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TorontoToronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With a population exceeding 2.4 million, it the fifth-most populous municipality in North America after Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Residents of Toronto are called Torontonians.
As Canada's economic hub and a major world city, Toronto is highly-developed in the sectors of finance, telecommunications, transportation, media, publishing, software production and medical research.
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Timeline
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1793 John Graves Simcoe decides to build a fort and settlement at Toronto, having sailed into the bay there
1949 Notorious World War II veteran Edwin Alonzo Boyd commits his first career bank robbery in Toronto; surprising that he managed to steal $2006, as he'd guzzled a bottle of Irish whiskey, making him drunk.
1949 Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbour with the loss of over 118 lives.
1954 Canada's first subway opens in Toronto.
1956 Founding of the Alpine Club of Canada, Toronto section (who have )
1976 The CN Tower is built in Toronto; the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the publi
1989 The SkyDome (now known as Rogers Centre) is opened in Toronto.
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Encyclopedia
- This article is about the City of Toronto in Canada. For other uses, please see Toronto .
Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With a population exceeding 2.4 million, it the fifth-most populous municipality in North America after Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Residents of Toronto are called Torontonians. As Canada's economic hub and a major world city, Toronto is highly-developed in the sectors of finance, telecommunications, transportation, media, publishing, software production and medical research. The city is home to the iconic CN Tower and many national and transnational corporate head offices. With the help of immigration, Toronto has a very cosmopolitan population representing cultures and ethnicities from around the world. Because of its low crime, clean environment and generally high standard of living, the city is consistently rated one of the world's most livable cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The City of Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area, one of the fastest-growing urban areas in North America. It also forms part of the Golden Horseshoe, a densely-populated region in south-central Ontario that is home to eight million people, roughly one-quarter of Canada's population. Origin of nameToronto is an Iroquois name meaning "place where trees stand in the water". It refers to the area south of what is now Lake Simcoe , where the Huron Indians planted tree saplings to corral fish. The portage between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron along this route was called the Toronto Portage. HistoryThe first European presence in Toronto was established by French traders at Fort Rouillé in 1750. The first large influx of Europeans was by United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution in the mid to late 1780s. Toronto grew slowly in the initial years and was used by the British primarily as a naval base. When Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe moved the capital of Upper Canada from Newark to Toronto in 1793, he renamed the town York. By 1800, the town was still very small, smaller than Kingston, and consisted of probably not more than fifty families. York was captured, its surrender negotiated by John Strachan, and the major buildings burned by U.S. soldiers in 1813 . After the war, the city grew more rapidly throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century by becoming one of the main destinations of immigrants to Canada. On March 6, 1834, the Township of York reverted to its original name of Toronto. A bustling steamboat entry port burgeoned in the 1840s and the city's development was aided by the addition of gaslit street lights and sewers. The city grew even more rapidly after it was linked by rail to the upper Great Lakes in 1854. By the 1870s, industrialization reached a feverish pace and helped ensure Toronto's place as a major centre of urban growth in the new Canadian Confederation. In the second half of the Twentieth Century, with an influx of post-war immigrants, and, after 1970, immigrants from the developing world, Toronto surpassed Montreal as Canada's most populous city. At the same time, the city's banking and exchange centres also surpassed those of Montreal. This happened at a time when Canada had repatriated much of its stock and bond trade from London, requiring the establishment of a domestic trading centre. Its stock market, which, until the early 1960s, primarily capitalized high-risk ventures, expanded to become one of the world's major exchanges. In 1998, the six former municipalities of the former Metropolitan Toronto were amalgamated into one municipality by the Ontario government. This resulted in the creation of the current City of Toronto. Geography and climateThe City of Toronto covers an area of 629.91 square kilometres and is bounded by Lake Ontario to the south, Etobicoke Creek and Highway 427 to the west, Steeles Avenue along the entire northern city limit, and the Rouge River to the east. In addition to Etobicoke Creek and the Rouge River, the city is intersected by two major rivers and their tributaries, the Humber River in the west end and the Don River just east of the central core. The concentration and protection of ravines allows for large tracts of densely forested valleys with recreational trails within the city. However, the ravines also interfere with the city's street grid, and many of the major thoroughfares such as Finch Avenue, Leslie Street, Lawrence Avenue, St. Clair Avenue and Keele Street are terminated as a result, but continue on the other side of the ravines. Many others, such as Bloor Street/Danforth Avenue viaduct require large bridges to cross high above the ravines.
ClimateToronto's climate is moderated by its southerly location within Canada and its proximity to Lake Ontario; its climate is among the mildest of any place in Canada east of the Rocky Mountain range. However, the daily weather is highly variable, particularly during the winter months. Mild days do occur throughout the winter . There are usually a few bitter cold snaps each year, where maximum temperatures only reach into the -10 °C to -15 °C range, often accompanied by strong winds making it feel even colder but minimums rarely drop below -25 °C . The coldest ever temperature recorded at Toronto Pearson International Airport was -31.3 °C on January 4, 1981, and the coldest ever wind chill was -44.7 °C also on January 4, 1981. The average January maximum temperature is -2.1 °C , and the average minimum is -10.5 °C . Downtown the average minimum is -7.3 °C .
In the summer, Toronto is known for long stretches of humid weather and daytime temperatures sometimes approach, but rarely exceed 35 °C . High humidity often causes uncomfortable conditions. These periods of heat are often broken by cooler weather stretches not found in places much farther to the south on the continent, at least for a couple of days before the heat builds again. The highest ever temperature recorded at Toronto Pearson Airport was 38.3 °C on August 25, 1948, and the highest ever Humidex reading reached was 50.3 °C on July 14, 1995. The average July maximum temperature is 26.8 °C , and the average minimum is 14.8 °C . Downtown the average minimum is 17.9 °C .
For the last recorded climate period, the downtown station has a minimum temperature that is approximately 3 °C warmer than the airport throughout the year, however this difference continues to narrow due to greater urbanization farther out from the Airport station.
Autumn offers pleasant daytime temperatures followed by refreshingly cool nights. Spring is typically the shortest season of the year, generally with pleasant, sometimes warm days and cool nights. A local joke is that it can feel like it literally jumps from "winter directly to summer, without a spring", but this is usually an exaggeration of the true conditions.
The average yearly precipitation is 793 millimetres , with an average annual snowfall of about 115 centimetres . Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, but summer is usually the wettest season.
Severe weather phenomena include periods of intense cold in winter and extreme heat in summer , freezing rainstorms, thunderstorms, and hail. In the late springs and summers, Toronto is sometimes affected by severe thunderstorms, producing damage. Tornadoes are uncommon in the city, but may occur. Toronto is occasionally affected by the remnants of Atlantic hurricanes, usually they just brush the area, although with Hurricane Hazel in 1954, the city took a direct hit which produced widespread flooding and devastation.
Toronto and area
DefinitionWith no designator, "Toronto" usually refers to the Greater Toronto Area or the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area unless "City of" is specified. The City of Toronto is also in its own "county" of type Division. As the City of Toronto is the only municipality in the Toronto Division CD, information about either or both should be identical.
Neighbourhoods
From 1954 to 1998, the City of Toronto was one city within a larger federation of cities and municipalities called Metropolitan Toronto. When Metropolitan Toronto was amalgamated by the Ontario provincial government under Mike Harris to become one government, the City of Toronto was enlarged to include the former cities and municipalities of York, East York, North York, Etobicoke, and Scarborough. All of these former cities or municipalities still maintain, in some ways, their own distinct identities; their names are still used by their residents. The areas within the former City of Toronto prior to the merger are still referred to as the old City of Toronto, the Inner City, Toronto Proper, or Downtown Toronto.
The former "City of Toronto" is still the most densely populated area of the current City of Toronto. As the largest metropolitan area in Canada, its downtown core is also one of the commercial, financial and entertainment centres of the country. Immediately surrounding the core, much of "Uptown" consists of wealthy enclaves such as Yorkville, Rosedale, The Annex, Forest Hill, Lawrence Park, Moore Park, Wychwood Park and Casa Loma - Neighbourhood which feature large, upscale residences, luxury condominiums, and high-end retail and services. Other upscale neighborhoods include The Bridle Path in North York and the area surrounding the Scarborough Bluffs in Guildwood. On the entirely opposite spectrum there are areas with a high concentration of social housing and blocks of rental hi-rises found in such areas as St. Jamestown, Regent Park and Parkdale, with very high recent immigrant populations.
The former inner ring suburbs of York and East York are older, traditionally middle-class areas that are also ethnically diverse. Due to an increasing municipal population and a housing boom that ran through the late 1990s and early 2000s, many of the neighbourhoods in the inner suburbs experienced accelerated gentrification, with rapidly rising home prices, an influx of wealthier residents, and a boom in upscale businesses to service them. Areas affected the earliest include Leaside and North Toronto, with the western neighbourhoods in York just beginning during this time. Much of the housing stock in these areas consists of post-World War I single-family houses and high-rises, but in many areas, these structures are either in the process of being replaced or remodelled.
The outer ring suburbs of the former cities of Etobicoke, Scarborough and North York are much more suburban, although they largely retain the grid patterns of the streets laid down before post-war suburban development, many from towns that existed prior to their creation as cities. These parts also have sections with large apartment blocks of low-income families, mixed with typical detached housing found in suburbia.
Toronto has over 200 neighbourhoods within the current city borders, the reason Toronto is often locally described as "a city of neighbourhoods."
ParksToronto has numerous parks, parkettes and conservation areas throughout the city:
Surrounding suburbsBefore 1993, the telephone area code 416 included the entire Golden Horseshoe region from Clarington to Niagara Falls, Ontario. The area code was then split, with Metropolitan Toronto alone remaining in 416, while the rest of the area became 905. In informal usage in Toronto, "the 905 region" or "the 905s" quickly began to be used as shorthand for the belt of suburbs and exurbs surrounding the city, but not for places like Niagara Falls or Hamilton. Subsequently both area codes 416 and 905 were overlaid with new codes, 647 and 289 respectively, but popular usage has not been affected by this.
Toronto's exurbs, the major "905" municipalities surrounding the city are: Halton, Peel, York, and Durham.
Demographics
Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. In 2004, the United Nations Development Programme 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. The resulting cultural diversity is reflected in the numerous ethnic neighbourhoods of the city.
Toronto represents a multicultural mosaic. The 2001 Canadian census indicates that more than 40% of Toronto's population belong to a visible minority group. In March 2005, Statistics Canada projected that the visible minority proportion will comprise a majority in both Toronto and Vancouver by 2017.. Toronto's minority poulation grows by approximately 1% per year, largely because of immigration. Large ethnic communities in Toronto include those from Italy*, Jamaica*, India*, China*, Sri Lanka*, Portugal*, Poland*, Ghana, Philippines, Trinidad, Somalia, Ecuador, Vietnam, Russia, and Guyana.*Largest groups
In 1900, the overwhelming proportion of Toronto's population originated in Great Britain and Ireland. During the 20th century, large scale immigration has changed the demographics of Toronto and there are now people from many different ethnic and national origins living in the city. Areas like Koreatown, Malta Village, Chinatown, Little Jamaica, Little India, Greektown, Portugal Village, Corso Italia, Augusta Avenue , Little Mogadishu and Little Italy are examples of these large changes in the population's origins.
Religious affiliations are as follows: Roman Catholic , Protestant , Eastern Orthodox Christian , Christian, not specified , Muslim , Judaism , Hinduism , Sikhism , Buddhism , Other Eastern Religions . 18.9% of the population profess no faith.
While English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians, Statistics Canada reports that other language groups are significant, including Chinese, Portuguese, Tamil, Persian, Spanish, Punjabi and Italian. Italian is second to English in languages used at work. [Source is Toronto CMA not .]
Due to the city's variety of cultures, 9-1-1 emergencies are answered in many languages.
Government
Torontonians elect representatives to the federal, provincial, and municipal levels of government. There are 22 Members of Parliament representing Toronto who sit in the House of Commons in Ottawa, and another 22 Members of Provincial Parliament sit in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 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 , 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 CAD. This operating budget comprises $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.
The former City Hall, a Romanesque Revival building, currently houses municipal courts. When it opened in 1899 it was the largest building in Toronto, and the largest municipal building in North America.
The current municipal government is rooted in the creation of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto in 1954. This new regional government, which encompassed the City of Toronto and twelve suburban municipalities, was created in light of the need for more coordination of city services. The postwar boom resulted in suburban development, and it was felt that a coordinated land use planning strategy, as well as shared services, would be more efficient. The Metro government began taking over management of services that crossed municipal boundaries, most notably highways, water, and public transit.
The seven smallest municipalities were amalgamated into their larger neighbours in 1967, but the federated municipal government otherwise lasted until 1998, when the two levels of government were combined and the six remaining municipalities amalgamated into a single municipality or "megacity".
Economy
Toronto is a commercial, distribution, financial and industrial centre. 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 the port is disused . Ontario's wealth of raw materials and hydroelectric power have made Toronto a primary centre of industry.
Until the 1970s, Toronto had the second-largest economy in Canada, after Montreal. The economic growth of Toronto was greatly stimulated by the political instability in Quebec compounded with the development of the auto industry, the exploitation of the 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 bypassing Montreal.
As the business and financial capital of the country, Toronto is one of the world's largest financial centres and hosts the Toronto Stock Exchange , the third largest stock exchange in North America by market capitalisation and sixth in the world . The TSX has led North American exchanges by being the second to trade electronically and the first to 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 country's equivalent to Wall Street in New York.
Education
Toronto is home to a diverse range of universities, colleges and schools, and is a centre of research and development. The University of Toronto is Canada's largest university, with over 9,000 faculty and staff members, and over 60,000 graduate and undergraduate students. It offers teaching programs in 17 academic divisions across three campuses: the St. George campus, University of Toronto at Mississauga and the University of Toronto Scarborough . The university is consistently ranked as one of the world's leading universities. The city is also home to York University, Ryerson University, the Ontario College of Art & Design, the Royal Conservatory of Music -- which includes the Glenn Gould School -- Seneca College, Humber College, Centennial College, Sheridan College, George Brown College and the . The Canadian Film Centre is an advanced film, television and new media training institute established by filmmaker Norman Jewison. Toronto's elementary and high schools are operated by the Toronto District School Board and the separate Toronto Catholic District School Board. The Toronto Public Library is the largest public library system in Canada and the second busiest in the world after the Hong Kong Public Library.
Culture
Toronto is a city of many museums, theatres, galleries, , comedy clubs, events and sports.
The city is home to the Canadian Opera Company, the largest producer of opera in Canada and the sixth largest in North America; and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra which plays at Roy Thomson Hall. It is also home to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto's opera house; the Hummingbird Centre; Massey Hall, the Canadian National Exhibition, the Ontario Science Centre; the ; , and the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre. Canada's Walk of Fame acknowledges the achievements of successful Canadians and consists of a series of stars in front of Roy Thomson Hall, the Princess of Wales Theatre, and the Royal Alexandra Theatre. is located on three beautifully landscaped islands on the shores of Lake Ontario. It has rides and attractions, and includes the world's first permanent IMAX movie theatre, the Cinesphere, a geodesic dome-shaped structure; as well as the Molson Amphitheatre, a large open-air venue for large-scale music concerts.
Set on 13 acres in downtown Toronto, the Distillery District is a national historic site. The forty plus buildings constitute the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America. The Distillery District is a pedestrian village containing unique boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, artist studios and micro breweries, including the well-known Mill Street Brewery. The was recently restored as a park and heritage site and plans are underway to convert it into a cultural centre for experiencing how nature makes cities more livable.
According to a 1994 Encyclopedia Britannica entry, the Greater Toronto Area is third-largest theatre centre in the English-speaking world, after New York and London |
