Overview

Ontario's 12.5 million people make it Canada's most populous and dynamic province. Its share of Canada's GDP for 2004 was 40 per cent and it is Canada's leading manufacturing province accounting for 52 per cent of the total national manufacturing shipments in 2004.
The prospects for Ontario's economic growth are bright over the longer term with real output forecast to rise by 2.3 per cent in 2006 and 2.5 per cent in 2007. This growth will foster strong job creation and rising incomes.
Ontario has a diverse and well-balanced economy with high concentrations of manufacturing and financial and business services. There has been a marked shift towards export-oriented, higher value-added industries.
Employment in Ontario stood at 6,359,600 in March 2006. 81,200 net new jobs were created in Ontario in 2005. Job creation is expected to rise by 85,000 in 2006, and 209,000 in 2007-2008.
CPI inflation in Ontario was 2.2 per cent in 2005, and is forecasted to be 2.1 per cent in 2006, and 1.8 per cent in 2007.
Ontarians, in most years, can expect the province to be one of the fastest-growing regions in the advanced industrial world. Ontario benefits from a growing labour force, which is attracted and sustained by a high quality of life and equipped with the education, skills and initiative needed to compete in today's knowledge-based market place. Centrally located within North America and offering a hospitable business climate, Ontario is a prime location for investment.

Geography

The name "Ontario" comes from the Iroquois word "Kanadario" meaning "sparkling water." The name is fitting: not only is Ontario bordered on the south by the Great Lakes and on the north by Hudson Bay, but 177.390 qkm, or one sixth of its terrain, is covered by rivers and lakes.
Three main geological regions make up Ontario, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Canadian Shield and the Hudson Bay Lowlands. The latter are narrow coastal plains bordering Hudson Bay and James Bay; the land is wet and covered by scrub growth. The Canadian Shield, covering the rest of northern Ontario from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay, and extending into the southern part of the province, is a vast rocky plateau. Although the soil is poor and not well suited to large-scale farming, there is a wealth of minerals, forests and water power.
The Canadian Shield and the Hudson Bay Lowlands cover 90 percent of the province's 1.068.580 km of territory, but are home to only 10 percent of the population. Northern Ontario's towns were built because of the railway, and today rails and roads carry the products of the mines and mills southward. Further north, travel is often limited to air and water. The extremes of the northern climate are a fact of life there. At Winisk, mean daily temperatures reach only 12 to 15 C in July, dropping to -25C in January.
The five Great Lakes are the most visible results of the ice age in Ontario, and the biggest, Lake Superior, is the world's largest body of fresh water. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands comprise the rest of southern Ontario and contain most of the population, industry, commerce and agricultural lands. The Lowlands include the Windsor-Thousand Islands-St. Lawrence Valley triangle. The relatively temperate climate is more severe east of the Great Lakes. Mean annual summer temperatures reach 22 C in the south, where the temperate climate and fertile soils nurture a major agricultural industry. This relatively small area has more than half of Canada's best agricultural land.

History

Ontario's first immigrants arrived about 10 000 years ago, during the last ice age. The European explorers encountered the Iroquois and Algonquin descendants of those first migrants in the 17th century. Sailing into the large bay that bears his name, Henry Hudson became the first European to touch the shores of present-day Ontario in 1610; in 1613, Samuel de Champlain and Etienne Brule made the first contacts with the aboriginal people in the southern part of the province.
In 1774 the British ruled over southern Ontario, then part of the British colony of Quebec. Under the Constitutional Act of 1791, "Quebec" was divided in two and Ontario renamed Upper Canada. This became necessary with the tremendous influx of Loyalist refugees after the American Revolution.
In 1840, the Act of Union saw Upper and Lower Canada reunited, this time with the name Canada. The two regions, Canada West and Canada East, took part in the 1864 Confederation debate and, when the Dominion of Canada was created in 1867, became the separate provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

People

From 1779 on, waves of English, Scottish and Irish immigrants followed one another, moving up the St. Lawrence and populating the country.
Today, immigration continues to be important to Ontario, and there are large numbers of people of Italian, German, Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, Indian and Polish origin. In 1991, Ontario had almost 250,000 people of Indian, Metis or Inuit origin.
With over 10 million people, Ontario is the country's most heavily populated province. English is the only official language, but Ontario's Francophones play an essential part in the province's cultural life and are the largest language minority. The provincial government provides services in French in the regions where the Francophone population is sufficiently high.
Currently, 50% of Toronto’s residents were born outside of Canada.

The Economy

Ontario's 12.5 million people make it Canada's most populous and dynamic province. Its share of Canada's GDP for 2004 was 40 per cent and it is Canada's leading manufacturing province accounting for 52 per cent of the total national manufacturing shipments in 2004.
The prospects for Ontario's economic growth are bright over the longer term with real output forecast to rise by 2.3 per cent in 2006 and 2.5 per cent in 2007. This growth will foster strong job creation and rising incomes.
Ontario has a diverse and well-balanced economy with high concentrations of manufacturing and financial and business services. There has been a marked shift towards export-oriented, higher value-added industries.
Employment in Ontario stood at 6,359,600 in March 2006. 81,200 net new jobs were created in Ontario in 2005. Job creation is expected to rise by 85,000 in 2006, and 209,000 in 2007-2008.
CPI inflation in Ontario was 2.2 per cent in 2005, and is forecasted to be 2.1 per cent in 2006, and 1.8 per cent in 2007.
Ontarians, in most years, can expect the province to be one of the fastest-growing regions in the advanced industrial world. Ontario benefits from a growing labour force, which is attracted and sustained by a high quality of life and equipped with the education, skills and initiative needed to compete in today's knowledge-based market place. Centrally located within North America and offering a hospitable business climate, Ontario is a prime location for investment.
Mining has always played an important role in the development of Ontario's economy. Extraction of gold, nickel, copper, uranium and zinc represents a multibillion-dollar business.
Many Ontario towns have at least one industry connected to forestry. Fully 87 percent of the forest land is owned by the provincial government, which licenses logging rights. The forest industry accounts for 5.8 percent of Ontario's exports.
Financial industries are also a source of prosperity. Toronto is the world's fourth-largest capital market; its stock exchange is North America's second-largest by volume.
Tourism is also important to the Ontario economy. In 1990, tourist spending of more than $9.5 billion generated about $13.4 billion in total revenue for the province and more than 320 000 person-years of employment.
Services account for over 70 per cent of jobs in Ontario today. More significantly, about 80 per cent of all newly created jobs during the 1990s in Ontario will be in the service sector. This change in our economy follows world-wide pattern -- trade in services is outpacing trade in goods. Important Ontario service industries include banking, insurance, accounting, investment, law, education, hospitality, computers, health care, tourism, and recreation. They play a vital role in the province's economic growth.
But particular Ontario's economy thrives on trade. Ontario exports more per capita than the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. In 1995, there were exports worth more than $11,994 for every one of Ontario's 11.1 million people.
In 1995, the Province of Ontario exported over $133 billion dollars worth of goods to customers world wide. The province is the third largest trading partner of the U.S. with a total 1995 trade of $118 billion. The U.S. accounts for over 89 percent of Ontario's international exports.

Customer Price Index

Low inflation keeps the cost of living affordable. Consumer prices will remain stable in Ontario with expected inflation rates of 2.1 per cent in 2006 and 1.8 per cent in 2007.

Consumer Price Index for Ontario

	Year	Percent Change
Actual	2000	2.9
	2001	3.1
	2002	2.0
	2003	2.7
	2004	1.9
	2005	2.2
Forecast	2006	2.1
	2007	1.8
	2008	1.8

The Health Care

Ontario has one of the best health care systems in the world. The Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) provides medical and hospital services at no charge to eligible residents of Ontario.
The health care system provides long-term and home care services, community and public health programs, assistive device programs, services for the mentally ill, and part of the costs of prescription drugs for people over 65 or on social assistance. It also operates psychiatric hospitals and medical laboratories, co-ordinates emergency services, and regulates hospitals and nursing homes.
Health Care Comparison - Ontario and the U.S.:
In 2003, the U.S. spent approximately 15 per cent of GDP on health care, compared to 9.9 per cent in Canada, and only 5.8 per cent in Ontario.
The United States has the lowest level of comprehensive healthcare coverage of any G-7 or OECD nation. In 2004, 45.8 million Americans did not have any health insurance, and a further 37.5 million have only basic coverage from State-Sponsored Medicaid.
The life expectancy of Canadians, third highest in the G-7 behind Japan and Italy, is over two years higher than the Americans', which ranks lowest in the G-7.
The infant mortality rate in the U.S. is 29.6 per cent higher than in Canada.
According to the 2006 KPMG's guide to international business costs, the average Canadian employer paid 28 per cent of salary in statutory and employer-sponsored benefits, compared to 36 per cent in the U.S. Lower health benefit costs are the primary factor.

Education

Primary & Secondary Education:
Elementary schools provide Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs (for children aged 4 and 5) and programs for grades 1 through 8. Secondary schools currently offer programs from Grade 9 through to Grade 12.
Private schools also provide elementary and secondary education. They are independently operated and do not receive funding from the government.

Post-Secondary:
Ontario's post-secondary education system consists of a network of publicly funded institutions: 24 colleges of applied arts and technology, 3 Agricultural colleges, the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, and 20 universities. Ontario's universities and colleges employ some of the best faculties in the world.
An OSSD (Ontario Secondary School Diploma, Grade 12) is the usual requirement for admission to a post-secondary program. There are 28 colleges with more than 100 campuses throughout the province. Colleges prepare students for careers in business, applied arts, technology, and health sciences. They also offer an extensive range of part-time and continuing education courses, apprenticeships and skills training programs. In 2000/01 a total of 46,820 students graduated from Ontario colleges.
Admission to university requires six Grade 12 U/M or Ontario Academic Courses. Ontario's universities and university-related institutions offer a complete range of programs in the arts and sciences, as well as graduate and professional programs. Total graduates in 2000/01 at all levels (Bachelor, First Professional, Masters, and Doctoral) were over 67,685.
Co-op programs, offered at several universities provide alternating terms of academic study and work experience. The University of Waterloo was a pioneer, and is today one of the premier institutions in the world offering post-secondary co-op programs.
Ontario's post-secondary education system attracts students from all over the world. In 2001 there were close to 18,000 international students registered at Ontario universities.
Ontario's colleges and universities are largely publicly-funded. University tuition fees are low by any international standard; the fee for a two-semester full-time program in arts and sciences was approximately C$4,184.00 in 2004/05. Foreign students pay additional international student fees.
Tuition fees for college post-secondary programs were about C$1,820.00 for the 2004/05 academic year.