Population and Communities of Ontario

Ontario is located in south eastern Canada. 

The population in Ontario is 12,851,821.

Although Ontario is not the largest Canadian province geographically, it ranks first in terms of population, gross domestic product (GDP), manufacturing output, and agricultural production. Its capital, Toronto, is the most populous city in Canada and presides as the nation’s center of industry, high technology, and finance.

 

Types of communities within the physical regions of Ontario

• The Canadian Shield region

Farming communities:  Growing seasons are short and the crops usually don’t survive. The soil is also very boggy and farming areas are isolated, so farming is not a major industry in this region. But, the farming that does occur is centered on dairy farming. Vegetable and grain farming are also minor practices.

Mining communities:  Igneous rock in the Shield contains copper, gold, zinc, iron ore, nickel and uranium. There are at least 140 mining sites in the Shield, and the dug up minerals are transported to the Manufacturing Core. When a mine is closed, the town around it is useless, and it is closed as well.

 Forestry communities:  The Shield is covered by the world’s largest boreal forest. Waterways are used to transport the logs to where they are manufactured. Paper made here is shipped to the US to make newspaper. It is expensive to log the trees, replant them, and there is no capital to start new logging centers.

Nearly all of the region’s mineral wealth lies buried beneath a portion of the Canadian Shield, which stretches across most of southern and central Ontario. The Canadian Shield features a low, rocky landscape of level plateaus and rounded hills, highlighted by swift-running rivers and most of the province’s 250,000 lakes.

 

• Great Lakes Lowlands

There are numerous industries found in this region.  Some of these include manufacturing, construction, power generation, mining, agriculture, forestry, and fishing.  The Great Lakes themselves are often considered a resource of the region.

•  St. Lawrence Lowlands

St. Lawrence Lowlands account for the province’s enormous agricultural production.  Vast forests of spruce, pine, poplar, and birch spreading across nearly 70 percent of Ontario supply the raw materials for key pulp and timber industries.