Ontario

Ontario is a Canadian province, the most populous and the second largest in area (after Quebec). Its southern boundary runs along the St. Lawrence River and through Lake Ontario, the Niagara River, and Lake Erie; here the province borders on the American states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

Ontario's northern boundary lies in Hudson Bay; here it borders the territory of Nunavut and the provinces of Manitoba and Quebec. Its eastern boundary is a land and river border with Quebec.

The western boundary consists of a land border with the American state of Minnesota and of a marine border with Minnesota and Michigan which runs through Lakes Superior and Huron and their connecting waters.

The capital city of Ontario is Toronto, the largest city in Canada. Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is also in Ontario. The 2006 Census reported 12,160,282 residents of Ontario, who constituted 38% of the national population.

The province is 1,076,395 km² in area, of which 917,741 km² are land.

Topography

The province has three main geographical regions. In the north, the Hudson Bay Lowlands consist largely of muskeg. To the south of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, and occupying over half the area of the province, is the Ontario portion of the Canadian Shield, a heavily forested area in which only a thin layer of soil covers bedrock. In the south is the arable Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Valley.

History

Before the arrival of Europeans, the territory which is now Ontario was occupied by Algonqians and Iroquoian. What is now Southern Ontario (the region bounded by Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Georgian Bay) was explored by Étienne Brûlé from 1610 to 1612, while Henry Hudson visited Hudson Bay and claimed the region for Great Britain in 1611. Samuel de Champlain visited Lake Huron in 1615, and French missionaries established outposts soon after. In 1730 the Hudson's Bay Company established an outpost at Moose Factory, now the oldest English-speaking settlement in Ontario.

In 1763, Great Britain acquired what is now Southern Ontario and the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior through the Treaty of Paris as part of its acquisition of the French colony of Canada. The British renamed Canada Quebec. In 1774, the Quebec Act expanded the boundaries of Quebec to include the Ohio Country and Illinois Country, from the Appalachian Mountains on the east, south to the Ohio River, west to the Mississippi River and north to the southern boundary of Rupert's Land, the commercial territory of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1783 the United States took over all land south of the Great Lakes, although a few British military posts were active until ended by the Jay Treaty of 1795.

In 1784, settlement of large numbers of United Empire Loyalists (Americans who had remained loyal to the British Crown) began. they settled mainly in Niagara and along the St. Lawrence River. More Americans followed, attracted by cheap, arable land. Sentiment grew in the region favouring British institutions, especially English law, and the use of English as an official language. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided Quebec into Upper Canada (the part of present-day Ontario south of Lake Nipissing plus the current Ontario shoreline of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior) and Lower Canada (the southern part of present-day Quebec). Upper Canada used English law and English was its official language. Upper Canada's first capital was Newark (present-day Niagara-on-the-Lake); in 1796 it was moved to York, now Toronto.

Government

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is unicameral. One hundred and seven ridings (electoral districts) each elect a single member of the Assembly. The winner of the election in each riding is the candidate who receives the most votes, regardless of the percentage of the vote he or she receives. A member of the Assembly is usually designated an MPP (Member of Provincial Parliament), although MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) is occasionally used. The Legislative Assembly is also frequently called the provincial parliament.

The leader of the party holding the most seats in the Legislative Assembly is officially the Premier and President of the Council (that is, of the Executive Council or cabinet), and is known as the premier. He or she may also be known as the prime minister of Ontario but, as in the other provinces, premier is preferred so that the premier will not be confused with the prime minister of Canada (in French, however, premier ministre is used both for provincial premiers and the federal prime minister).

Since 2003, general elections are to be held at least every four years. Before 2003 elections were called at the government's pleasure within five years of the previous election or when the government fell (was defeated on a money bill or a motion of no confidence). Unless the government falls before four years have elapsed, a general election is now held on the first Thursday in the fourth October following the previous general election, or on a date within a week of the first Thursday in October if the first Thursday in October is a day of religious or cultural observance which might interfere with citizens' ability to vote.

The executive branch of government consists of the monarch and the Lieutenant Governor. Provincial bills require Royal Assent to come into effect. Generally, the Lieutenant Governor, who is appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the advice of the federal prime minister, carries out the will of cabinet.

The legislative buildings are in Queen's Park in Toronto.

Bibliography

• Celebrating One Thousand Years of Ontario's History: Proceedings of the Celebrating One Thousand Years of Ontario's History Symposium, April 14, 15, and 16, 2000. Ontario Historical Society, 2000. 343 pp.
• Baskerville, Peter A. Sites of Power: A Concise History of Ontario. Oxford U. Press., 2005. 296 pp. (first edition was Ontario: Image, Identity and Power, 2002). online review
• Berton, Pierre. Niagara: A History of the Falls. (1992).
• Hall, Roger; Westfall, William; and MacDowell, Laurel Sefton, eds. Patterns of the Past: Interpreting Ontario's History. Dundurn Pr., 1988. 406 pp.
• McGowan, Mark George and Clarke, Brian P., eds. Catholics at the "Gathering Place": Historical Essays on the Archdiocese of Toronto, 1841-1991. Canadian Catholic Historical Assoc.; Dundurn, 1993. 352 pp.
• McKillop, A. B. Matters of Mind: The University in Ontario, 1791-1951. U. of Toronto Press, 1994. 716 pp.
• Mays, John Bentley. Arrivals: Stories from the History of Ontario. Penguin Books Canada, 2002. 418 pp.
• Noel, S. J. R. Patrons, Clients, Brokers: Ontario Society and Politics, 1791-1896. U. of Toronto Press, 1990.

Geography and environment

• Brown, Ron,Top 100 Unusual Things to See in Ontario (2007) excerpt and text search
• Cruickshank, Tom, and John de Visser. Old Ontario Houses : Traditions in Local Architecture (2000)
• MacPherson, Allen. Ontario Provincial Parks Trail Guide (2005)briefly describes the 325 interpretive and hiking trails found in 86 operating Ontario Provincial Parks excerpt and text search
• Rawlings-Way, Charles, and Natalie Karneef.Toronto (2007)

Ontario to 1869

• Careless, J. M. S. Brown of the Globe (2 vols, Toronto, 1959-63), vol 1: The Voice of Upper Canada 1818-1859; vol 2: The Statesman of Confederation 1860-1880.
• Clarke, John. Land Power and Economics on the Frontier of Upper Canada McGill-Queen's University Press (2001) 747pp.
• Cohen, Marjorie Griffin. Women's Work, Markets, and Economic Development in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1988. 258 pp.
• Craig, Gerald M Upper Canada: the formative years 1784-1841 McClelland and Stewart, 1963, the standard history online edition
• Dunham, Eileen Political unrest in Upper Canada 1815-1836 McClelland and Stewart, 1963.
• Errington, Jane The Lion, the Eagle, and Upper Canada: A Developing Colonial Ideology McGill-Queen's University Press, 1987.
• Forkey, Neil. Shaping the Upper Canadian Frontier: Environment, Society and Culture in the Trent Valley (2003)
• Gidney, R. D. and Millar, W. P. J. Professional Gentlemen: The Professions in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1994.
• Grabb, Edward, James Curtis, Douglas Baer; "Defining Moments and Recurring Myths: Comparing Canadians and Americans after the American Revolution" The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 37, 2000
• Johnson, J. K. and Wilson, Bruce G., eds. Historical Essays on Upper Canada: New Perspectives. Carleton U. Press, (1975). . 604 pp.
• Keane, David and Read, Colin, ed. Old Ontario: Essays in Honour of J. M. S. Careless. Toronto: Dundurn, 1990.
• Kilbourn, William.; The Firebrand: William Lyon Mackenzie and the Rebellion in Upper Canada (1956) online edition
• Knowles, Norman. Inventing the Loyalists: The Ontario Loyalist Tradition and the Creation of Usable Pasts. U. of Toronto Press, 1997. 244 pp.
• Landon, Fred, and J.E. Middleton. Province of Ontario: A History (1937) 4 vol. with 2 vol of biographies
• Lewis, Frank and Urquhart, M.C. Growth and standard of living in a pioneer economy: Upper Canada 1826-1851 Institute for Economic Research, Queen's University, 1997.
• McCalla, Douglas Planting the province: the economic history of Upper Canada 1784-1870 University of Toronto Press, 1993.
• McGowan, Mark G. Michael Power: The Struggle to Build the Catholic Church on the Canadian Frontier. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2005. 382 pp.
• McNairn, Jeffrey L The capacity to judge: public opinion and deliberative democracy in Upper Canada 1791-1854 University of Toronto Press, 2000.
• Oliver, Peter. "Terror to Evil-Doers": Prisons and Punishments in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1998. 575 pp. post 1835
• Rea, J. Edgar. "Rebellion in Upper Canada, 1837" Manitoba Historical Society Transactions Series 3, Number 22, 1965-66, historiography online edition
• Reid, Richard M. The Upper Ottawa Valley to 1855. Champlain Soc., 1990. 354 pp.
• Rogers, Edward S. and Smith, Donald B., eds. Aboriginal Ontario: Historical Perspectives on the First Nations. Dundurn, 1994. 448 pp.
• Styran, Roberta M. and Taylor, Robert R., ed. The "Great Swivel Link": Canada's Welland Canal. Champlain Soc., 2001. 494 pp.
• Westfall, William. Two Worlds: The Protestant Culture of Nineteenth-Century Ontario. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1989. 265 pp.
• Wilton, Carol. Popular Politics and Political Culture in Upper Canada, 1800-1850. McGill-Queen's University Press, (2000). 311pp

Ontario since 1869

• Abel, Kerry M.Changing Places: History, Community, and Identity in Northeastern Ontario (2007) excerpt and text search
• Azoulay, Dan. Keeping the Dream Alive: The Survival of the Ontario CCF/NDP, 1950-1963. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1997. 307 pp.
• Cameron, David R. and White, Graham. Cycling into Saigon: The Conservative Transition in Ontario. U. of British Columbia Press, 2000. 224 pp. Analysis of the 1995 transition from New Democratic Party (NDP) to Progressive Conservative (PC) rule in Ontario
• Comacchio, Cynthia R. Nations Are Built of Babies: Saving Ontario's Mothers and Children, 1900-1940. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1993. 390 pp.
• Cook, Sharon Anne. "Through Sunshine and Shadow": The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Evangelicalism, and Reform in Ontario, 1874-1930. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1995. 281 pp.
• Darroch, Gordon and Soltow, Lee. Property and Inequality in Victorian Ontario: Structural Patterns and Cultural Communities in the 1871 Census. U. of Toronto Press, 1994. 280 pp.
• Devlin, John F. "A Catalytic State? Agricultural Policy in Ontario, 1791-2001." PhD dissertation U. of Guelph 2004. 270 pp. DAI 2005 65(10): 3972-A. DANQ94970 Fulltext: in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Evans, A. Margaret. Sir Oliver Mowat. U. of Toronto Press, 1992. 438 pp. Premier 1872-1896
• Fleming, Keith R. Power at Cost: Ontario Hydro and Rural Electrification, 1911-1958. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1992. 326 pp.
• Gidney, R. D. From Hope to Harris: The Reshaping of Ontario's Schools. U. of Toronto Press, 1999. 362 pp. deals with debates and changes in education from 1950 to 2000
• Gidney, R. D. and Millar, W. P. J. Inventing Secondary Education: The Rise of the High School in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1990. 440 pp.
• Halpern, Monda. And on that Farm He Had a Wife: Ontario Farm Women and Feminism, 1900-1970. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2001. 234 pp.
• Hines, Henry G. East of Adelaide: Photographs of Commercial, Industrial and Working-Class Urban Ontario, 1905-1930. London Regional Art and History Museum, 1989.
• Hodgetts, J. E. From Arm's Length to Hands-On: The Formative Years of Ontario's Public Service, 1867-1940. U. of Toronto Press, 1995. 296 pp.
• Houston, Susan E. and Prentice, Alison. Schooling and Scholars in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1988. 418 pp.
• Ibbitson, John. Promised Land: Inside the Mike Harris Revolution. Prentice-Hall, 1997. 294 pp. praise for Conservatives
• Kechnie, Margaret C. Organizing Rural Women: the Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario, 1897-1910. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2003. 194 pp.
• Landon, Fred, and J.E. Middleton. Province of Ontario: A History (1937) 4 vol. with 2 vol of biographies
• Marks, Lynne. Revivals and Roller Rinks: Religion, Leisure and Identity in Late Nineteenth-Century Small-Town Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1996. 330 pp.
• Montigny, Edgar-Andre, and Lori Chambers, eds. Ontario since Confederation: A Reader (University of Toronto Press, 2000).
• Moss, Mark. Manliness and Militarism: Educating Young Boys in Ontario for War. Oxford U. Press, 2001. 216 pp.
• Neatby, H. Blair and McEown, Don. Creating Carleton: The Shaping of a University. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2002. 240 pp.
• Nelles, H.V. Politics of Development: Forests, Mines, and Hydro-Electric Power in Ontario, 1849 1941 (2005)
• Ontario Bureau of Statistics and Research. A Conspectus of the Province of Ontario (1947) online edition
• Parr, Joy, ed. A Diversity of Women: Ontario, 1945-1980. U. of Toronto Press, 1996. 335 pp.
• Ralph, Diana; Régimbald, André; and St-Amand, Nérée, eds. Open for Business, Closed for People: Mike Harris's Ontario. Fernwood, 1997. 207 pp. leftwing attack on Conservative party of 1990s
• Roberts, David. In the Shadow of Detroit: Gordon M. McGregor, Ford of Canada, and Motoropolis. Wayne State U. Press, 2006. 320 pp.
• Santink, Joy L. Timothy Eaton and the Rise of His Department Store. U. of Toronto Press, 1990. 319 pp.
• Saywell, John T. "Just Call Me Mitch": The Life of Mitchell F. Hepburn. U. of Toronto Press, 1991. 637 pp. Biography of Liberal premier 1934-1942
• Schryer, Frans J. The Netherlandic Presence in Ontario: Pillars, Class and Dutch Ethnicity. Wilfrid Laurier U. Press, 1998. 458 pp. focus is post WW2
• Schull, Joseph. Ontario since 1867 (1978), narrative history
• Stagni, Pellegrino. The View from Rome: Archbishop Stagni's 1915 Reports on the Ontario Bilingual Schools Question. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2002. 134 pp.
• Warecki, George M. Protecting Ontario's Wilderness: A History of Changing Ideas and Preservation Politics, 1927-1973.' Lang, 2000. 334 pp.
• White, Graham, ed. The Government and Politics of Ontario. 5th ed. U. of Toronto Press, 1997. 458 pp.
• White, Randall. Ontario since 1985. Eastendbooks, 1998. 320 pp.
• Wilson, Barbara M. ed. Ontario and the First World War, 1914-1918: A Collection of Documents (Champlain Society, 1977)

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