A city is a subtype of municipalities in the Canadian province of Ontario. A city can have the municipal status of either a single-tier or lower-tier municipality. Prior to 2003, Ontario had minimum population thresholds of 15,000 and 25,000 for city status. Minimum population thresholds are no longer necessary for a municipality to brand itself as a city.
Ontario has 52 cities, [1] which together had in 2016 a cumulative population of 9,900,179 and average population of 190,388. [2] The most and least populous are Toronto and Dryden, with 2,794,356 and 7,749 residents, respectively. [2] Ontario's newest city is Richmond Hill, whose council voted to change from a town to a city on March 26, 2019. [3] Previous to that, Markham changed from a town to a city on July 1, 2012. [4]
Under the former Municipal Act, 1990, a city was both an urban and a local municipality. [5] Under that act, the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) could change the status of a village or town, upon its request, to a city if it had a population of 15,000 or more. [5] The OMB could also incorporate a township as a city under the same conditions with the exception that the population requirements was 25,000 or more. [5] In either event, if located within a county, authorization by the Minister of Municipal Affairs was also required. [5]
In the transition to the Municipal Act, 2001, conventional municipal statuses and their associated population threshold requirements were abandoned. On December 31, 2002, every city that: [6]
The current legislation also provides lower- and single-tier municipalities with the authority to name themselves as "cities", or other former conventional municipal status types such as "towns", "villages" or "townships", or generically as "municipalities". [7]
| Rank (2021) | Municipality | Municipal status | Population (2021) | Population (2016) | Change | Land area (km2) | Population density (/km2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Toronto | City | 2,794,356 | 2,731,571 | +2.3% | 631.1 | 4,427.8 |
2 | Ottawa | City | 1,017,449 | 934,243 | +8.9% | 2788.2 | 364.9 |
3 | Mississauga | City | 717,961 | 721,599 | −0.5% | 292.74 | 245.3 |
4 | Brampton | City | 656,480 | 593,638 | +10.6% | 265.89 | 2,469.0 |
5 | Hamilton | City | 569,353 | 536,917 | +6.0% | 1118.31 | 509.1 |
6 | London | City | 422,324 | 383,822 | +10.0% | 420.5 | 1,004.3 |
7 | Markham | City | 338,503 | 328,966 | +2.9% | 210.93 | 1,604.8 |
8 | Vaughan | City | 323,103 | 306,233 | +5.5% | 272.44 | 1,186.0 |
9 | Kitchener | City | 256,885 | 233,222 | +10.1% | 136.81 | 1,877.7 |
10 | Windsor | City | 229,660 | 217,188 | +5.7% | 146.02 | 1,572.8 |
11 | Richmond Hill | City | 202,022 | 195,022 | +3.6% | 100.79 | 2,004.4 |
12 | Burlington | City | 186,948 | 183,314 | +2.0% | 186.12 | 1,004.4 |
13 | Oshawa | City | 175,383 | 159,458 | +10.0% | 145.72 | 1,203.6 |
14 | Greater Sudbury | City | 166,004 | 161,531 | +2.8% | 3186.26 | 52.1 |
15 | Barrie | City | 147,829 | 141,434 | +4.5% | 99.01 | 1,493.1 |
16 | Guelph | City | 143,740 | 131,794 | +9.1% | 87.43 | 1,644.1 |
17 | Cambridge | City | 138,479 | 129,920 | +6.6% | 112.99 | 1,225.6 |
18 | St. Catharines | City | 136,803 | 133,113 | +2.8% | 96.20 | 1,422.1 |
19 | Waterloo | City | 121,436 | 104,986 | +15.7% | 64.06 | 1,895.7 |
20 | Thunder Bay | City | 108,843 | 107,909 | +0.9% | 327.77 | 332.1 |
21 | Brantford | City | 104,688 | 98,563 | +6.2% | 98.65 | 1,061.2 |
22 | Pickering | City | 99,186 | 91,771 | +8.1% | 231.10 | 429.2 |
23 | Niagara Falls | City | 94,415 | 88,071 | +7.2% | 210.25 | 449.1 |
24 | Peterborough | City | 83,651 | 81,032 | +3.2% | 64.76 | 1,291.7 |
25 | Sault Ste. Marie | City | 72,051 | 73,368 | −1.8% | 221.99 | 324.6 |
26 | Sarnia | City | 72,047 | 71,594 | +0.6% | 163.90 | 439.6 |
27 | Norfolk County | City | 67,490 | 64,044 | +5.4% | 1597.68 | 42.2 |
28 | Welland | City | 55,750 | 52,293 | +6.6% | 81.16 | 686.9 |
29 | Belleville | City | 55,071 | 50,716 | +8.6% | 247.15 | 222.8 |
30 | North Bay | City | 52,662 | 51,553 | +2.2% | 315.53 | 166.9 |
The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater Toronto Area begins in Burlington in Halton Region to the west, and extends along Lake Ontario past downtown Toronto eastward to Clarington in Durham Region.
The Golden Horseshoe is a secondary region of Southern Ontario, Canada, which lies at the western end of Lake Ontario, with outer boundaries stretching south to Lake Erie and north to Lake Scugog, Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The region is the most densely populated and industrialized in Canada. Based on the 2021 census, with a population of 7,759,635 people in its core and 9,765,188 in its greater area, the Golden Horseshoe accounts for over 20 percent of the population of Canada and more than 54 percent of Ontario's population. It is part of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, itself part of the Great Lakes megalopolis.
A regional municipality is a type of Canadian municipal government similar to and at the same municipal government level as a county, although the specific structure and servicing responsibilities may vary from place to place. Regional municipalities were formed in highly populated areas where it was considered more efficient to provide certain services, such as water, emergency services, and waste management over an area encompassing more than one local municipality. For this reason, regions may be involved in providing services to residents and businesses.
Filipino Canadians are Canadians of Filipino descent. Filipino Canadians are the second largest subgroup of the overseas Filipinos, surpassed only by the United States, and one of the fastest-growing groups in Canada.
Croatian Canadians are Canadian citizens who are of Croatian descent. The community exists in major cities including the Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Windsor, Montreal and Waterloo Region.
In the 2006 municipal elections in Ontario, voters in the province of Ontario, elected mayors, councillors, school board trustees and all other elected officials in all of Ontario's municipalities. These elections were regulated by the Municipal Elections Act of Ontario.
The 1985 Ontario municipal elections were held on November 12, 1985, to elect mayors, municipal councils, school boards, and hydro commissions in cities, towns and other incorporated communities throughout the Canadian province of Ontario.
Municipal elections were held in municipalities across Ontario, Canada on November 14, 1988 to elect mayors, reeves, councillors and school trustees.
The 1997 Ontario municipal elections were led in all municipalities across the Canadian province of Ontario on November 10, 1997, to elect mayors and reeves, councillors, and school trustees. There were also referendum questions in some municipalities.
The 1991 Ontario municipal elections were held on November 12, 1991, to elect mayors, reeves, councillors, and school trustees in all municipalities across Ontario. Some communities also held referendum questions.
The 1994 Ontario municipal elections were held on November 14, 1994, to elect mayors, reeves, councillors, and school trustees in all municipalities across Ontario. Some communities also held referendum questions.
Municipal elections were held in Ontario November 13, 2000.
Subdivisions of Ontario | |
|---|---|
| Counties | |
| Districts | |
| Regional municipalities | |
| Single-tier municipalities | |
| Separated municipalities | |
| Regions | |
