera House, The Horseshoe Tavern, The Mod Club, The Phoenix Concert Theatre, and Kool Haus (formerly known as the Warehouse). Major concert tours by stars are usually booked into larger venues such as Air Canada Centre, Hummingbird Centre, the Rogers Centre and the Molson Amphitheatre at Ontario Place.

Literature

The Greater Toronto Area is the centre of English Canadian literature and many of Canada's best known writers, such as Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, write and set their books in Toronto. Other prominent Toronto-based writers include Rohinton Mistry, Morley Callaghan, and George Elliott Clarke. Canada's publishing industry is based in Toronto. It is home to both the major companies, such as McClelland and Stewart and the smaller firms like House of Anansi Press and Coach House Books. Both of Canada's English language national newspapers (the National Post and the Globe and Mail) are based in Toronto, as is Canada's largest-circulating daily newspaper (The Toronto Star) and many other major magazines and periodicals. The city is thus home to a large number of Canada's journalists. As a nexus of multilingual activity, Toronto has 79 ethnic periodicals. The largest book stores are near Bathurst & Bloor and Yonge & Dundas, with a number of famous specialty, alternative and science fiction bookstores along Queen west and Yonge street.

Events

Toronto plays host to a variety of different events year-round. At the end of June annually, Toronto hosts one of North America's largest Gay Pride celebrations. In July, Caribana, the largest Caribbean festival in North America, attracts more than one million celebrants for the concerts, the food, the King and Queen of the Bands competition, and the very popular Caribana parade. The Molson Indy is also held in Toronto every year in July. In September, Hollywood celebrities, actors, writers, directors, and producers from around the world descend on the city for the Toronto International Film Festival.

Tourism

Toronto has a thriving tourism industry as it has many landmarks and attractions, the most popular of which is the CN Tower. The city has largely recovered from the 2003 SARS outbreak; however, the tourism industry had to make certain cuts, with some elements not having yet returned to the status quo. One of Toronto's major annual attractions is the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), attendance to which is a family tradition for some. Regular sporting events, such as home games of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Blue Jays, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Marlies and Argonauts, also bring many tourists to the city every year. The city of Toronto recently launched a tourism campaign called Toronto Unlimited. However, the new branding campaign has been criticised by many locals and outside commentators.

Sports

Current professional franchises

Logo Club League Venue Established Championships
Argonauts Toronto Argonauts Canadian Football League Rogers Centre 1873 15
Toronto Maple Leafs National Hockey League Air Canada Centre 1917 13
Air Canada Centre Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball Rogers Centre 1977 2
Rogers Centre Toronto Raptors National Basketball Association Air Canada Centre 1995 0
Air Canada Centre Toronto Rock National Lacrosse League Air Canada Centre 1999 5
Air Canada Centre Toronto Marlies American Hockey League Ricoh Coliseum 2005 0
Ricoh Coliseum Toronto Lynx USL First Division Centennial Park Stadium 1997 0

Current semi-professional franchises

Logo Club League Venue Established Championships
Centennial Park Stadium Toronto St. Michael's Majors Ontario Hockey League St. Michael's College School Arena 1996 4
Toronto Maple Leafs (baseball) Intercounty Baseball League Christie Pits 1969 7

Major sporting venues


- Air Canada Centre - home to NHL Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA Toronto Raptors and the NLL Toronto Rock.
- Maple Leaf Gardens - Former home to the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Allan Lamport Stadium - named after Toronto Mayor Allan Lamport, City-owned facility
- Beatrice Ice Gardens - York University
- Birchmount Stadium - City-owned facility
- Christie Pits - home to the Toronto Maple Leafs (baseball), City-owned facility
- Esther Shiner Stadium - former home to York University Yeomens Football team
- Greenwood Racetrack - demolished and replaced be Woodbine Park and housing development
- Rexall Centre - home to National Tennis Centre at York University
- Ricoh Coliseum - formerly home of the AHL Roadrunners and current home of the AHL Marlies. On City land.
- Rogers Centre - Owned and used by MLB Toronto Blue Jays and also home to the CFL Toronto Argonauts
- Toronto Track and Field Centre at York University
- Varsity Stadium - University of Toronto, since demolished
- Varsity Arena - University of Toronto Varsity Blues Hockey
- Woodbine Race Track - owned by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission

City issues

Crime

Crime (including violent crime) in Toronto has been generally decreasing over the past decade. Toronto's violent crime rates are extremely low compared to many cities in the US (in 1999, Toronto had 1.3 homicides per 100,000 people compared to Houston's 13.4, Chicago's 15.65 (2004), and Washington, DC's 35.7 (2004) [http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/quality_of_life/safety.htm]) and comparable to rates in larger European centres, and are low even compared with other Canadian cities. Due to a spike in gun-related crimes/murders over the summer of 2005, largely attributed to illicit weapons smuggling from the US (noted in October 2005 by Prime Minister Paul Martin when meeting with

Ontario

:This article describes the Canadian province. For other usages, see Ontario (disambiguation). 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. Ontario has a population (July 1, 2005) of 12,541,410, representing approximately 37.9% of the total Canadian population (Ontarians) and an area of 1,076,395km² (415,598 sq. mi.).

Geography

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; Ontario itself is an Iroquois word meaning "beautiful lake" or "beautiful water"). There are approximately 250,000 lakes and over 100,000 kilometres 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; Western Ontario (sometimes called Southwestern Ontario), Golden Horseshore, Central Ontario and Eastern 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 Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies 90 per cent of the surface area of the province; conversely Southern Ontario contains 94 per cent 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)
- South Asian: 4.9%
- Chinese: 3.7%
- Black: 3.6%
- Aboriginal: 1.7%
- Filipino: 1.3%
- Latin-American: 0.9%
- Other: 3.0% 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

Weather

Franco-Ontarian The weather in Ontario is very diverse. The south, including 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 the Gulf of Mexico. Severe thunderstorms peak in frequency in June and July, most notably in Southwestern and Central Ontario. Northwestern Ontario also receives short periods of hot weather and severe storms. In the winter, lake effect snow squalls affect three primary areas in Ontario known as the "snow belts", 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 100km or greater from the shore but the heaviest snows usually occur within 20km from the shoreline. At other times, all regions of the province may encounter snow squalls.

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). Some economists believe that the North American Free Trade Agreement has led to a decline in manufacturing in part of North America's manufacturing "Rust Belt" that includes a portion of Southern Ontario from roughly Windsor through to St. Catharines (south of Toronto). This area and the Greater Toronto region contain the bulk of the auto sector in the province. As a result of steeply delcining 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. Uncertainty also looms for money losing Ford Motor Co. and an announcement on cutbacks is likely in the coming weeks. Toronto is the centre of Canada's financial services and banking industry. Surburban cities Brampton and Mississauga are large product distribution centres, in addition to having automobile related industries. The information technology sector is also important, especially around Markham, Waterloo and Ottawa. Mining and the forest products industry, notably pulp and paper, are important to the economy of the Canadian Shield of Northern Ontario. 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 [http://www.2ontario.com/welcome/oo_000.asp Ontario Facts]

Agriculture

Gross Domestic Product] 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.
Image:Ontario.jpg
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 Ottawa River during this period, a fact recognized by the Constitutional Act of 1791, which split Quebec into The Canadas: Upper Canada west of the Ottawa River, 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 of liquor and beer is still tightly-controlled by the state to ensure that the maximum revenues go to the provincial treasury. 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. According to the provincial government website, English is Ontario's official language, although French language rights have been extended to the legal and educational systems under the French Language Services Act of 1990.

Government

1990 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

Territorial evolution 1788-1899

Executive Council in Northwestern Ontario.]] 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.
- [http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/exhibits/maps/districts.htm Early Districts and Counties 1788-1899]

See also


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

External links


- [http://www.gov.on.ca/ Government of Ontario]
- [http://atlas.gc.ca/rasterimages/english/maps/reference/provincesterritories/ont_new.pdf Map]
- [http://www.ontariotenants.ca/government/mpp.phtml Ontario MPP Contact Information]
- [http://www.ontarioghosttowns.com/ Ontario Ghost Towns and Abandoned Places]
- [http://www.historicbridges.org/b_s_ont.htm Learn about and see photos of historic bridges in southwestern Ontario]
- zh-min-nan:Ontario ko:온타리오 주 ja:オンタリオ州 simple:Ontario

Canada

Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of area, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean with claims extending to the North Pole. The northern-most country on the mainland of North America, Canada has land borders only with the United States. Governed as a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, Canada is a federation of ten provinces with three territories. Initially constituted in 1867, the country's constitution was patriated in 1982 from the United Kingdom. Canada's head of state is its monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented in Canada by the Governor General, presently Michaëlle Jean. The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Paul Martin; his minority government recently lost a vote of non-confidence in the Canadian House of Commons and asked for the dissolution of the Parliament by the Governor General, who then issued a Royal proclamation authorising the issue of election writs, and stating a federal election will take place on 2006 January 23. Canada's official languages are English and French. As of 2005, its official population estimate is approximately 32.4 million [http://www.statcan.ca/english/edu/clock/population.htm].

Overview

The capital city is Ottawa, Ontario, the seat of Canada's Parliament. The Governor General, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Loyal Opposition, and the Speaker of the House of Commons have official residences in the National Capital Region.National Capital Region, Ontario.]] Originally a union of British colonies with significant French influence and entitled as a "dominion", Canada is a founding member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and La Francophonie. Canada defines itself as a bilingual and multicultural nation:
- English is the official (and majority) language in most provinces of Canada.
- French is the official language of Quebec, an official language of New Brunswick, and is spoken in various areas throughout the country.
- Several Aboriginal languages have official status in the Northwest Territories; Inuktitut is the majority language in Nunavut and has official status there. Canada is a technologically advanced and industrialized nation. It is a net exporter of energy because of its large fossil fuel deposits, nuclear energy generation, and hydroelectric power capacity. Its diversified economy relies heavily on an abundance of natural resources and trade, particularly with the United States, with which it has had a long and complex relationship. Canada has ten provinces and three territories: Canada's major cities that are not capital cities include Montreal, Quebec; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Calgary, Alberta.

Canada's name

The name Canada is believed to come from the Huron-Iroquois word kanata, which means "village" or "settlement". In 1535, locals used the word to tell Jacques Cartier the way to Stadacona, site of present-day Quebec City. Cartier used Canada to refer not only to Stadacona, but also to the entire area subject to Donnacona, Chief at Stadacona; by 1547, maps began referring to this and the surrounding area as Canada.

History

Aboriginal tradition holds that the First Peoples have inhabited parts of what is now called Canada since the dawn of time. Archaeological records show that these lands have been inhabited for at least 10,000 years. Several Viking expeditions occurred circa AD 1000, with evidence of settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. British claims to North America date from 1497, when John Cabot reached what he called Newfoundland, though it is unclear whether Cabot landed in current Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, or Maine. French claims date from explorations by Jacques Cartier (from 1534) and Samuel de Champlain (from 1603). Neither Cabot's nor Cartier's exploratio