Toronto
From The UCSC Wikipedia Trust Project
Template:Infobox CityTemplate:Otheruses1Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. The city has a population of 2.48 million and its metro region, the Greater Toronto Area, has a population of 5.9 million; Toronto is at the heart of the Golden Horseshoe, a region in south-central Ontario with roughly 8 million people.[4] Residents of Toronto are called Torontonians.
As Canada's economic hub and a major global city, Toronto has highly developed finance, telecommunications, transportation, media, software production and medical research industries. The city is home to the CN Tower and a majority of the country's corporate head offices and transnational corporate offices. Toronto's population is cosmopolitan, which reflects its role as a major destination for immigrants to Canada. Because of its low crime rates,[5] clean environment and generally high standard of living, Toronto is consistently rated one of the world's most livable cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit[6] and the Mercer Quality of Living Survey.[7] In 2006, Toronto was rated as the most expensive city to live in Canada.[8]
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History
Template:MainTemplate:SeeWhen Europeans first arrived at the site of present-day Toronto, the vicinity was inhabited by the Huron tribes, who by then had displaced the Iroquois tribes that occupied the region for centuries before c. 1500. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto, meaning "place where trees stand in the water".[9] It refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point led to widespread use of the name.
French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759.[10] During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the unsettled lands north of Lake Ontario. In 1787, the British negotiated the Toronto Purchase with the Mississaugas of New Credit, thereby securing more than a quarter million acres of land in the Toronto area.[11]
In 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the existing settlement, naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe chose the town to replace Newark as the capital of Upper Canada, believing the new site would be less vulnerable to attack by the Americans.[12] Fort York was constructed at the entrance of the town's natural harbour, sheltered by a long sand-bar peninsula. The town's settlement formed at the eastern end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day Parliament Street.
In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the town's capture and plunder by American forces. The surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. American soldiers destroyed much of Fort York and set fire on the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation.
York was incorporated as the City of Toronto on March 6, 1834, reverting to its original native name. Reformist politician William Lyon Mackenzie became the first Mayor of Toronto, and led the unsuccessful Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 against the British colonial government. The city grew rapidly through the remainder of the 19th century, as a major destination for immigrants to Canada. The Irish potato famine between 1846 and 1849 brought a large number of Irish diaspora into the city, most of them Catholic. By 1851, the Irish-born population had become the largest single ethnic group in the city. Smaller numbers of Protestant Irish immigrants were welcomed by the existing Scottish and English population, giving the Orange Order significant influence over Toronto society.
Toronto was twice for brief periods the capital of the united Province of Canada first from 1849-1852, following unrest in Montreal and later 1856-1858 after which Quebec became capital until just a year prior to Confederation, since then it has been Ottawa. As it had been for Upper Canada from 1793, Toronto became the capital of the province of Ontario after its official creation in 1867 and has remained so since with the Ontario Legislature located at Queen's Park. Because of its capital status, the city has also always been the location of Government House, the residence of the vice-regal representative of the Crown.
The city began to rapidly industrialize in the middle of the 19th century. An extensive sewage system was built, and streets became illuminated with gas lighting as a regular service. Long-distance railway lines were constructed, including a route completed in 1854 linking Toronto with the Upper Great Lakes. The Grand Trunk Railway and the Great Northern Railway joined in the building of the first Union Station in downtown. The advent of the railway dramatically increased the numbers of immigrants arriving and commerce, as had the Lake Ontario steamers and schooners entering the port. Horse-drawn streetcars gave way to electric streetcars in 1891, when the city granted the operation of the transit franchise to the Toronto Railway Company later re-named the current Toronto Transit Commission, now with the third highest ridership of any city public transportation system in North America.
The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 destroyed a large section of downtown Toronto, but the city was quickly rebuilt. The fire had cost more than $10 million in damage, and led to more stringent fire safety laws and the expansion of the city's fire department.
The city received new immigrant groups beginning in the late 19th century into early 20th century, particularly Germans, Italians, and Jews from various parts of Eastern Europe. They were soon followed by Chinese, Russians, Poles and immigrants from other Eastern European nations, as the Irish before them, many of these new migrants lived in overcrowded shanty type slums, such as the "the Ward" which was between Bay Street, now the heart of the country finances and the Discovery District, considered one of the world's most advanced medical research zones. Despite its fast paced growth, by the 1920s, Toronto's population and economic importance in Canada remained second to the much longer established Montreal, and by 1934, the Toronto Stock Exchange had become the largest in the country.
Following the Second World War, refugees from war-torn Europe arrived as did construction labourers particularly from Italy and Portugal. Following elimination of racially based immigration policies by the late 1960s, immigration began from all parts of the world. Toronto's population grew to more than one million in 1951 when large-scale suburbanization began, and doubled to two million by 1971. By the 1980s, Toronto had surpassed Montreal as Canada's most populous city and the chief economic hub. During this time, many national and multinational corporations moved their head offices from Montreal to Toronto and other western Canadian cities.[13]
Metropolitan Toronto
In 1954, the City of Toronto was federated into a regional government known as Metropolitan Toronto.[14] The postwar boom had resulted in rapid suburban development, and it was believed that a coordinated land use strategy and shared services would provide greater efficiency for the region. The metropolitan government began to manage services that crossed municipal boundaries, including highways, water and public transit. In 1967, the seven smallest municipalities of the region were merged into their larger neighbours, resulting in a six-city configuration that included the old City of Toronto and the surrounding municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York. In 1998, the metropolitan government was dissolved and the six municipalities were amalgamated into a single municipality, creating the current City of Toronto.
Geography and climate
Template:MainToronto covers an area of 629.91 square kilometres (243.21 sq mi),[15] with a maximum north-south distance of 21 kilometres (13 mi) and a maximum east-west distance of 43 kilometres (27 mi). It has a 46 kilometre (29 mi) long waterfront shoreline. Its borders are bounded by Lake Ontario to the south, Etobicoke Creek and Highway 427 to the west, Steeles Avenue to the north and the Rouge River to the east.
Topography
The city is intersected by two rivers and numerous tributaries: the Humber River in the west end and the Don River east of downtown at opposite ends of the Toronto Harbour. The many creeks and rivers create large tracts of densely-forested ravines, and provide ideal sites for parks and recreational trails. However, the ravines also interfere with the city's grid plan, and this results in major thoroughfares such as Finch Avenue, Leslie Street, Lawrence Avenue, St. Clair Avenue and Keele Street terminating on one side of ravines and continuing on the other side. Other thoroughfares such as the Bloor Street Viaduct are required to span above the ravines. These deep ravines prove useful for draining the city's vast storm sewer system during heavy rains but some sections, particularly near the Don River are prone to sudden, heavy floods. Storage tanks at waste treatment facilties will often receive too much river discharge causing them to overflow, allowing untreated sewage to escape into Lake Ontario.
During the last ice age, the present site of Toronto was beneath Glacial Lake Iroquois. Today, a series of escarpments mark the lake's former boundary, known as the Iroquois Shoreline. The escarpments are most prominent from Victoria Park Avenue to the mouth of Highland Creek, where they form the Scarborough Bluffs. Other noticeable sections include the area near St. Clair Avenue West between Bathurst Street and the Don River, and north of Davenport Road from Caledonia to Spadina Avenue. Although not remarkably hilly, Toronto does have elevation differences ranging from 75 metres (246 ft) above-sea-level at the Lake Ontario shore to 270 metres (886 ft) ASL near the York University grounds in the city's north end.
Much of the current lakeshore land area is actually artificial landfill. In the mid-19th century the lakefront was set back up to a kilometre (0.6 mi) further inland than it is today. Much of the Toronto harbour (the quays) and adjacent Portlands are also fill. The Toronto Islands were actually a landspit until a storm in 1858 severed its connection to the mainland.
Climate
Toronto's climate is moderate for Canada due to its southerly location within the country. It has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa), with hot, humid summers and generally cold winters (although fairly mild by Canadian standards). The city experiences four distinct seasons with considerable variance in day to day temperature, particularly during the colder weather season. At different times of the year, the proximity to Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes has localized and regional impacts on the climate.
Toronto winters are sometimes accompanied by cold snaps where maximum temperatures remain below −10 °C (14 °F), often made to feel colder by windchill, although mild days also occur throughout winter melting accumulated snow, with temperatures reaching into the 5 to 14 °C (40 to 57 °F) range and sometimes higher. The current winter of 2006-07 featured a long lived mild spell, with no days remaining below freezing up to and including January 9, 2007, in fact there has been an upward trend in average temperatures over the last fifteen years. Summer in Toronto is characterized by long stretches of humid weather. Daytime temperatures can reach 35 °C (95 °F). With humidity making it feel much more hot, Toronto was voted one of the most sunniest and Tropical-like(Moist) places in North America in the summer. (This is because of it's proximity to fresh water, the great lakes and the constant flow of warm jet stream air from the south wich brings dry air-than collides with most lake air.) The fall can become fairl cloudy and the leaves are completely down by late october-early Novemeber. November, December and January are cool months-the sun is the furthes, making toronto feel sun-deprived. As soon as February comes...the sun becomes much stronger. By March and april temperatures start to become more pleasent and the sun gets stronger. Late April through may are failry confortable...not cold, yet not hot yet either. Allthough late April and May have seen temperatures rise above 30 degrese celcious many times(85 Farenheit). [16]
Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, but summer is usually the wettest season, the bulk falling during thunderstorms. The average yearly precipitation is 793 millimetres (31.7 in), with an average annual snowfall of about 115 centimetres (46 in). Toronto experiences an average of 2,038 sunshine hours or 44% of possible, most of it during the warmer weather season.
Cityscape
The City of Toronto encompasses a geographical area formerly administered by six separate municipalities. These municipalities have each developed a distinct history and identity over the years, and their names remain in common use among Torontonians. Throughout the city there exist hundreds of small neighbourhoods. Former Municipalities: East York | Etobicoke | North York | Old Toronto | Scarborough | York.
The Old City of Toronto covers the area generally known as Downtown. It is the historic core of Toronto and remains the most densely-populated part of the city. The Financial District along Bay Street contains the largest cluster of skyscrapers in Canada, including the First Canadian Place, Toronto Dominion Centre, Scotia Plaza, Royal Bank Plaza, Commerce Court and BCE Place. From that point, the Toronto skyline extends northward along Yonge Street. Old Toronto is also home to many historically wealthy residential enclaves, such as Yorkville, Rosedale, The Annex, Forest Hill, Lawrence Park, Moore Park, and Casa Loma. These neighbourhoods generally feature upscale homes, luxury condominiums and high-end retail and services. At the same time, the vicinity includes neighbourhoods with a high proportion of recent immigrants and low-income families living in social housing and rental highrises, such as St. James Town, Regent Park, Moss Park and Parkdale. East and west of Downtown, neighbourhoods such as Kensington Market, Leslieville, Cabbagetown and Riverdale are home to bustling commercial and cultural areas as well as vibrant communities of artists, though with an increasing proportion of middle and upper class professionals. Other neighbourhoods in the central city retain an ethnic identity, including two Chinatowns, the popular Greektown area, and Little India.
The inner suburbs are contained within the former municipalities of York and East York. These are mature and traditionally working class areas, primarily consisting of post-World War I small, single-family homes and small apartment blocks. Neighbourhoods such as Crescent Town and Weston consist of mainly high-rise apartments which are home to many new immigrant families. Recently, many neighbourhoods have became ethnically diverse and have undergone gentrification, as a result of increasing population and a housing boom during the late 1990s and 2000s. The first neighbourhoods affected were Leaside and North Toronto, gradually progressing into the western neighbourhoods in York. Some of the area's housing is in the process of being replaced or remodelled.
The outer suburbs comprised of the former municipalities of Etobicoke, Scarborough and North York largely retain the grid plan laid before post-war development. Sections were long established and quickly growing towns before the suburban housing boom began and the advent of Metro Government, such as Mimico, Newtonbrook and West Hill. Suburban development grew quickly after the second war to include such upscale neighbourhoods as the Bridle Path in North York, the area surrounding the Scarborough Bluffs in Guildwood, and most of central Etobicoke, such as Humber Valley Village, and The Kingsway. One of largest and earliest "planned communities" was Don Mills, parts of which were first built in the 1950s. Phased development mixing single-detached housing with higher density apartment blocks became more popular as a suburban model of development. To some this model has been copied in other GTA municipalities surrounding Toronto, albeit with less population density. More recently, North York Centre that runs along Yonge Street and the Scarborough City Centre have emerged as secondary business districts outside the downtown core. Highrise development in these areas have given North York and Scarborough distinguishable skylines of their own and a more downtown feel with high-density transit corridors serving them.
Demographics
| Year | City | Toronto CMA |
|---|---|---|
| 1861 | 65,085 | 193,844 |
| 1901 | 238,080 | 440,000 |
| 1951 | 1,117,470 | 1,262,000 |
| 1971 | 2,089,728 | 2,628,000 |
| 1976 | 2,124,295 | |
| 1981 | 2,137,380 | 2,998,947 |
| 1986 | 2,192,721 | |
| 1991 | 2,275,771 | 3,893,933 |
| 1996 | 2,385,421 | 4,235,757 |
| 2001 | 2,481,494 | 4,628,883 |
| †Within present boundaries.[17][18][19] |
The last complete census by Statistics Canada estimated there were 2,481,494 people residing in Toronto in 2001.[20] The city's population grew by 4% between 1996 and 2001, at an annualized rate of 0.8%. Persons aged 14 years and under made up 17.5% of the population, and those aged 65 years and over made up 13.6%. The median age of the population was 36.9 years. As of July 1, 2006, the population is estimated at 2,629,030.[21]
With a long history as a major destination for immigrants to Canada, Toronto is one of the world's most multicultural cities. Major ethnic groups include English: 16.86%, Scottish: 11.12%, Irish: 10.48%, Italian: 9.23%, and French: 4.73%.
As of 2001, 42.8% of the city's residents belong to a visible minority group,[22] and visible minorities are projected to comprise a majority in Toronto by 2017.[23] According to the United Nations Development Programme, Toronto has the second-highest percentage of foreign-born population among world cities, after Miami, Florida. While Miami's foreign-born population consists mostly of Cubans and other Latin Americans, no single nationality or culture dominates Toronto's immigrant population.
Based on the 2001 Census, the five largest visible minority groups in Toronto are Chinese (10.6%), South Asian/Indo-Caribbean (10.3%), Black/Afro-Caribbean (8.3%), Filipino (3.5%) and Latin American (2.2%).[24] This diversity is reflected in Toronto's ethnic neighbourhoods which include Little Italy, Little Jamaica, Little India, Chinatown, Koreatown, Malta Village, Greektown, Portugal Village, Corso Italia, Kensington Market, Little Mogadishu.
Christianity is the largest religious group in Toronto. The 2001 census reports that 31.4% of the city's population is Roman Catholic, followed by Protestants at 21.2%, Eastern Orthodox Christians at 4.9% and other Christians at 3.9%. Islam is the second largest religion in the city, with Muslims accounting for 6.7% of the population, while Judaism comprise 4.2%, Hinduism comprise 4.8%, Sikhism comprise 0.9%, Buddhism comprise 2.7% and other Eastern Religions comprise 0.2%. Another 18.9% of the population profess no faith.[22]
While English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians, many other languages have considerable numbers of local speakers, including French, Italian, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Tagalog, and Hindi.[25] After English, Italian is the second-most widely-spoken language used at work.[26][27] As a result, the city's 9-1-1 emergency services are equipped to respond in over 150 languages.[28]
Government
Template:Main Template:SeeToronto is a single-tier municipality governed by a mayor-council system. The structure of the municipal government is stipulated by the City of Toronto Act. The Mayor of Toronto is elected by direct popular vote to serve as the chief executive of the city. The Toronto City Council is a unicameral legislative body, comprised of 44 councillors representing geographical wards throughout the city. The mayor and members of the city council serve four-year terms without term limits. (Prior to the 2006 municipal election, the mayor and city councillors served three-year terms.)
At the start of the 2007 term, the city council will have seven standing committees, each consisted of a chair, a vice-chair and four other councillors. The Mayor names the committee chairs and the remaining membership of the committees is appointed by City Council.[29] An executive committee is formed by the chairs of each of standing committee, in addition to the mayor, the deputy mayor and four other councillors. Councillors are also appointed to oversee the Toronto Transit Commission and the Toronto Police Services Board.
There are about 40 subcommittees, advisory committees and roundtables within the city council. These bodies are made up of city councillors and private citizen volunteers. Examples include the Harbourfront Parks Steering Committee, Apartment Work Group on Waste Diversion, and the Task Force to Bring Back the Don.[30] Additionally, the city has four