Toronto

Toronto is the capital of the Canadian province of Ontario. As the economic and cultural center for the English-speaking population of the country, it combines the very best educational and business opportunities in a well-designed urban setting. High immigration rates during the second half of the twentieth century have transformed Toronto into one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world.

Landscape

Toronto is located on the western shore of Lake Ontario. The city occupies 629 square kilometers (243 square miles), while the surrounding metropolitan area occupies 5,869 square kilometers (2,266 square miles). This includes the borough of East York as well as the cities of Scarborough, North York, York, and Etobicoke. Toronto is thus the largest metropolis in Canada. Since the 1980s, the city has been part of an even larger conglomerate called the Greater Toronto Area, which was designed to foster coordination between regional governments.

The retreat of the glaciers during the Pleistocene Epoch (beginning approximately 1.6 million years ago, ending approximately 11,000 years ago) left behind a flat, sandy terrain once partially covered by water. Since the 1850s, more land has been claimed for the city by filling in portions of Lake Ontario.

The city is encompassed by the Greater Toronto Bioregion, an ecosystem that includes the Niagara Escarpment, Oak Ridges Moraine, and several major river valleys. Within the city, the ecosystem is characterized by ravines which were formed by water from melting glaciers. These are now part of the city's extensive parklands, as is the chain of twelve islands in the Toronto harbor.

Toronto has distinct seasons, with freezing temperatures in winter and summers that are warm and humid. Average temperatures range from 64 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit at their warmest, and from 18 to 30 degrees at their coldest. Air currents from Lake Ontario often affect the city's temperatures.

People

The population of the city of Toronto was 2,731,571 according to the 2016 census, making it the most populous city in Canada, and the population of the Greater Toronto Area was some 6.4 million. It is the fourth-largest city in North America, behind Mexico City, New York, and Los Angeles.

Toronto has the highest concentration of immigrants of any city in North America—around half of its population was born in another country. Historical events of the twentieth century, combined with Canada's reception of immigrants and need for labor, explains the various influxes.

After World War II, many Europeans settled in Toronto. They continued to arrive during the 1950s, but the numbers tapered off as the European economies improved.

In the 1960s and 1970s, many Asians and East Indians arrived and generally settled outside of the city center. In the 1990s, many Asians left Hong Kong for Toronto rather than become subjects of China. The city also received many Anglo businesses that left Quebec rather than conform to the strengthening francophone culture. The four largest homogenous groups are British, Chinese, Italian, and native Canadian.

This cultural diversity is reflected in Toronto's layout. One of its nicknames is "the city of neighborhoods," so named for the more than two hundred neighborhoods that can be distinguished in its confines. Many are defined by ethnicity, others by class and lifestyle.

Ethnic neighborhoods include Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Italy, Little Poland, and Portugal Village. Traditional restaurants, open markets, and grocery stores indicative of the cultures abound in these areas. Toronto's many cultures meet at the two main markets, the St. Lawrence Market and the Kensington Market, both of which have a historical pedigree and cater to residents and tourists alike.

Among Toronto's upscale neighborhoods are Yorkville, Cabbagetown, Rosedale, and Forest Hill. Located in the central part of the city, they boast gentrified housing districts, trendy restaurants and boutiques, and elegant parks and gardens.

Every year, Toronto is home to a variety of long-standing festivals. One of the most famous, the Toronto Film Festival, has grown over the last thirty-five years into a premiere cinematic event. The summertime Caribana Festival is a showcase of Caribbean food, music, dance, and costume.

Economy

Toronto is an economic powerhouse regionally and internationally. Investors tend to view it positively, citing diversity, competitiveness, low operating costs, and a business-friendly environment as its predominant features. After the recession of the early 1990s, and difficult economic restructuring, the city has reemerged with excellent potential for future growth. The labor force of the city of Toronto numbers approximately 3.8 million people, with an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent as of 2020.

Traditionally, Toronto's economy has been based on the manufacturing industry, which is responsible for over half of Canada's manufactured goods. The industry was deeply affected by recession, particularly its older sectors. It is estimated that thirty-two thousand manufacturing jobs were lost at that time. In the late 1990s, however, Toronto regained a lead role in manufacturing, with 15 percent of the city's workforce employed in this sector. The automotive industry, the second-largest center on the continent following Detroit, is of particular importance, for both assembly and the manufacturing of parts. Of all the region's exports, automobiles generate the most revenue.

Over the last few decades, the financial and business services sector has eclipsed manufacturing. More major national and international companies make Toronto their base of operations than any other Canadian city. The Toronto Stock Exchange, the twelfth largest in the world as of 2018, also comes in third in North America in terms of the dollar value traded.

The media and communications industries are also central to Toronto's economy. Several English-language daily newspapers are published there, as well as a wide range of business periodicals and publications which serve the city's various ethnicities. It has nearly thirty radio stations—one of which, CHIN, broadcasts in thirty languages—and upwards of a dozen television stations. Many films and television programs are produced in Toronto each year, with the film industry alone earning more than $2 billion in 2016.

The tourism and hospitality industry employs more than 300,000 people and attracted nearly 44 million visitors in 2017, generating billions of dollars for the local economy. The city's professional athletic teams, most famously the Toronto Maple Leafs, attract both visitors and residents to sporting events.

One reason for the success of Toronto's economy is its diversity. Other industries which contribute significantly to the economy include aerospace engineering, software production, and construction.

Toronto's transportation system is the envy of many cities. Its subway (Canada's first) opened in 1954 and offers an extensive system of buses within the city, as well as buses and trains for commuters living outside Toronto proper. Public transportation in the city center is linked by a system of underground walkways.

Cities that can be reached from Toronto via rail include Montreal, Vancouver, New York, and Chicago. The railway is also used to transport automobiles made in Toronto to the United States and other points in Canada.

Though it does have port facilities that have developed since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, Toronto does not receive the heavy traffic that characterizes Montreal's port.

The largest and busiest airport in Canada, the Lester B. Pearson International Airport, is located northwest of Toronto.

Landmarks

Several noteworthy buildings may be found in the center of Toronto, giving the city a distinctive skyline. From an architectural standpoint, the New City Hall and the CN Tower are particularly remarkable. The New City Hall, set in one of Toronto's most popular public spaces, was built in 1965 and consists of two narrow towers which curve around the council chamber. The CN Tower is one of the world's tallest freestanding structure, measuring 1,815 feet. It also boasts the longest metal staircase and the highest wine cellar in the world. Both of these buildings are symbolic of the city's modernity.

Many cultural venues dot downtown Toronto. As the third largest center for English-language theater after London and New York, it offers a variety of national and international performances in rich theatrical settings, foremost among them the Elgin, the Wintergarden, Massey Hall, and the Royal Alexandra. It also has national ballet and opera companies and a symphony. A popular museum for fine art is the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Royal Ontario Museum houses exhibits devoted to natural history and world culture.

Toronto has a lively sports scene which attracts fans from around the world. Its preeminent venues for sporting events are the Rogers Centre and the Maple Leaf Gardens. The Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome), built in 1989, is famous for its capacity and its retractable roof, which allows for events to occur at the facility in every season. Both the Toronto Blue Jays (baseball) and the Toronto Argonauts (football) have their home field in the Rogers Centre. Toronto's hockey team, the Maple Leafs, had made the Maple Leaf Gardens its home since 1931, until the opening of the Air Canada Centre in 1999 (renamed Scotiabank Arena in 2018).

Three universities and numerous colleges sustain Toronto's reputation as a center for education. The University of Toronto, established in 1827, is Canada's largest. It serves thousands of undergraduate students and houses Robarts Library, also the country's largest. York University is devoted to research and pedagogy.

History

The land upon which Toronto grew was occupied by a series of Native peoples, the Huron, Iroquois, Seneca, and Mississauga among them. However, neither these tribes nor the first explorers set up a permanent settlement in the area. There is still debate about which tribe gave Toronto its name and what the name means.

Though the area was visited by Étienne Brule in 1615, the French didn't establish a fort there until a century later. Fort Rouille survived only nine years, after which the French burned it down so that it couldn't be occupied by the British, who were trying to gain control of the territory.

The British government purchased a quarter-million acres around the bay from the Mississauga in 1787 and staked out their first permanent settlement six years later, under the direction of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. Named York, it was intended as the capital of the British province of Upper Canada, the future Ontario.

From the outset, the settlement was designed on a grid system, with government and military functions in mind. Fort York, however, was unable to rebuff an attack by American troops in 1813, and the settlement was partially burned. In retaliation, British troops attacked Washington, DC, the next year and also forced American troops out of York. A stronger fort was then constructed, from which troops successfully defended the settlement.

It was renamed Toronto (from an Iroquoian word) in 1834, the year that it was incorporated as a city, and became the permanent capital of Ontario in 1867. The city grew steadily as a result of railroads, agriculture, and the timber industry. By 1880, it had a population of eighty thousand. This figure leapt to nearly five hundred thousand within twenty years, as immigrants settled in Toronto and the city incorporated outlying districts. This leap put Toronto nearly on par with Montreal, in terms of population and economic significance.

In the twentieth century, Toronto went through cycles of growth. Many factors contributed to its success. During World War II, it manufactured and sold military goods to the United States. In the 1960s, Canada and the United States reached an agreement that allowed for automobiles to be produced at Canadian plants for the US market. Throughout this period, immigrants continued to stream into Toronto, and the city burgeoned outwards through new residential and industrial expansion as well as the annexation of smaller municipalities.

Such growth has made Toronto into an economic and cultural center surpassing Montreal and every other Canadian city. However, in the twenty-first century, many projects are being implemented in order to carefully control that growth so that Toronto doesn't lose its reputation as a large city that functions well.

These projects include the continued revitalization of the waterfront area, the transformation of former railway lands traversing the downtown area, the tackling of growing social problems, and environmental protection and clean-up.

Trivia

• Toronto has many nicknames, one of them being "Hollywood North" for the number of films and television programs produced there.
• Toronto's main airport is named after Lester B. Pearson, the fourteenth prime minister of Canada (1963–68) and winner of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize.
• More than 18 percent of the area of Toronto is parkland, including but not limited to Allan Gardens, Christie Pits, Grange Park, Little Norway Park, Moss Park, Queen's Park, Riverdale Park, and Trinity Bellwoods Park.

Bibliography

Careless, James Maurice Stockford. "Toronto." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 6 Nov. 2018, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/toronto/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

Galanakis, Michail. "Intercultural Public Spaces in Multicultural Toronto." Canadian Journal of Urban Research, vol. 22, no. 1, 2013, pp. 67–89.

"Labour Force Characteristics by Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver Census Metropolitan Areas, Seasonally Adjusted and Unadjusted, Last 5 Months, Inactive." Statistics Canada, 8 Jan. 2021, www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410029501. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

Strapagiel, Lauren. "North America's Largest Cities: Toronto Overtakes Chicago." HuffPost Canada, 5 Mar. 2013, www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/largest-cities-north-america-toronto-chicago‗n‗2815578. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

Toronto.ca. City of Toronto, www.toronto.ca. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.

Tourism Toronto. Toronto Convention and Visitors Association, www.seetorontonow.com/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2021.