ONTARIO
- ORIGIN OF PROVINCE NAME: Derived from the Iroquois Indian word Kanadario, meaning "sparkling water" or "beautiful lake."
- CAPITAL: Toronto.
- ENTERED CONFEDERATION: 1 July 1867.
- MOTTO: Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet (Loyal it began, loyal it remains).
- COAT OF ARMS: In the center, the provincial shield of arms displays in the upper third the cross of St. George (a red cross on a white background) and in the lower two-thirds three gold maple leaves on a green background. Above the shield is a black bear standing on a gold and green bar. Supporting the shield is a brown moose on the left and a brown Canadian deer on the right. Beneath the shield the provincial motto appears.
- FLAG: The flag has a red field, with the Union Jack displayed in the upper quarter on the left side and the provincial shield of arms centered in the right half.
- FLORAL EMBLEM: White trillium.
- PROVINCIAL BIRD: Common loon (unofficial).
- TREE: Eastern white pine.
- GEMSTONE: Amethyst.
- TIME: 7 AM EST = noon GMT; 6 AM CST = noon GMT.
Source Database: Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Canadian Provinces
Table of Contents
AGRICULTURE | ARTS | CLIMATE
| COMMERCE | COMMUNICATIONS | DOMESTICATED ANIMALS | ECONOMY | EDUCATION | ENERGY AND POWER | ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION | ETHNIC
GROUPS | FAMOUS ONTARIANS | FISHING
| FORESTRY | FURTHER READINGS
| HEALTH | HISTORY | HOUSING
| INCOME | INDUSTRY | JUDICIAL SYSTEM | LABOR | LANGUAGES | LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS
| LOCAL GOVERNMENT | LOCATION
AND SIZE | MIGRATION | MINING | PLANTS AND ANIMALS | POLITICAL
PARTIES | POPULATION | PRESS | PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT | PUBLIC
FINANCE | RELIGIONS | SOURCE
CITATION | SPORTS | TAXATION | TOPOGRAPHY | TOURISM,
TRAVEL, AND RECREATION | TRANSPORTATION | VIEW MULTIMEDIA FILE(S)
Ontario, five times as large as France, covers some 412,579 square miles (1,068,580 square kilometers) and is bordered on the north by Hudson Bay; on the east by Québec; on the south by the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and the US state of Minnesota; and on the west by Manitoba.
Three main geological regions make up Ontario: the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Canadian Shield, and the Hudson Bay Lowlands. The Hudson Bay Lowlands are narrow coastal plains bordering Hudson Bay and James Bay; the land is wet and covered by scrub growth. The Canadian Shield, covering the rest of northern Ontario from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay, and extending into the southern part of the province, is a vast rocky plateau. Although the soil is poor and not well suited to large-scale farming, there is a wealth of minerals, forests, and water power. The Canadian Shield and the Hudson Bay Lowlands cover 90 percent of the province's territory. Four of the five Great Lakes are the most visible results of the ice age in Ontario, providing the longest fresh water beach in the world. The biggest, Lake Superior, is the world's largest body of fresh water. About 68,490 square miles (177,390 square kilometers), or one-sixth of Ontario's terrain, is covered by some 400,000 lakes and 37,000 miles (59,000 kilometers) of rivers.
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands comprise the rest of southern Ontario. Here is where most of Ontario's population can be found; it is also the area with the most of province's industry, commerce, and agricultural lands.
The short Niagara River, which flows from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario is the site of Niagara Falls (at the Ontario-New York border), which drains some 800,000 gallons (3,000,000 liters) of water per second over its 187-foot (57-meter) drop. The highest point in Ontario is found at Ishpatina Ridge in the Timiskaming District, at an elevation of 2,274 feet (693 meters).
The relatively temperate climate is more severe east of the Great Lakes. Mean annual summer temperatures reach 72°F (22°C) in the south, where the temperate climate and fertile soils nurture a major agricultural industry. This relatively small area has more than half of Canada's best agricultural land. At Winisk, average daily temperatures reach only 54-59°F (12-15°C) in July, dropping to -13°F (-25°C) in January. The warmest recorded temperature in Ontario was 108°F (42.2°C) on 20 July 1919 at Biscotasing; the coldest was -73°F (-58.3°C) on 23 January 1935 at Iroquois Falls.
The relatively temperate climate of the south is hospitable for a wide variety of native as well as imported European plants. Many migratory flying species annually traverse Ontario: Point Pelee is a yearly site for the autumnal exodus of monarch butterflies, and Aylmer is the annual layover location for 60,000 migrating tundra swans headed for the Arctic. Muskie and trout are common stream and lake fish species. Woodland caribou, moose, muskrats, beavers, eagles, and wolves inhabit the northern reaches of the province. Polar bears live in the far north along Hudson Bay.
The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is responsible for the management of provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, minerals, and Crown lands and waters, which comprise 87 percent of Ontario's area. The MNR also develops policies on forestry, fisheries, wildlife, parks, and land and water issues. These policies aim to sustain Ontario's natural resources for future generations. The MNR has helped create several partnership arrangements in resource management that show to the public the social costs and benefits of resource development. Some of these partnerships include the Wildlife Working Group, the Strategic Plan for Ontario Fisheries, and the Forest Management Agreements. Ontario's Chapleau Game Preserve is the largest in the world.
For decades, tons of sulfur dioxide and other chemicals have been put into the air by factories in the American Midwest. Prevailing winds carry the toxins northward across Ontario, Québec, and the northeastern United States. As a result, poisonous rainclouds have released acidic rain on the lands and lakes to the north. Hundreds of lakes in Ontario became severely damaged; forests and farms were affected as well. By 1980, the damage from acid rain across northeastern Canada was extensive.
In 1998, the Ontario government canceled a permit for a company to export Lake Superior water to Asia and introduced a policy restricting any other water exports.
By AD 900, the Algonkian-speakers of the land that later became known as Ontario lived mostly in the north, and were the ancestors of the Algonkin, Cree, and Ojibwa (Chippewa) peoples. Iroquoian-speakers lived farther to the south, along the St. Lawrence River and in present-day southwestern Ontario, and were the ancestors of the Five (later Six) Iroquois Nations, the Huron, Petun, Neutral, Erie, and Susquehannock. The Iroquois-speakers established large villages and cultivated corn.
Sailing into the large bay that bears his name, Henry Hudson became the first European to touch the shores of present-day Ontario in 1610. In 1613, Samuel de Champlain and Ètienne Brûlé made the first contacts with the aboriginal people in the southern part of the province.
In the early 1600s, there were some 18,000-32,000 Hurons living in present-day Ontario south of the Georgian Bay. An epidemic in 1638 wiped out about half the population. The Iroquois and the Huron were in competition to help the Europeans in the development of the fur industry. In the late 1640s, the Iroquois confederation (Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca) invaded the Hurons' territory, destroyed its villages, and massacred the population. The remaining Huron fled to the west and south. The Iroquois also eliminated the Erie, Neutral, and Petun tribes in order to gain control of commerce in southern Ontario.
In 1774, the British ruled over southern Ontario, then part of the British colony of Québec. Under the Constitutional Act of 1791, "Québec" was divided in two and Ontario renamed Upper Canada. This became necessary with the tremendous influx of Loyalist refugees after the American Revolution (1775-83).
The United States fought against Britain in the War of 1812 (1812-15). Although the American Revolution had freed the United States from Great Britain, the matter of independence and boundaries had not been settled. Forces from the United States captured York (now Toronto) in 1813 and tried to invade Upper Canada but were eventually repulsed by Canadian and British soldiers. The Treaty of Ghent formally ended the war on 24 December 1815. The war did not change the boundaries between the United States and Canada; both sides gave back captured territory (the United States had western Upper Canada and the British had Fort Niagara and part of Maine).
In the 1830s, William Lyon Mackenzie, a vocal opponent of Upper Canada's government, became a legislative representative for York County, but was repeatedly expelled from the assembly. In the Rebellion of 1837, Mackenzie organized a demonstration on the outskirts of York (Toronto) and planned an attack on the city, but his supporters were driven off. Mackenzie fled to the American border at the Niagara River. For the next several years, Mackenzie's supporters launched raids from the US border.
In 1840, the Act of Union saw Upper and Lower Canada reunited, this time with the name Canada. Britain believed that reunification would lead French Canadians to adopt English culture. In 1858, the city of Ottawa, formerly known as Bytown, became the capital of Canada. The two regions, Canada West and Canada East, took part in the 1864 confederation debate. When the Dominion of Canada was created in 1867, the regions became the separate provinces of Ontario and Québec.
EARLY 20TH CENTURY
At the turn of the century, union activity rapidly expanded throughout Canada. Between 1903 and 1908, the number of union locals tripled in Ontario.
In 1912, Ontario (along with Manitoba and Québec) was enlarged. All territory west of Hudson Bay, south of 60°N, and east of Ungava Bay was split up among the three provinces.
At the turn of the century, Ontario and most other provinces permitted only male British subjects age 21 and older to vote. (Native peoples living on reservations were not allowed to vote in federal elections until 1960.) The women's suffrage movement gained popularity during World War I (1914-18), when many women begin working in factories to replace the men who were fighting in the war. Ontario permitted women to vote in 1917. In 1918, the right to vote in federal elections was extended to women.
During World War I, Canada lost more than 68,000 soldiers. Veterans returning to Ontario faced a bleak future of scarce low-paying jobs, while tariffs on imports kept prices for consumer goods high. As in the prairie provinces, Ontarian farmers had prospered from high wheat prices during World War I, but with the end of the war global grain markets collapsed and wheat prices fell 50 percent by 1920. Affected farmers organized the United Farmers Movement in Ontario in 1919 to protest the low farm product prices and high transportation rates, and played an important role in provincial politics of the 1920s.
During the 1920s, grain prices recovered and Canada experienced a period of rapid growth in industry, with heavy industry developing across southern Ontario. Transportation improvements--railways and roads--enabled businesses to flourish. Automobiles, telephones, electrical appliances, and other consumer goods became widely available.
By the end of World War I, every province but Québec had banned the drinking of alcoholic beverages. However, by the early 1920s there was massive evasion of the law, with widespread forgery of medical prescriptions, bootlegging, and home-brewing. Furthermore, Canada served as an excellent base for liquor smugglers to the lucrative market of the United States, which also had prohibition. As enforcement of prohibition in Canada became impossible, Ontario and other provincial governments started replacing prohibition with government liquor control boards that had a monopoly on the sale of wine and spirits.
Just as in the United States, all of Canada suffered during the Great Depression. In addition to the problems with grain prices during the early 1920s, droughts and frequent crop failures devastated the national economy, which still relied heavily on agriculture. Unemployment, farm bankruptcies, social distress, and hunger became widespread during the 1930s. Canada's economy relied heavily on foreign trade, and markets for exports collapsed as demand for finished goods and raw materials withered. In 1933, a half million people in Ontario alone were dependent on local governments for relief. During the Great Depression, the cost of paying for welfare assistance was split into thirds among the dominion government, the provincial governments, and municipal governments. Social welfare programs rapidly expanded during the 1930s, with much of the burden placed on the provincial and municipal governments.
1940S-1990S
Following World War II (1939-45), consumer spending and immigration to Canada rapidly increased. Toronto emerged as the economic and cultural center for English-speaking Canada. The large metropolis became a decentralized cluster of smaller cities and towns rather than a single urbanized area. The pace of suburban growth outstripped Toronto's ability to handle building and maintaining more infrastructure. In 1953, a federation of the city and twelve suburbs established Metropolitan Toronto, which handled regional affairs. Metropolitan Toronto later was consolidated into the city and five boroughs. Urbanization also spread quickly by means of the National Housing Act, which made home ownership more easily available. Unemployment insurance and other social welfare programs were also created following the war. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, old age pensions were increased in 1951 and a national hospital insurance plan was introduced in 1957. The St. Lawrence Seaway, completed in 1959, was an important development for the expansion of commerce in Ontario and eastern Canada by permitting oceangoing ships access to the center of the nation.
During the 1950s, Ontario experienced high rates of employment, birth, and immigration. Canadians begin relocating mainly to two provinces: Ontario and British Columbia.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the monitoring of northern Canadian airspace served a vital role in the defense of North America against a possible nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. But when ballistic missiles (which are launched in an arc toward their targets from great distances) replaced bombers as the means of delivering nuclear warheads, this strategy became obsolete.
Canada's unity as a confederation has often been widely questioned. Most recently, the popular defeat of both the Meech Lake Accord of 1987 and the Charlottetown Accord of 1992 failed to solve the issue of Québec's role in Canada. If Québec eventually secedes from Canada, Canada would lose 25 percent of its population and much of its economic strength; also it would likely no longer have the ability to be as assertive in world affairs. Moreover, the ability for the remainder of Canada to stay unified would be in serious doubt.
In September 1995, riot police battled protesters trying to storm Ontario's legislature. The 5,000 protestors were angry at conservative premier Mike Harris, who planned to decrease social spending.
Ontario's first immigrants arrived about 10,000 years ago, during the last ice age. The European explorers encountered the Iroquois and Algonquin descendants of those first migrants in the 17th century. From 1779 on, waves of English, Scottish, and Irish immigrants followed one another, moving up the St. Lawrence and populating the country. Today, immigration continues to be important to Ontario, and there are large numbers of people of Italian, German, Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, Indian, and Polish origin.
In 1996, there were 2.7 million immigrants living in Ontario (65 percent in Toronto). The leading places of birth were the United Kingdom, 13.6 percent; Italy, 8.1 percent; Poland, 4.5 percent; India, 4.5 percent; Hong Kong, 4.4 percent; Portugal, 4.2 percent; China, 3.8 percent; Jamaica, 3.7 percent; United States, 3.6 percent; and the Philippines, 3.5 percent. Of the 562,985 recent immigrants who came to the province during 1991-96, 9.1 percent were from Hong Kong, 7.4 percent were from China, and 6.8 percent were each from India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.
In 1996, 4.6 percent of Ontario's residents age 5 and older had lived abroad in 1991. Some 13.8 percent had lived elsewhere in Ontario, while 2 percent had lived in another province five years earlier. As Canada's most populous province, Ontario is both the primary origin and primary destination for internal migration. Québec is the leading province of origin for people entering Ontario from other provinces; British Columbia is the principal destination for Ontarians leaving to live elsewhere in Canada.
The structure of the provincial government reflects that of the federal government. For example, the provincial premier, as the majority party leader of the legislature, functions much like the Canadian prime minister. Provincial legislators, like their federal counterparts in Parliament, are elected to represent a constitutional jurisdiction and pass legislation. They do so as members of the 130-seat Legislative Assembly, 30 members of which represent metropolitan Toronto. A provincial lieutenant-governor approves laws passed by the legislature, much like the Governor General at the federal level. There is no provincial equivalent, however, to the federal Senate.
The populous regions of southern Ontario are divided into counties, regional municipalities, the Municipality of Metro Toronto, the District Municipality of Muskoka, and the Restructured County of Oxford. Cities and towns within counties are not under the jurisdiction of county governments. Restructured municipalities have about 66 percent of Ontario's population and contain fewer but larger incorporated municipalities than those of the counties. Restructured units provide more extensive services than do counties, such as water supply, sewage treatment, waste management, regional planning, social services, long-term financing, and police services.
Northern Ontario is divided into 10 territorial districts (which are not considered unified municipal units), and has 1 regional municipality (Sudbury). The far northern parts on Ontario are not organized into any municipal units.
The Canadian Constitution grants provincial jurisdiction over the administration of justice, and allows each province to organize its own court system and police forces. The federal government has exclusive domain over cases involving trade and commerce, banking, bankruptcy, and criminal law. The Federal Court of Canada has both trial and appellate divisions for federal cases. The nine-judge Supreme Court of Canada is an appellate court that determines the constitutionality of both federal and provincial statutes. The Tax Court of Canada hears appeals of taxpayers against assessments by Revenue Canada.
Provincial courts, under the Ministry of the Attorney General, are divided into seven regional offices plus the metropolitan Toronto district.
In 1996, there were 187 homicides in Ontario, for a rate of 1.7 per 100,000 persons. The crime rate that year was 901 per 100,000 people for violent crimes, and 4,685 per 100,000 people for property crimes.
The Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library is Canada's largest public library, with more than 4 million items in its collections.
The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto is Canada's largest, with over 6 million examples of works of art, artifacts, and scientific treasures. Toronto also has the Art Gallery of Ontario, which houses over 15,000 paintings, prints, drawings, and sculptures, including the world's largest public collection of Henry Moore sculptures. Other museums in Toronto include the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, the Museum for Textiles, the Bata Shoe Museum, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Ottawa has many national museums, including the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian War Museum, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the National Museum of Science and Technology, the Agricultural Museum, and the National Aviation Museum. The Seagram Museum in Waterloo is devoted to both spirits and wines.
The Liberal Party was the principal political group in the 1800s, and held power continuously during from 1848 to 1905. After 1905, the Conservative Party dominated, reaching a high point in 1929 by winning 92 of 112 seats. During the late 1910s and early 1920s, the United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) controlled a considerable minority of seats. After 1943, the province began to see three parties vie for power; from the 1940s to 1960s, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and later the New Democratic Party (NDP) irregularly won control over a sizable minority of seats. Finally in 1990, the NDP won control of the Legislative Assembly.
The most recent general election was held on 8 June 1995. The parties held the following number of seats in Ontario's Legislative Assembly in 1999: Progressive Conservative Party, 82; Liberal Party, 30; New Democratic Party, 17; and Independent, 4.
Tourism is an important sector of the Ontario economy. In 1990, tourist spending of more than C$9.5 billion generated about C$13.4 billion in total revenue for the province and more than 320,000 person-years of employment.
Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition, with crafts and exhibits from around the world, draws thousands of tourists every August. Its Symphony of Fire is the largest fireworks display in the world, while the Caribana is the world's largest Caribbean festival. Ottawa annually holds the largest tulip festival in the world, and Fergus is the site of the biggest Scottish festival in North America.
About one-third of Ontario's population is of British origin, and many individuals are of mixed British and French ancestry. Other heritages for those reporting a single ethnic origin include French, Italian, German, Dutch, Chinese, Portuguese, South Asian, Jewish, and Polish. In 1996, over 356,000 residents had African ancestry. That year, Ontario had over 136,800 people of Aboriginal (native) or Métis origin. Six Nations of the Grand River, which consists of 13 different groups, has the largest native band in Canada.
In 1996, English was the mother tongue of 72.3 percent of Ontario's residents, while French was the primary language of 4.5 percent of Ontarians and 21.6 percent had other first languages (1.6 percent had two or more native languages). English is the only official language, but Ontario's French speakers play an essential part in the province's cultural life and are the largest language minority The provincial government provides services in French in the regions where the French-speaking population is sufficiently high. Toronto has more Italian speakers than any city outside of Italy.
Over 40 percent of the population, or about 4,477,700 people, is Protestant, including 1,422,000 members of the United Church of Canada, 1,069,000 Anglicans, 423,600 Presbyterians, 272,300 Baptists, 231,900 Lutherans, and 231,900 Pentecostals. Ontario also has about 3,580,100 Catholics (3,539,800 Roman Catholics and 40,300 Ukrainian Catholics), who make up 35.5 percent of the population. There are about 191,600 people of Eastern Orthodox faith, 181,500 Jews, 151,300 Moslems, 110,900 Hindus, 70,600 Buddhists, and 50,400 Sikhs. Some 1,280,800 provincial residents profess no religious affiliation.
Northern Ontario's towns were built because of the railway, and today rails and roads carry the products of the mines and mills southward. Further north, travel is often limited to air and water.
In 1996, Ontario had 6.35 million highway vehicles, or 37 percent of Canada's total, and about 7.2 million licensed drivers. As of 1995, the province had 104,327 miles (167,891 kilometers) of highways, with 81.6 percent administered by municipal governments, 17 percent by the provincial government, and 1.4 percent by the federal government. Commercial trucks carried 91.3 million tons of freight through the province in 1996.
Ontario has 61 commercial ports. Access to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway helps make waterborne traffic an important part of the province's transportation system.
Public transportation is well-developed in the metropolitan Toronto area. Toronto Transit operates the subway system, with streetcar and bus service available as well. The provincial government operates the GO (Government of Ontario) commuter train service, connecting Toronto to Richmand Hill, Georgetown, and Bradford in the north; to Whitby in the east; and to Hamilton in the west. Urban transit consists of over 4,600 buses operated by about 50 establishments. There are also some 300 trolley coaches and light-rail vehicles each, and over 600 heavy rail vehicles.
International air service is available from Ottawa as well as Pearson International Airport in Toronto. In 1996 Pearson served 22.7 million passengers, making it Canada's busiest airport, and ranking it in the top 20 in the world for amount of international passenger traffic.
Ontarians Sir John A. Macdonald (b.Scotland, 1815-91) and Alexander Mackenzie (b.Scotland, 1822-92) served as Canada's first and second prime ministers, respectively. Other prime ministers native to Ontario have included Arthur Meighen (1874-1960), Mackenzie King (1874-1950), John Diefenbacker (1895-1975), and Lester Pearson (1897-1972), who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.
Military figures include General Sir Arthur Currie (1875-1933), Canadian infantry commander in World War I, and the World War I flying ace Roy A. Brown (1893-1944), who is credited with shooting down Captain Manfred von Richthofen ("the Red Baron"), Germany's leading war hero, on 21 April 1918.
Ontario has been the birthplace of many prominent figures in entertainment and the arts including actors and actresses Mary Pickford (b.Gladys Smith, 1893-1979), Cecilia Parker (b.1909), Robert Beatty (b.1909), Hume Cronyn (1911-96), Lou Jacobi (b.1913), Lorne Greene (1915-87), Ann Rutherford (b.1917), Don Harron (b.1924), John Colicos (b.1928), Christopher Plummer (b.1929), Eugene Levy (b.1946), Phil Hartman (1948-98), John Candy (1950-94), Kate Nelligan (b.1951), Dan Aykroyd (b.1952), Rick Moranis (b.1953), Hart Bochner (b.1956), Jim Carrey (b.1962), and Mike Myers (b.1963); directors David Cronenberg (b.1943) and Norman Jewison (b.1926); comedians Frank Shuster (b.1916), Rich Little (b.1938), Martin Short (b.1950), and Howie Mandel (b. 1955); musicians and singers Teresa Stratas (b.1938), Gordon Lightfoot (b.1938), Sylvia Tyson (b.1940), Paul Anka (b.1941), Neil Young (b.1945), Geddy Lee (b.1953), Dan Hill (b.1954), and Jeff Healey (b.1966); pianist Glenn Gould (1932-82); classical guitarist Liona Boyd (b.England, 1949); Big Band leader Guy Lombardo (1902-77); artists Frank Carmichael (1890-1945), Jack Bush (1909-77), and Ken Danby (b.1940); prima ballerinas Melissa Hayden (b.1923) and Karen Kain (b.1951); broadcasters and journalists Knowlton Nash (b.1927), Morley Safer (b.1931), Barbara Frum (b.1938), and Peter Jennings (b.1938); and television host Alex Trebek (b.1940).
Noted Ontarian authors include novelists Morley Callaghan (1903-90), Robertson Davies (b.1913), Elizabeth Smart (1913-86), Timothy Findley (b.1930), Howard Engel (1933-85), Sylvia Fraser (b.1935), Matt Cohen (b.1942), and Joan Barfoot (b.1946); playwrights Mazo De la Roche (1879-1961), James Reaney (b.1926), and Paul Quarrington (b.1953); humorist and historian Stephen Leacock (b.England, 1869-1944); children's author Dennis Lee (b.1939); "subjective nonfiction" writer Farlay Mowat (b.1921); short story writer Alice Munro (b.1931); poets Pauline Johnson (1861-1913), John McCrae (1872-1918), Al Purdy (b.1918), David Helwig (b.1938), Margaret Atwood (b.1939), Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941-87), and M. T. Kelly (b.1946); and writer/journalists June Callwood (b.1924), and Silver Donald Cameron (b.1937).
Famous Ontarians in science include physiologist Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941), who received the 1923 Nobel Prize in medicine for his codiscovery of insulin. Alexander Graham Bell (b.Scotland, 1847-1922), inventor of the telephone, was raised in Brantford.
James Naismith (1861-1939), inventor of basketball, was born in Almonte. Hockey stars from Ontario include Frank Selke (1893-1985), Leonard Patrick ("Red") Kelly (b.1927), Alex Peter Delvecchio (b.1931), Robert Marvin "Bobby" Hull Jr. (b.1939), Ed Giacomin (b.1939), Barclay Plager (1941-89), Phil Esposito (b.1942), Robert "Bobby" Orr (b.1948), Douglas Bradford "Brad" Park (b.1948), Larry Clark Robinson (b.1951), and Wayne Gretzky (b.1961).
In 1996/97, Ontario had nearly 2.1 million students enrolled in its elementary and secondary schools, with 1.43 million students in 3,161 public schools (with 81,535 teachers) and 645,100 students in 1,582 Roman Catholic schools (with 34,115 teachers). Some 94,900 students were in French-language schools.
In November 1997, Ontario's teachers' unions held a two-week strike that stopped classes for the province's 2.1 million students. It was the largest teachers' strike ever in North America.
The University of Toronto, founded in 1827, is the largest university in Canada: with about 40,000 full-time students and a full-time teaching faculty of over 3,100. Other universities in Ontario (with location and year founded) and their estimated full-time enrollments include: ">York University (North York, 1959), 39,000; University of Western Ontario (London, 1878), 22,000; University of Waterloo (1957), 25,000; U niversity of Guelph (1964), 15,000; University of Ottawa (1848), 24,000; Carleton University (Ottawa, 1942), 16,000; Queen's University (Kingston, 1841), 19,000; McMaster University (Hamilton, 1887), 17,000; Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (Toronto, 1948), 12,000; University of Windsor (1857), 11,000; Brock University (St. Catharines, 1964), 11,200; Laurentian University (Sudbury, 1960), 5,000; Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, 1965), 4,700; Trent University (Peterborough, 1963), 5,750; and the Royal Military College of Canada (Kingston, 1876), 800. In 1997/98, full-time university enrollment was 227,153, while part-time enrollment was 76,255. Enrollment in career programs in postsecondary community colleges in 1996/97 was 141,257 full-time students and 78,619 part-time students.
College tuition has always been regulated by the provincial governments, largely because it has been heavily subsidized by taxpayers. In 1996, the Ontario government deregulated foreign student tuition, allowing schools to set their own fees. After the deregulation, several universities in the province began to market aggressively for American students, enticing them with low tuition rates due to the strength of the US dollar. With severe government cutbacks, by 1998 the revenue financed through student fees had risen to 40 percent, up from 25 percent five years earlier.
In 1998 there were 138,505 live births in Ontario, for a rate of about 12.1 per 1,000 residents. The death rate in 1998 was 7.1 per 1,000 residents, with 81,175 deaths occurring that year. Reported cases of selected diseases in 1996 included gonococcal infections, 2,312; campylobacteriosis, 6,370; salmonellosis, 2,664; giardiasis, 2,535; amebiasis, 837; measles, 190; and type B hepatitis, 240. There were 344 new AIDS cases reported in 1996. Between 1985 and 1998, 18,079 residents became infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
As of 1993, Ontario had 307 hospitals and health centers. Ontario has 4.8 hospital beds per 1,000 population.
Ontario had over 3.95 million occupied private dwellings in 1996, when the province had 3.92 million private households, with an average size of 2.7 persons. There are 2.23 million households residing in single family detached housing, accounting for 57 percent of all households in Ontario.
With an estimated 1998 population of 11.4 million people, Ontario is Canada's most heavily populated province, with over 37 percent of the country's total population. The Canadian Shield and the Hudson Bay Lowlands cover 90 percent of the province's territory, but are home to only 10 percent of Ontario's population. Toronto, Ontario's capital and Canada's largest city, had an estimated metropolitan area population of 4.51 million in 1997. Ottawa, the bilingual, bicultural national capital, sits at the junction of the Gatineau, Rideau, and Ottawa Rivers; together with Hull, Québec, the metropolitan population in 1997 was 1.04 million, ranking it fourth in Canada. Other metropolitan areas and their 1996 populations (and national rankings) include: Hamilton, 624,360 (9th); London, 398,616 (10th); Kitchener, 382,940 (11th); St. Catharines-Niagara, 372,406 (12th); Windsor, 278,685 (15th); Oshawa, 268,773 (16th); Sudbury, 160,488 (20th); and Thunder Bay, 125,562 (25th).
Toronto is well-known for its impressive theatrical productions, which recently have included The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon; more than 115 professional companies perform plays, cabaret, opera, and dance in Toronto. Toronto also boasts North America's largest film festival which is held each year in September. Ontario's over 100 performing arts companies give 13,000 performances before a total attendance of 5 million each year.
As of 1998, Ontario had 72 AM and 122 FM radio stations, and 70 television stations. Toronto is the headquarters of several broadcasting and cable networks, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Television Network, the Family Channel, First Choice, Much Music, The Sports Network, Vision TV, and the Youth Channel.
Nearly 50 daily newspapers are published in Ontario, with Toronto accounting for six: The Toronto Sun, The Toronto Star, The Financial Post, The Globe and Mail, The Korean Times (in Korean), and El Popular (in Spanish). The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Sun were three of the four largest circulating newspapers in Canada in 1991. Ottawa's three daily newspapers are Le Droit (French-language), The Ottawa Citizen, and the Ottawa Sun. International Thomson, a multinational publishing corporation, is headquartered in Toronto and is Canada's largest media company.
The Sky Dome, the world's first stadium with a completely retractable roof, is the home of Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays, who in 1992 became the first Canadian team to win the World Series. The Blue Jays were baseball's champions again in 1993. Ontario has two teams in the National Hockey League (NHL): the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators. The Maple Leafs were the Stanley Cup winners in 1932, 1942, 1945, 1947-49, 1951, 1962-64, and 1967; the Senators won it in 1909, 1911, 1920, 1921, 1923, and 1927. The Canadian Football League (CFL) fields two teams in Ontario: the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, CFL champions in 1957, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1972, and 1986; and the Toronto Argonauts, CFL champions in 1983, 1991, 1996, and 1997. Harness racing in Ontario attracted an attendance of over 1.5 million in 1996.
Ontario has more than 500 public golf courses; the only Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour event outside the United States is held near Toronto. Kenora's Lake of the Woods Regatta in August is the largest freshwater sailing regatta in the world. Snowmobiling across the province's 21,000 miles (33,800 kilometers) of snowmobile trails is a popular winter activity.
In 1996, the total land area of farms in Ontario was 13.9 million acres (5.6 million hectares), of which 8.8 million acres (3.5 million hectares) was under crops. Farm receipts in 1996 amounted to c$7.78 billion, or 24 percent of the national total. About 2 percent of Ontario's farms are exclusively devoted to growing wheat, 43 percent produce other small grains, 14 percent grow fruits and vegetables, 13 percent grow other field crops, and 28 percent produce specialty crops. Field crop production in 1996 included hay and fodder crops, 2.51 million tons; grain and corn for silage, 2.19 million tons; soybeans, 1.92 million tons; winter wheat, 719,498 tons; and barley, 332,821 tons. Some 15 wineries in the Niagara Peninsula have produced wines of international acclaim; 80 percent of the national wine production comes from this area.
Ontario has approximately 34,000 livestock farms. Cattle farms account for 50 percent; dairy farms, 29 percent; hog farms, 11 percent; poultry farms, 5 percent; and livestock combination farms, 5 percent. Livestock farms covered 2.5 million acres (1.04 million hectares) of pasture land in 1996. The livestock population that year included 2.29 million head of cattle, 405,000 dairy cows, 2.83 million pigs, 231,100 sheep, and 35.6 million chickens.
In the 1890s, Canada began large-scale development of its hydroelectric potential, with generators and transmission lines constructed at Niagara Falls, Ontario.
The Bruce Nuclear Power Station in Bruce Township opened in 1967 as Canada's first nuclear power-generating plant, and became fully operational in 1969. Five of Canada's seven nuclear power plants are in Ontario. In 1997, Ontario Hydro, the largest utility in North America, authorized the shutdown and overhaul of seven of its 19 reactors because the company judged that it did not have the money or personnel needed to run them safely. The units have a simpler design than reactors built in the United States, but are more difficult to keep running safely. In 1998, the Ontario government began considering the privatization of Ontario Hydro. A 26 percent increase in electricity prices would accompany the introduction of a competitive market in 2000.
In 1997, crude oil production totaled 8.02 million cubic feet (227,000 cubic meters), valued at C$41.1 million. Natural gas production that year was 9.5 billion cubic feet (270 million cubic meters), valued at C$37.7 million.
In 1995, electricity generated totaled 151.7 billion kilowatt hours. Electrical power in Ontario is relatively inexpensive.
Ontario has about 1,500 registered freshwater commercial fishers who operate mainly on the Great Lakes. The production of trout from aquaculture (fish farming) was valued at C$23.1 million in 1997.
Sport fishing is a popular activity on Ontario's rivers and lakes. In 1998, over 1.3 million Ontario residents were licensed to fish within the province.
In 1996, Ontario had 143.3 million acres (58 million hectares) of forest land, of which provincial ownership accounted for 88 percent; private lands, 11 percent; and federal areas, 1 percent. The provincial government licenses logging rights. In 1996, the timber harvest was 847.4 million cubic feet (24 million cubic meters). Principal timber species include spruce, poplar, birch, pine, and maple. There are over 2,400 logging, wood processing, and paper manufacturing establishments in the province--many Ontario towns have at least one industry connected to forestry. In 1997, Ontario exported C$7.3 billion in forestry products, mainly paper and paperboard (38 percent), newsprint (18 percent), and softwood lumber (13 percent).
In 1996, Ontario's 1,345 Christmas tree farms covered 27,885 acres (11,285 hectares).
The principal minerals and metals produced in Ontario are gold, nickel, copper, zinc, cement, and sand and gravel. Of the 14,000 employed in mining in 1997, about 12,800 were employed in mining metals. The first metal mine in Canada started mining copper ore in 1850 on the north shore of Lake Huron. The Creighton nickel and copper mine in Sudbury is the deepest mine in Canada, reaching a depth of about 7,200 feet (2,200 meters). Thunder Bay has the largest open pit gemstone mine in North America; all types of amethyst are found there.
In 1997, the value of mineral production was C$5.7 billion (highest in Canada), of which metals accounted for 72 percent; industrial minerals, 26 percent; and nonmetals, 2 percent. That year, gold accounted for 21 percent of the value of Ontario's mineral production, nickel for 24 percent, and copper for about 14 percent. Approximately 41 percent of Canadian sand and gravel is produced in Ontario. In 1997, Ontario accounted for 29 percent of Canadian nonfuel mineral production, the highest percentage of any province.
Production in 1997 included the following: sand and gravel, 88.2 million tons (valued at C$329.3 million); stone, 42.3 million tons (C$288.3 million); salt, 8.9 million tons (C$262.1 million); copper, 235,479 tons (C$752.4 million); nickel, 135,631 tons (C$1.3 billion); zinc, 115,655 tons (C$213.3 million); silver, 205 tons (C$43.7 million); and gold, 78,827 grams (2,534 troy ounces, valued at C$1.17 billion).
In 1996, total trade in Ontario amounted to more than C$379.3 billion (43 percent of the nation's total), or C$33,709 per capita (per person). That year, 27 percent of trade was with other provinces and 73 percent was international. Ontario's trade balance in 1996 had a surplus of C$30.3 billion.
Southern Ontario's heavy population density makes the region the most commercially active in Canada for supermarkets, motor vehicle dealers, general merchandise stores, and gasoline service stations. Ontario's proximity to key US markets puts the province's products less than a day's drive away from a large portion of American consumers.
Ontario is Canada's most productive province, having generated 40.6 percent (C$347.15 billion) of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 1997. The main industries are manufacturing, finance, construction, tourism, agriculture, and forestry.
The fiscal year runs from 1 April to 31 March. For fiscal year 1997/98, total revenues were C$52.1 billion; expenditures totaled C$57.32 billion. The largest expenditure areas were health, social services, education, interest on debt, and colleges and universities. In the 1997/98 fiscal year, provincial debt amounted to 32 percent of the gross domestic product.
Average family income in the province was C$59,830 in 1995. Average weekly earnings in 1997 were C$638.97. Personal disposable income averaged C$17,939 per person in 1996.
Beginning in the 1880s, industrial corporations in Ontario became larger, and farming was no longer the province's largest sector of employment. Toronto is Canada's leading producer of manufactured goods. In 1997, Ontario produced 53 percent of Canada's manufactured goods and 80 percent of its manufactured exports. Manufacturing employs about 20 percent of the total work force. The headquarters of a large number of Canadian companies are also found in Toronto.
Automobiles are Ontario's major manufacturing industry and are its most important export. In 1964, the federal governments of Canada and the United States negotiated the Canada-United States Automotive Agreement (also known as the Auto Pact), an agreement that permitted the free trade of automotive parts and vehicles between the two countries. As a result, Ontario's automotive industry expanded through the mid-1970s. The auto industry now employs 110,000 people and provides 43 percent of Ontario's foreign exports. Ontario produces over 1.5 million cars and trucks per year, with 85 percent shipped to the United States. During 1994-97, the transportation equipment sector accounted for 17 percent of Ontario's overall real GDP growth. In 1998, Honda's assembly plant facility northwest of Toronto underwent a $300 million expansion.
In 1997, the value of manufactured shipments totaled C$231.11 billion. The leading contributors were: transportation equipment, food products, chemicals and chemical products, electrical and electronic products, fabricated metal products, and primary metal products.
As of early 1998, 66.5 percent of Ontarians age 15 and older participated in the labor force. In 1996, Ontario's labor force of 5.59 million people accounted for 37.7 percent of Canada's total labor force. That year, the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent. The average annual unemployment rate for 1998 was 7.2 percent. In 1996, services engaged over 2 million people; manufacturing, 922,600; trade, 941,000; transportation, communications, and other utilities, 371,600; finance, insurance, and real estate, 340,800; construction, 290,400; government, 304,600; agriculture, 131,100; and fishing, trapping, forestry, and mining, 39,400.
As of 1993, employers are prohibited from hiring replacement workers (scabs) if 60 percent of employees support a strike. Major unions in Ontario include the Canadian Autoworkers Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, and the Ontario Nurses' Association.
The basic personal income tax rate in 1999 was 40.5 percent, with high income surtaxes of 20-56 percent. The retail sales tax was 8 percent. Major consumption taxes are levied on gasoline and tobacco. In 1997, the average two-income family of four in Ontario with a cash income of C$55,000 paid C$15,545 (28.3 percent) in provincial and federal taxes. In Ontario, the taxpayer hits the top 53.19 percent income tax bracket with an annual income of C$66,652.
Corporate income tax rates in 1997 were as follows: small business rate, 9.5 percent; manufacturing and processing corporate rate, 13.5 percent; general business rate, 15.5 percent; and capital tax rate, 0.3-0.9 percent.
| Canada Tourism Commission. Canada. [Online] http://206.191.33.50/tourism/ (accessed on April 23, 1999). |
| City Knowledge. Ontario Canada. [Online] http://www.cityknowledge.com/canada_on.htm (accessed on April 26, 1999). |
| The Government of Ontario. [Online] http://www.gov.on.ca/MBS/english/index.html (accessed on April 25, 1999). |
| World Travel Guide. Canada. [Online] http://www.wtgonline.com/country/ca/index.html (accessed on April 23, 1999). |
Source Citation: "ONTARIO." Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the
Canadian Provinces, 2nd ed. U*X*L, 1999. Reproduced in Discovering Collection.
Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale Group. October, 2001.
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DC/