Ontario, Canada — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Ontario known for?

Ontario's name carries two cities before all else. Ottawa, the national capital of Canada, and Toronto, the country's largest city and the provincial capital, both sit within this one province, an unusual pairing of political and commercial weight in Central Canada. Size adds to the reputation.

It is the second-largest province by area, and one of the founding members of Canada from 1867, a standing that has kept it at the centre of the country's life.

Where is Ontario?

Ontario occupies a vast stretch of Central Canada, the country's second-largest province by area. It is a big land. The province reaches far beyond the belt of cities that most travellers see, running from the settled south, where Toronto and Ottawa lie, into a thinly peopled north that makes up most of its territory.

Distance defines it. Most of Ontario's people gather in the south. Toronto, the provincial capital and Canada's largest city, and Ottawa, the national capital, both sit in this southern band, close by national measure though far apart by the standards of a smaller country.

The rest of the province spreads across its northern reaches, thinly settled and immense, so that the Ontario a traveller experiences is a small, southern fraction of the whole. Two cities, one great hinterland.

What is Ontario like?

Ontario's character is shaped by weight of numbers and the pull of two great cities. It is the most populous province in Canada, and much of the country's public and commercial life is concentrated here. Ottawa gives it the machinery of the nation.

As the national capital, the city holds the federal government and the institutions of the whole country, so that the province carries a political role beyond its own borders. Toronto gives it the other half. The largest city in Canada anchors the province's commercial and cultural life, drawing people from across the country into the settled south of Central Canada.

Between the two lies the province at large. Ontario is where a great share of the country gathers, works and governs, and its identity comes less from a single tradition than from being the crowded, central meeting-ground of Canada. Numbers and cities define it.

What is the history of Ontario?

Ontario was established as a province of Canada in 1867. That date marks its beginning. The name and boundaries of the modern province date from that year, when it took its place among the original provinces of the country, and Toronto was set as its capital.

Ottawa, within Ontario, was chosen as the seat of Canada's national government. The province has stood at the centre of the country's affairs ever since, its history closely tied to that of Canada as a whole.

What is the climate of Ontario?

Ontario has a temperate climate that swings hard between the seasons. Its position inland, deep in Central Canada and far from any softening ocean along its settled south, gives it warm summers and cold, snow-covered winters rather than the even weather of the coasts. The seasons are sharply drawn.

Spring and autumn pass quickly between the two extremes, and the contrast grows stronger the further north the province runs.

How do you get to Ontario?

Most visitors reach Ontario through Toronto, the provincial capital and the largest city in Canada, the main point of arrival by air. Ottawa, the national capital, forms the second gateway. From either city, road and rail run south and connect the settled band of the province where nearly all travel begins, while the far north is reached only by longer routes.

Two cities carry most arrivals.