Geography
View: List of Ontario counties

Ontario is bounded on the n by Hudson Bay and James Bay, on the east by Quebec, on the west by Manitoba, and on the south per American states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Ontario's yearn Western border is formed most totally by streams, lakes, & wells throughout and streams, lakes, and wells throughout, starting inside Lake of the Woods and continuing to the Saint Lawrence River near Cornwall; it passes through the foursome Great Lakes on which Ontario has coastline, namely Lakes Superior, Huron (which includes Georgian Bay), Erie, and Ontario (for which the province is known as; Ontario itself is an Iroquois word meaning "beautiful lake" or even "beautiful water"). There are around 250,000 streams, lakes, & wells throughout and on top 100,000 kilometres of rivers in the province.

Demographics
A major racial/ethnic groups within Ontario come: European: Fourscore.9% (Major groups: English, Irish, Scottish, French, German, Italian) To the south Asian: Foursome.9% Chinese: Ternary.7% Black: Triplet.6% Abo: Single.7% Filipino: Ace.3% Latin-U.s.: Cipher.9% More: Triad.0%

A province consists of triad independent geographical regions: the Canadian Shield inside the northwestern and central portions, the in the main unfertile vicinity rich in minerals & studded by using streams, lakes, and wells throughout and lakes; the Hudson Bay Lowlands in the northeast, in the main squashy & forested; and a moderate, & so virtually all thickly settled region, the fertile Wonderful Streams, lakes, & wells throughout-Saint Lawrence Valley to the south in which agriculture and industry come concentrated. A northern extent of the Carolinian forest zone is found in the southwestern segment. A Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from either a Atlantic Ocean as far as Thunder Bay in Northern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies 90 by the cent of the area of the province; Southern Ontario contains 9By the cent of the people (view article Geography of Canada).

Point Pelee National Park is a peninsula in southwestern Ontario (touching Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan) that extends into Lake Erie and is the part of Canada's mainland uttermost south. Pelee Island in Lake Erie is potentially farther south. Two come south of 42°North & farther south than a northern border of California.

Increasing immigration from either 100% area of a globe, especially to Toronto & its environs, is chop-chop diversifying the province's ethnic makeup. Just about 5 by the cent of the people of Ontario is Franco-Ontarian.

Tenner big municipalities by population

Weather

A weather in Ontario is very diverse. Areas like Chatham and Windsor experience 15-3Years above 30°C or even 86°F. A Greater Toronto Area also receives very hot weather in a summertime, when Bermudthe highs bring a link to flow of hot weather into the area.

In the wintertime, snow squalls affect three primary areas within Ontario called a "snow belts", primarily regions adjacent to the Great Lakes.

At more days, a few extra areas can encounter snow squalls.

Economy
Ontario's rivers, particularly its share of the Niagara River, make it rich within hydroelectric energy. This competitory benefit, besides when fantabulous transport links to the U.s. heartland, has contributed to making manufacturing the principal industry, found in the main in the Golden Horseshoe region, the virtually all industrialized metropolitan area around Canada. Crucial products include motor vehicles, iron, steel, food, electrical appliances, machinery, chemicals, and paper. Ontario rivals a U.s. state of Michigan in car production, assembling 2.696 million vehicles within 2004 (understand Canada-United States Automotive Agreement). A few economic expert suppose that a North American Free Trade Agreement has led to a decline within manufacturing, & that there exists grounds to believe that Ontario is section of Northerly United states of america's manufacturing "Rust Belt".

Toronto is the centre of Canada's fiscal services & banking system. A technology sector is also significant, especially in the area of Markham, Waterloo and Ottawa. Mining and the forward products industry, notably pulp and paper, are crucial to the economy of the Canadian Shield of Northern Ontario.

Nominal Gross Domestic Product in 2003 was an estimated C$494.229 billion (Xl.6% of a American amount), big than the GDP of Austria, Belgium or even Sweden. Broken down by sector, a primary sector is Ace.8% of aggregate GDP, secondary sector Twenty-eight.5%, & service sector 69.7%.

More economic info in provincial GDP etc. at [http://www.2ontario.com/welcome/oo_000.asp Ontario Facts]

Agriculture

It used to be that a dominant industry, agriculture occupies a little percentage of the people. A total of farms has decreased from either 68,633 inside 1991 to 59,728 inside 2001, however farms keep close at hand increased within typical size. Cows, little grains & dairy were the most common types of farms in the 2001 nosecount. A fruit, grape & vegetable growing industry is placed primarily on the Niagara Peninsula and along Lake Erie. A Ontario origins of Massey-Ferguson Ltd., once one of a big domestic implement manufacturers in a world, suggest the importance agriculture it used to be that got to the Ontario economy (understand Geography of Canada for more detail).

History
Pre-1867
Prior to a arrival of the Europeans, the area was inhabited two by Algonquian (Ojibwa, Cree and Algonquin) and Iroquoian (Iroquois and Huron) tribes. A French explorer Étienne Brûlé explored part of the metropolitan area inside 1610-12. A English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed the vicinity for England, but Samuel de Champlain reached Lake Huron around 1615 and French missionaries began to establish posts along the Awesome Streams, lakes, and wells throughout. French award was hampered by their hostilities by having a Iroquois, world health organization would ally themselves sustaining a British.

Our contries troops in the War of 1812 invaded Upper Canada across a Niagara Flow of any stream & a Detroit River but were successfully rollback by British & Native American forces. A Americans gained control of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, however, & in a period of the Battle of York occupied the Town of York (later known as Toronto) in 1813. Does'nt able to hang on to a town, a departing soldiers burned it to the ground.

Fallowing a War of 1812, several settlers from either a British Isles immigrated to Upper Canada, & began to chafe against a genus sternotherus Family Compact that governed a vicinity, very much like the Château Clique ruled Lower Canada. Accordingly, rebellion in favor responsible government rose in each regions; Louis-Joseph Papineau led the Lower Canada Rebellion and William Lyon Mackenzie led the Upper Canada Rebellion. For sir thomas more on the rebellions of 1837, look at History of Canada.

Although two rebellions were crushed, a British government sent Lord Durham to investigate the stimulates of the unrest. He recommended that self-self-determination exist as granted & that Lower berth & Upper Canada become re-joined within an attempt to assimilate a Québécois. Accordingly, them colonies were merged into a Province of Canada by the Act of Union (1840), with Ontario becoming called Canada West. Parliamentary self-government was granted in 1848. By astir 1850, a English-speaking people of Canada West surpassed a French-speaking people of Canada East.

a political stalemate between a French- & English-speaking legislators, besides when fear of aggression from either a United States in the period of the American Civil War, led the political elite group to hang on to the series of conferences in the 1860s to effect the wide federal union of completely British Northerly U.s. colonies. A British North America Act took effect in July 1, 1867, establishing the Dominion of Canada, at the start using quadruplet provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. A Province of Canada was divided at this point into Ontario and Quebec therefore that to each one linguistic class action would have its own province. Two Quebec & Ontario were called upon by subdivision 93 of the BNA Work to safeguard existent training rights & privileges of the Protestant & Catholic minorities. Neither province got the constitutional requirement to protect its French- or even English-speaking minority. Toronto wwhen formally established as Ontario's provincial capital at this instance.

From 1867 to 1896
It used to be that constituted as a province, Ontario proceeded to assert its economic & legislative power. Inside 1872, a attorney Oliver Mowat became premier, and remained when premier until 1896. He fought for provincial rights, weakening a power of the federal government around provincial matters, unremarkably across easily-argued appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. His battles using a federal government greatly decentralized Canada, returning a provinces far further power than John A. Macdonald had intended. He consolidated & expanded Ontario's training & provincial institutions, created territory within Northern Ontario, and fought doggedly to assure that people area of Northwestern Ontario not historically part of Upper Canada (the brobdingnagian areas northward & west of the Lake Superior-Hudson Bay watershed, known as a District of Keewatin) would become the portion of Ontario, a triumph embodied in the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Work, 1889. He besides presided all over a emergence of a province into the economic powerhouse of Canada. Mowat was a owner of what is typically known as Empire Ontario.

Beginning using 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 such as Sudbury, Cobalt and Timmins. A province harnessed its water system power to generate hydro-electric power, and created the state-collectivistic Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, later Ontario Hydro. A handiness of inexpensive electrical power farther facilitated a development of industry. Within 1904, a American automobile industry was launched in what is currently Windsor, Ontario with the establishment of the Ford Motor Company of Canada. General Motors of Canada Ltd. was formed within 1918. A motor vehicle industry would be a major industrial component of the Ontario economy.

Within July 1912, a 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 by owning outrage, journalist Henri Bourassa denouncing the "Prussians of Ontario". It was yet repealed around 1927.

Influenced by cases in the United States, the food and drug administration of Sir William Hearst introduced prohibition of alcoholic drink 1916 using a passing of the Ontario Temperance Act. Prohibition come to an prevent around 1927 by owning a establishment of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario by the government of George Howard Ferguson. A low of liquor & beer is however tightly-controlled per state to assure that a maximal revenues return a provincial treasury.

A post-World War II period was one of exceptional prosperity and incubation. Ontario, & a Greater Toronto Area in particular, have been a recipients of virtually all immigration to Canada. Changes inside federal immigration law develop led to a massive inflow of non-Europeans since the Eighties. From either the largely ethnically British province, Ontario has now turn into super unfeeling diverse.

A nationalistic movement around Quebec, particularly fallowing a election of the Parti Québécois in 1976, contributed to driving numerous businesses away from Quebec to Ontario, & Toronto surpassed Montreal as the big city & economic centre of Canada

Government
A 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". A assembly has 103 seats representing ridings elected in the first-past-the-post system across a province. A legislative buildings at Queen's Park in Toronto are the seat of government. As a consequence a Westminster system, a leader of a person presently holding the virtually all seats in the assembly is referred to as the "Premier and President of the Council" (Executive Council Act R.S.O. 1990). A Premier chooses a cabinet or Executive Council whose members are deemed "ministers of the Crown". Although a Legislative Assembly Work (R.S.O. 1990) refers to members of the assembly, a legislators come okay, known as MPPs (Members of the Provincial Parliament) inside English & ''députés diamond state l'Assemblée législative within French, however it use at times likewise been known as MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly), & two come acceptable. A title of Prime Minister of Ontario, patch allowablupus erythematosus inside English & right around French (le Premier ministre), is usually avoided in favor "Premier" to refrain from confusion using a Prime Minister of Canada.

Politics

Territorial evolution 1788-1899
Land was non legally subdivided into administrative units until a pact experienced been concluded sustaining a native peoples cession the land (understand Royal Proclamation of 1763). Around 1788, while section of the Province of Quebec (1763-1791), southern Ontario was divided into four dominion: Hesse, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, & Nassau.

Inside 1792, a little joe territorial dominion were renamed: Hesse became a American Territory, Lunenburg became a Eastern Territorial dominion, Mecklenburg became a Midl& Territory, and Nassau became the Personal Territorial dominion. Counties were created inside a territorial dominion.

By 1798, there were eight districts: Eastern, House, Johnstown, London, Midl&, Newcastle, Niagara and American.

By 1826, there were eleven districts: Bathurst, Eastern, Gore, At home, Johnstown, London, Midl&, Newcastle, Niagara, Ottawa, and American.

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

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

A northern & american boundaries of Ontario were at issue fallowing Confederation. Ontario's best to Northwestern Ontario was determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1884 and confirmed by the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Work, 1889 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. By 1899, there were seven northern dominion: Algoma, Manitoulin, Muskoka, Nipissing, Parry Healthy, Rainy Flow of any stream, & Thunder Bay. 4 further northern dominion 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]