Toronto, Canada’s corporate capital, is home to some 2.615 million people. The city covers an area of 632 sq. km. and is located on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario. One third of Canada’s population lives within a 160 km radius of Toronto and one-half of the population of the United States is within one day’s drive of the city.
Toronto, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, is the largest of Canada’s vibrant urban centres. It is the hub of the nation’s commercial, nancial, industrial, and cultural life, and is the capital of the Province of Ontario. People have lived here since shortly after the last ice age, although the urban community only dates to 1793 when British colonial o cials founded the ‘Town of York’ on what then was the Upper Canadian frontier. That back- woods village grew to become the ‘City of Toronto’ in 1834, and through its subsequent evolution and expansion Toronto has emerged as one of the most liveable and multicul- tural urban places in the world today
Today, Toronto is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world. More than 100 languages are spoken in Toronto and one-third of the city’s residents speak a language other than English.
The city has outstanding air, road and rail transportation facilities, including North America’s second largest public transit system. Toronto also is the nation’s largest em- ployment centre, accounting for one-sixth of Canada’s jobs and strong employment lev- els in both the manufacturing and service industries.
Most importantly, Toronto is a liveable city. Toronto has consistently been rated as one of the best cities in the world in which to live. There are 157 distinct and identi able residential neighbourhoods o ering an unlimited range of housing types and styles.
Did you know that Toronto is as far south as the French Riviera or that more people live in Toronto than in Canada’s four Atlantic provinces combined?