Toronto, Ontario
- For alternate meanings of Toronto see Toronto (disambiguation)
Up until the 1970s, Toronto was the second largest city in Canada, after Montreal. Much of the growth in the Toronto area was due to the growing separation movement in Quebec and the election of the Parti Québécois in 1976. The Parti Quebecois enacted several french laws that were unfavourable towards businesses and English-speaking Montrealers. As a result, businesses and English-speaking Montrealers left for Toronto. Due to the discriminatory nature of the language laws, the majority of Canada's new immigrants now settle in Toronto.
The current mayor of Toronto is David Miller, elected in the 2003 Toronto election and replacing Mel Lastman.
| Toronto skyline |
The source and meaning of the name remains a matter of debate. Most common definitions claim that the origin is the Huron word for "meeting place", "toran-ten". However, it is much more likely that the term is from the Mohawk term referring to "the place where trees grow over the water", a reference to a specific location at the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, then known as Lake Toronto. The portage route up the Humber River eventually leads past this well known landmark. As the portage route grew in use, the name became more widely used and was eventually attached to a French trading fort just inland from Lake Ontario on the Humber.
Part of this confusion can be attributed to the succession of peoples who lived in the area during the 18th century: Huron, Senecas, Iroquois, and Mississaugas (the latter having lent their name to Toronto's modern-day western suburb). Until the beginning of British colonization there were no permanent settlements, though both native peoples and the French did try, including the construction of another small fort near the mouth of the Humber, currently buried on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition.
Specifically the town, then known as York, was built inland from the Toronto Islands, a chain of small islands leading into a marsh at their eastern end, with an opening at the western end. This formed a natural protected harbour, one that was defended with the construction of Fort York at the entrance on what was then a high point on the water's edge with a small river on the inland side (Garrison Creek). The town proper was formed closer to the eastern end of the harbour, near what is now Parliament Street.
Governor Simcoe was concerned with opening military communications between the settlements in the southwest of Upper Canada (notably Niagara-on-the-Lake, then known as Newark), and those to the east (Kingston, then points east to the border with Quebec). Dundas Street was the western route, leading to the town of the same name near Hamilton, but then continued west instead of southeast towards Niagara, and today it ends near the US border at Windsor. Kingston Road today forms the basis of the major Toronto-Montreal route. A third route, Yonge Street, was opened northward to Lake Toronto, then renamed Lake Simcoe and cut in three years. Yonge Street now forms the dividing line between east and west in Toronto, and is sometimes called "the longest street in the world" as it snakes its way for 1,896 kilometers to Rainy River, on the Minnesota border.
In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, York was attacked and partially burned. It was in retaliation for this that British forces attacked Washington, DC, the next year. Fort York was lightly manned at the time, and realizing that a defence was impossible, the troops retreated and set fire to the magazine. It exploded as the US forces were entering the fort, and many US soldiers were killed in the explosion. After the US forces left a new and much stronger fort was constructed several hundred yards to the west of the original position. Another attack in 1814 was beaten off with ease, the landing force never even being able to approach the shoreline. This newer fort now lies hundreds of yards inland due to landfill being dumped into the lake, and what was then a high point is largely invisible behind several highways.
Nevertheless modern amenities came to Toronto, including an extensive streetcar network. One line ran up Yonge Street for about 100 miles to Lake Simcoe, and allowed daytrips to its beaches. At the time Toronto's own beaches were far too polluted to use, a side effect of dumping garbage directly in the lake. The Grand Trunk Railway and the Great Northern Railway joined in the building of Union Station in what is today the downtown area.
As the city grew it became naturally bounded by the Humber River to the west, and the Don River to the east. Several smaller rivers and creeks in the downtown area were filled in, including both Garrison Creek and Taddle Creek which runs through the University of Toronto. At the time they were being used as sewers, and becoming a serious health problem.
The Don has an especially deep ravine, cutting off the east at most points north of the lakeshore. This was addressed in 1919 with the construction of the The Prince Edward Viaduct, better known today as the Bloor Street Viaduct, linking Bloor Street on the western side of the ravine, with Danforth Street on the east. The designer, Edmund Burke, fought long and hard to have a second deck added to the bridge for trains, a cost the city was not willing to provide for. Nevertheless he finally got his way, and thereby saved the city millions of dollars when the TTC subway started using the deck in 1966.
The Prince Edward Viaduct represented a turning point in Toronto's history. Now linked to what were formerly separate towns, Toronto "filled out" in the first half of the 20th century, becoming a single larger city.
On January 1, 1967, several of the smaller municipalities were amalgamated with larger ones, reducing their number to six. Forest Hill and Swansea became part of Toronto; Long Branch, Mimico, and New Toronto joined Etobicoke; Weston merged with York; and Leaside amalgamated with East York.
This arrangement lasted until 1998, when the regional level of government was abolished and the six cities were amalgamated into a new ("megacity of") Toronto. Many people criticized this "downloading" of provincial services to the municipal level. The overwhelming majority of the citizens of Toronto opposed amalgamation, as proven by a referendum in that year. However, the Province of Ontario under Premier Mike Harris had the formal power to ignore this referendum, and did so.
At this point the definition of Toronto itself came into some doubt. In the 2000 Toronto municipal elections, over 88% of those voting did so for a Mayor that had discussed forming a new Province of Toronto - the second-place finisher Tooker Gomberg (8%) strongly favoured this move, while Mel Lastman (80%) also voiced his support. His statements were far more likely an attack on the provincial government, rather than a serious proposal, however, and after winning the election did nothing to advance this idea. The notion was also favoured by urban activist Jane Jacobs. In all probability such a separation is legally difficult or impossible - under the Canadian constitution the municipalities have no actual power; they are just permitted to make use of provincial authority.
This of course was one of the main problems that had concerned the activists - a few small groups, notably the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, advocated an extended campaign of property damage and resistance to Ontario's government. This led to Toronto's first large scale riots, ever, in the summer of 2000, and several smaller such events in 2001. When prominent federal politicians including Paul Martin Jr and later Jack Layton (New Democratic Party of Canada leader and for 20 years a Toronto City Councillor) began promising a "new deal for cities", and large banks began issuing papers on it, the rhetoric in general became more muted and support for violent or radical solutions had faded. None of these deals have, however, been realized.
In 2002 Toronto hosted the Catholic World Youth Day and Pope John Paul II. Municipal unions chose this time to hold a garbage strike, and city parks were piled high with rotting trash.
In 2003 Toronto was hit by the SARS epidemic. Although the disease was primarily confined to hospitals and health-care workers, tourism in Toronto suffered because of media reports. To help recover the losses the city suffered in industries and tourism, the city held a "SARS Benefit Concert" featuring many famous bands, such as ACDC, Rush, The Guess Who, Justin Timberlake, and headlined by The Rolling Stones. The concert attracted some 450,000 people, making it one of the largest concerts in history, second only to Woodstock in 1969 (which had 500,000 people). The city also suffered through a crippling blackout on August 14 and 15, one that also affected almost all of Ontario, as well as many states in the northeastern United States. The results were chaotic, with the city grinding to a halt, the streets being deserted and power not being restored for nearly twenty-four hours in most cases.
In the 2003 Toronto election David Miller was elected to replace Mel Lastman as mayor.
Transportation needs are served by the TTC subway and streetcars.
There is also a great network of cycling trails. They go along the lake, the Don and Humber Rivers, and some major streets. The network is usable, though it needs expansion.
Nearby Mississauga, Ontario hosts Lester B. Pearson International Airport, which serves Toronto.
The Toronto City Centre Airport is a regional airport located on the Toronto Islands.
From (around) Toronto, or having part of their career in Toronto:
< West TORONTO East > (Lake Ontario) History
Pre-history
Located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto was originally a term of indeterminate geographical location, designating the approximate area of the future town of Toronto on maps dating to the late 17th and early 18th century. Eventually the name was anchored to the mouth of the Humber River, the end of the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail portage route from Georgian Bay; this is where the city of Toronto is located today.European settlement
European settlement in central Canada was quite limited before 1788, amounting to only a few families, but it began growing quickly in the aftermath of the American Revolution. United Empire Loyalists, American colonists who refused to accept being divorced from the United Kingdom, or who felt unwelcome in the new republic, often came north to the unsettled lands north of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario; some had fought in the British army and were paid with land in the region. In 1788 the British negotiated the purchase of more than a quarter million acres of land in the area of Toronto. The site was then chosen by Governor John Graves Simcoe as the capital of the newly organized province of Upper Canada on July 29, 1793.Growth
In 1834 the town reverted to the name Toronto and this was the name the city was incorporated under on March 6 of that year. Growth continued to be slow and even in the late 1800s one artist managed to paint a map of the town including every individual building.Recent history
Toronto's government was reorganized in 1953 to coordinate services for the city and surrounding region. The new Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto came into being on January 1, 1954 as a new level of government, encompassing East York, Etobicoke, Forest Hill, Leaside, Long Branch, Mimico, New Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Swansea, Toronto, Weston, and York. These thirteen townships, villages and cities continued to exist and provide services, with the so-called "Metro" government gradually taking over duties such as water supply, transit and expressways.In The City
Landmarks include
Important Annual Events Include
Attractions
Toronto's Neighbourhoods
Toronto's Suburbs
The suburbs immediately surrounding Toronto are also known as the "905 belt" or simply "the 905", after their telephone area code. (Toronto is "the 416".)
For more information on the suburbs of Toronto, see Greater Toronto Area.Education Facilities
The city is the seat of the University of Toronto, York University, Ryerson University, and several other institutes of higher learning.Transportation
Sports
Toronto is home to several professional sports franchises and annual sporting events, including
Nicknames
Toronto's nicknames include Hogtown, T.O. (from Toronto, Ontario), and t-dot (short for "t-dot o-dot"). Canadians often pronounce the name as "Trana", "Trono", or "Tchronno" (a reflection of expedience, not accent).Local Media
Daily Newspapers
English-language
Other dailies
Alternative Weekly Newspapers:
TV Stations
Cable
A number of cable television networks also have national operations based out of Toronto, including MuchMusic, Sex TV, YTV and The Comedy Network.
Digital cable channels, CanadianRadio Stations
FM Stations
AM Stations
Famous Torontonians
Brampton
Mississauga
Pickering
South
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