Golden Horseshoe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Golden Horseshoe is a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is also part of the Windsor-Quebec City corridor where over half of all Canadians reside. Over a quarter (25.6%) of the population of Canada resides in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.[1] Although it is a geographically named sub-region of Southern Ontario, Greater Golden Horseshoe is more frequently used to describe the metropolitan regions that stretch across the area.
The built-up region extends from Niagara Falls at the eastern end of the Niagara Peninsula, wraps around Lake Ontario west to Hamilton, anchored by Toronto on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario, continuing to the east of Oshawa and spreading inland in all directions away from the Lake Ontario shoreline. The whole region's area is about 33,500 square km.
The phrase, "Golden Horseshoe," was first used by Westinghouse President, Herbert H. Rogge, in a speech to the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, on January 12, 1954. “Hamilton in 50 years will be the forward cleat in a 'golden horseshoe' of industrial development from Oshawa to the Niagara River...150 miles long and 50 miles wide...It will run from Niagara Falls on the south to about Oshawa on the north and take in numerous cities and towns already there, including Hamilton and Toronto."[2]
Contents |
[edit] Definition
Golden Horseshoe was used as a geographical distinction since the 1950s, but it was only on July 13, 2004 that a report from the provincial Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal entitled Places to Grow coined the term Greater Golden Horseshoe, extending the boundaries west to Waterloo Region, north to Barrie, and northeast to Peterborough.[3] A subsequent edition released February 16, 2005, broadened the term further, adding Brant, Haldimand and Northumberland Counties. Statistics Canada defined the region first in its 2001 census as the Extended Golden Horseshoe, combining many CMAs. The Greater Golden Horseshoe is officially designated in Ontario Regulation 416/05[4]
[edit] Demographics
The population of the Greater Golden Horseshoe is 8.1 million residents as of the 2006 census.[1]
The region is projected to grow to over 11.5 million people by the 2030s [1]. The definition of the Golden Horseshoe as an agglomerated urban area, that is combining Census Metropolitan Areas is similar to how population counts are tabulated for Combined Statistical Area which are used in the United States to combine multiple (that is more than one) metropolitan areas into a larger defined urbanized area.
[edit] Economy
The economy of this region is booming. Toronto has one of the top ten world economies, beating out Hong Kong, Mexico City and Boston. Its stock exchange is the second largest on the continent by market capitalization (after New York), and sixth largest in the world [2]. Recently, five major office-dominated skyscrapers have been planned in its financial district (to go along with hundreds of condominiums), including the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which is scheduled to begin construction in the summer of 2007.
Niagara Falls has one of the world's largest per-capita tourist economies, benefiting from millions of tourists coming to see its majestic waterfalls and shop in its numerous stores. The wine making and fruit growing industries of the Niagara Peninsula produce award-winning wines which are beginning to attract attention around the world, in particular the ice wine for which the region is known.
Cities such as Hamilton, Oshawa, Oakville, Whitby and Kitchener all benefit from having major large-scale industrial production facilities, Hamilton being steel-dominated and Oshawa being much more car-oriented. Other significant auto-production facilities also exist in St. Catharines, Cambridge and Alliston. Hamilton and Toronto also have two of the largest seaports in Lake Ontario. The Welland Canal system handles tanker ship and recreational traffic through the Great Lakes. Large rail and truck distribution facilities are located in Toronto, Vaughan and Brampton.
Lester B. Pearson International Airport, located in Mississauga is the busiest Canadian Airport handling approximately 30 million passengers a year. Other regional airports of signifinance include John C. Munro International Airport south of Hamilton which is a major regional freight and courier location; Buttonville Airport and Toronto Island Airport in the Greater Toronto Area both mostly serve regional business travellers and Region of Waterloo International Airport serving the Region of Waterloo Area. On the US side, Buffalo-Niagara International Airport is second largest in passanger volume in the region to Pearson Airport and is frequently used by Canadian passangers flying to US destinations.
[edit] Name
The "horseshoe" part of the region's name is derived from the characteristic horseshoe shape of the west end of Lake Ontario with Burlington roughly positioned in the centre. The "golden" part is historically attributed to the region's wealth and prosperity, according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. (An alternative explanation often quoted attributes it to its bright, or "golden", appearance from space, as a result of a continuous urban stretch of nighttime lights; however, the name predates satellite imagery.)
[edit] Attractions
Being a major world city, Toronto is known world-wide for its performing arts (theatre, opera, etc). However, it also has a large night-scene. It has one of the largest downtowns on the continent, and an Uptown and a Midtown. It is an extremely pedestrian friendly, green and safe city.
Toronto is also home to many world-class shopping districts, such as Yonge-Bloor and The Beaches. These and many others are home to major, big-name retailers. The city also is home to several large, upscale malls such as Yorkdale, The Eaton Centre and Sherway Gardens.
Large cultural annual festivals include Okberfest (Kitchener) and Caribana (Toronto). The Niagara Region has become one of the major wine-production areas in Canada. The Golden Horseshoe contains many small towns with tourist-jammed, historic main streets -Niagara-on-the-Lake the most well known among them. Niagara Falls, Ontario is one of the world's largest waterfalls, and attracts millions to Clifton Hill, a neighborhood featuring hundreds of souvenir stores, restaurants and skyline-changing hotels.
The Niagara Escarpment, a world biosphere as desginated by the United Nations runs north and then east through the region cutting the Niagara Gorge at Niagara Falls, the well-known Bruce Trail runs along the escarpment through mostly protected woodlands. Similar protection of some wooded areas exists on the Oak Ridges Moraine running west-east in the north end of the Greater Toronto Area, although development pressures continue to threathen habitat.
Hamilton has the historical reputation of being a blue-collar city; however, waterfront redevelopments and large-scale gentrification have been rapidly changing the perception of the city, although it retains a large industrial base.
[edit] Education
This region is home to some universities, including the University of Toronto, University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, York University, University of Ontario Institute of Technology and McMaster University. The University of Toronto has three campuses; One in Downtown Toronto, one in Scarborough, and one in Mississauga. Numerous other universities and colleges can be found in the region.
There is also a strong integration between the universities and hospitals in the area, particularly in Toronto and Hamilton, which have an extensive medical research core.
[edit] Census Metropolitan Areas
CMAs in the Greater Golden Horseshoe with over 100,000 in population are:[5]
- Toronto CMA 5,113,149
- Hamilton CMA 692,911
- Kitchener-Waterloo CMA 451,235
- St. Catharines-Niagara CMA 390,317
- Oshawa CMA 330,594
- Guelph 200,425
- Barrie 177,061
- Peterborough 116,570
[edit] Urban areas in the Golden Horseshoe
[edit] Telephone Area Codes
- 416 - City of Toronto
- 647 - overlay code for Toronto City
- 905 - York, Peel, Durham, Hamilton, Niagara
- 289 - overlay code for York, Peel, Durham, Hamilton and Niagara
- 519 - Waterloo, Wellington, Dufferin, Brant and Haldimand-Norfolk
- 226 - overlay for Southwestern Ontario
- 705 - Simcoe, Kawarthas and Peterborough
- 613 - Northumberland County
[edit] References
- ^ a b Portrait of the Canadian Population in 2006: Subprovincial population dynamics, Greater Golden Horseshoe. Statistics Canada, 2006 Census of Population (2007-03-13). Retrieved on March 13, 2007.
- ^ Fast Facts from Hamilton's Past. Retrieved on January 8, 2007.
- ^ Places to Grow. Retrieved on September 13, 2006.
- ^ Ontario Statutes and Regulations
- ^ Population and dwelling counts, for census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, 2006 and 2001 censuses - 100% data. Statistics Canada (2007-03-13). Retrieved on March 13, 2007.
|
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Largest City: | Toronto |  |
| Regions: | Durham Region • Halton Region • Peel Region • York Region • City of Hamilton • Niagara Region | |
| Cities: | Brampton • Burlington • Mississauga • Niagara Falls • Oshawa • Pickering • Port Colborne • St. Catharines • Thorold • Vaughan • Welland | |
| Towns and Major Communities: | Ajax • Aurora • Bolton • Bowmanville • Brock • Buttonville • Caledon • Clarington • Concord • East Gwillimbury • Fort Erie • Georgina • Grimsby • Lincoln • Halton Hills • Keswick • King • Kleinburg • Maple • Markham • Milton • Newmarket • Niagara-on-the-Lake • Oakville • Pelham • Pickering • Richmond Hill • Scugog • Sutton • Thornhill • Unionville • Uxbridge • Whitby • Whitchurch-Stouffville • Woodbridge | |
|
Outer Ring of Golden Horseshoe
 Largest City: Kitchener |
|
