Toronto
The City of, with a population of 2,5 ml is the core segment of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, created in 1953. The latter, consisting of five cities and one suburban borough, has a population of 5,5 ml.
Located on the shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto is the capital of Ontario and a leading financial, industrial, and cultural center.
Contemporary City
For most of its history Toronto's population was homogenous, composed principally of persons of British descent. After World War II a dramatic influx of immigrants from both continental Europe and Asia began. Since then the city has absorbed approximately 30% of all the postwar immigrants to Canada, making it one of the most cosmopolitan cities on the North American continent.
The largest single ethnic group in metropolitan Toronto is still composed of persons of British origin, but there are also sizable numbers of Italian, German, French, Asian, Ukrainian, Polish, Dutch, and Scandinavian persons in Toronto.
Toronto's economic development has benefited from the city's location on the Great Lakes, and its role as an inland port greatly increased with completion (1959) of the
St. Lawrence Seaway. The city is also the focus of Canada's major railroad lines.
With a highly diversified manufacturing base, the city is considered Canada's industrial hub. Its principal manufactures are clothing, petroleum products, metal products, machinery, electrical apparatus, and transportation equipment. Food processing, particularly meatpacking, and printing and publishing are also important.
Most of Canada's leading book and magazine publishers, as well as the country's two largest daily newspapers--the Toronto Globe and Mail and Toronto Star--are located there.
The city ranks behind Hollywood and New York City in television program production. As a financial center Toronto is considered to have surpassed Montreal, and its stock exchange is one of North America's most active.
While many North...