Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada. It is in the eastern half of Canada, between Manitoba and Quebec. Ontario has the most people of any province, with over 16 million in 2025, and is home to the biggest city in Canada, Toronto, which is also the capital of the province.

Ontario also has the 2nd largest land area, with 1,076,395 kilometers; only Quebec is larger by size. (Nunavut and Northwest Territories are also larger, but are called territories and not provinces). The province has the longest border with the United States. Along this border are four large lakes called Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior. They each are partly in Ontario and partly in the United States, and the border runs through them, but not Lake Michigan, which is entirely in the United States. These five lakes are together are called the Great Lakes.

There are a number of symbols that represent the province of Ontario. The flag is red with the United Kingdom in the top left corner and the provincial shield is on the right hand side of the flag. The provincial bird is the loon, and the provincial flower is the trillium. It has 3 flower petals and it is usually white but some times is pink or purple.

Ontario became part of Canada when it was created in 1867. Before 1840, it was known as Upper Canada, which was a colony in the British Empire. Between 1840 and 1867 it was known as Canada West. The government of Ontario sits at Queen's Park in Toronto. The leader of the government is called the Premier, and the current Premier is Doug Ford. There is also a Lieutenant Governor who represents the Queen, and the current Lieutenant Governor is Edith Dumont.

Ontario is very large, so sometimes people break it into two. The two parts are called Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. Most of the people in Ontario live in the south, and that is where the big cities are. The big cities in Southern Ontario are Toronto and the rest of the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa and the National Capital Region, Hamilton, London, Windsor, and Sarnia. The cities in the north are smaller. In the far north of Ontario hardly any people live at all, and there are no roads or railways making it difficult to even get to those places.

Much of Ontario gets lots of snow in the winter. In the summer, it can get very hot in the south parts. In some big cities, there is smog in the summer.

Ontario borders the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Quebec and the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.

1. ↑ "Ontario". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
2. ↑ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
3. ↑ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories". Statistics Canada. September 2, 2022. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
4. ↑ "Population estimates, quarterly". Statistics Canada. September 24, 2025. Retrieved September 24, 2025.
5. ↑ "Definition of Ontarian". Collins Online Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
6. ↑ "About Ontario". Ontario.ca. Queen's Printer for Ontario. March 7, 2019. Archived from the original on January 8, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
7. ↑ "Ontario Economic Accounts". Government of Ontario. July 13, 2023. Archived from the original on Apr 14, 2023. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
8. ↑ "Sub-national HDI – Subnational HDI – Global Data Lab". Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.

• Wikimedia Atlas of Ontario
• Government of Ontario Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
• Ontario at the Open Directory Project