Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area ( GTA ) is the name of the metropolitan area around the Canadian metropolis of Toronto , which emerged increasingly in the late 1990s, and is used both geographically and administratively as a more concise alternative to the much broader Golden Horseshoe region . The GTA in the narrower sense is therefore limited to the city of Toronto and parts of the four adjacent regions Regional Municipality of Peel , Regional Municipality of Halton , Regional Municipality of York and Regional Municipality of Durham . It thus covers an area of around 7,125 square kilometers. In 2011, a census identified 6,054,191 residents for the GTA, making it the largest metropolitan area in Canada. The Greater Toronto Area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in North America. According to a long-term estimate, the GTA is expected to have a population of around 7.7 million in 2025.
Around 2.9 million people are employed and over 100,000 companies are located in the Greater Toronto Area. The region's gross domestic product was estimated at $ 274 billion in 2009 , which is around 20% of the gross domestic product of the whole of Canada.
history
The area of today's Greater Toronto Area was originally home to various First Nations (mainly neutrals , Seneca and Mohawk , later Iroquois and Mississaugas) who settled on Lake Ontario long before the first Europeans appeared in the 17th century. The area above the Great Lakes initially proved to be attractive for mostly French fur traders, who were dependent on the connection to the waterways and who also built the first forts here. The actual settlement finally took place after the American Revolution by loyalists and culminated in 1793 with Governor Simcoe's founding of York - later Toronto.
→ History of Toronto
→ History of Ontario
economy
Production and Services
The Greater Toronto Area is considered the third largest manufacturing, service and financial center in North America. 51% of those employed are in the service industry, 19% in manufacturing, 17% in retail, 8% in the transport and communications industry and 5% in construction. Accounting and auditing are part of the largest service division with a 25% share of the gross domestic product. This is because the five largest banks in Canada are headquartered in the nearby Financial District in Toronto. Furthermore, the largest stock exchange in Canada, the Toronto Stock Exchange, is located in Toronto, in which the important S & P / TSX Composite Index is listed. The TMX Group , which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Montreal Exchange , is also headquartered in the Financial District. The TSX and TSX Venture Exchanges represent 3,369 companies, including more than half of the world's raw materials companies listed on the exchange.
Several high-tech companies have settled in Markham , making the area around the city an important high-tech location in the region. In addition to companies such as IBM Canada , AMD Canada and Microsoft from the IT industry, the Greater Toronto Area is the second largest settlement area for the auto industry after Detroit in the United States. General Motors , Ford Canada and Chrysler together have six production plants in the metropolitan area. Honda Canada and Toyota have their production plants outside of GTA, but in close proximity. Numerous other automobile manufacturers, such as General Motors , Ford , Honda , KIA , Mazda , Suzuki , Nissan , Volkswagen , Toyota , Hyundai , Aston Martin , Jaguar , Land Rover , Subaru , Volvo , BMW and Mitsubishi have their Canadian headquarters in the Greater Toronto Area . The automotive supplier Magna International is headquartered in Aurora . Automobile production in the area generates around 10% of the region's gross domestic product.
Agriculture
Agriculture has long been a major economic factor in the Greater Toronto Area. However, it no longer plays as important a role as it did a few decades ago. Very few people are employed in agriculture today and there is a slight decline in farmland in almost every suburb. However, there is growth in a few cities such as Aurora, Georgina, Newmarket, Oshawa, Richmond Hill and Scugog. Most of the arable land is in the Durham region to the east , which alone accounts for 55% of the land area. After the Durham region comes York, where 41% of the land is used for arable farming. This is followed by the peel region with 34% and then the Halton region with 41%.
Infrastructure
Public transportation
There are a number of bus companies that offer local public transport. These independent bus operators are coordinated by the Metrolinx network. Local public transport operators include Brampton Transit, Burlington Transit, Durham Region Transit, GO Transit , Milton Transit, MiWay (only serves routes in Mississauga ), Oakville Transit, Toronto Transit Commission and York Region Transit.
Motorway network
The greater Toronto area has the largest, densest and busiest highway network in Canada, with Highway 401 also being the longest highway in Ontario and with some sections of the world's highest traffic.
- Highway 400 - York Region, Toronto
- Highway 401 - Durham Region, Toronto, Peel Region, Halton Region
- Highway 403 - Peel Region, Halton Region
- Highway 404 - York Region, Toronto
- 407 ETR - Durham Region, Peel Region, York Region, Halton Region
- Highway 409 - Toronto, Peel Region
- Highway 410 - Peel Region
- Highway 427 - York Region, Toronto, Peel Region
- Queen Elizabeth Way - Peel Region, Halton Region, Toronto
- Gardiner Expressway - Toronto
- Don Valley Parkway - Toronto
- William R. Allen Road - Toronto
Airports in the region
Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, operated by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), is Canada's largest and busiest airport and the central aviation hub for the greater metropolitan area and neighboring regions. Another airport is the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport , which is located in Hamilton . Both international flights and charter flights are operated on this, and it serves primarily as a relief for Toronto Pearson International Airport. Another airport in the area is Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , located on the Toronto Islands , which mainly serves domestic flights but is now also serving more and more destinations in the USA.
literature
- Roger Keil , Sean Hertel: First talk, then act - The Greater Toronto Suburban Working Group and the renovation of the urban periphery in Canada's diverse metropolis, in Johann Jessen, Frank Roost Ed . : Refitting Suburbia. Jovis, Berlin 2016
Individual evidence
- ^ Population and dwelling counts, for Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2011 and 2006 censuses. Statistics Canada, accessed August 12, 2012 .
- ^ Ministry of Finance (Ontario) (2005): Toward 2025: Assessing Ontario's Long-Term Outlook (Engl.)
- ↑ Economic Overview ( Memento of the original from April 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance, accessed September 30, 2015
- ↑ Metropolitan Gross Domestic Product: Experimental Estimates, 2001 to 2009 , Statistics Canada, accessed September 30, 2015
- ↑ Exploring Toronto's past - Natives and Newcomers, 1600-1793. Retrieved October 24, 2012
