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Ontario Hydro Services Company Business Information, Profile, and History

250 Yonge Street, 6th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5B 2L7
Canada

Company Perspectives:

The Ontario Hydro Services Company is a services-based growth company maximizing shareholder value through excellence in energy transmission and distribution businesses. Building off our strong platform of asset ownership, operational excellence and customer approval, we diversify into related, financially attractive businesses. The Values of Ontario Hydro Services Company: Operational Excellence (Capital Efficiency, Productivity and Customer Responsiveness); Competitiveness; Fiscal Responsibility; Environmental Stewardship; Public Safety; Leadership.

History of Ontario Hydro Services Company

Ontario Hydro Services Company (OHSC) is a government-owned energy services provider based in Ontario, Canada. Spun off from utilities giant Ontario Hydro in April 1999 in preparation for privatization of the electric utility industry in 2000, OHSC handles distribution of electricity and retail operations. The firm provides electricity to three types of customers: industrial; retail, including residential customers, farms, and small businesses; and municipalities. The more than 250 municipalities served by OHSC in turn supply electricity to more than 2.7 million consumers. Serving nearly a million customers, OHSC has more than $9 billion in assets and operates one of the most extensive transmission and distribution systems in North America.

Early History: 1895-1950

The powerful Niagara Falls is located in Ontario, in an area that was populated by the majority of the province's citizens in the late 19th century. In 1895 the first major generating station was built, harnessing the power of the Niagara Falls, which was for many years the province's most vital source of electricity. Still, only local areas were able to take advantage of the power provided by a number of private companies given waterpower leases on the falls.

At the turn of the century, a group of prominent Ontario citizens began to advocate public ownership of the hydroelectric industry. Foremost among the proponents was Adam Beck, the mayor of London, Ontario. A vociferous, energetic supporter of public ownership of electric power, he threw the entire weight of his office and his powerful connections behind lobbying the Ontario legislature in favor of the idea, arguing that the thinly populated province would benefit from having a one-company monopoly rather than rival private competitors. Before approval could be given, however, legal battles had to be fought with the United States to regain control of parcels of the Canadian Niagara Falls that had been purchased by U.S. companies. In addition, the public had to be won over to the idea of a government monopoly of electric power.

Finally in 1906 the Ontario legislature passed a statute creating the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario, headed by Sir Adam Beck, as he later became. The commission was given a mandate to provide all citizens with electricity at the lowest possible cost. This 'socialist' measure, although viewed with alarm in the United States and Great Britain, achieved its desired results.

Initially Hydro purchased electric power from private entrepreneurs for distribution to those municipalities that had contracts with the commission. However, the utility gradually began to purchase and, much later, to build its own hydroelectric generators, in addition to transmission systems.

World War I enormously expanded the need for electricity. The demand for electric power in Ontario tripled during the war and continued at the higher rate even after the war's end. In 1914 Hydro purchased its first generating station, and later the same year construction was completed on the first generating station to be built by the commission. Thus began an aggressive purchasing and building campaign, necessary to meet the increased demand, due in part to the soaring popularity of such electric appliances as irons, vacuum cleaners, and washing machines.

By 1922 Hydro was the largest, most powerful utility in the world, with a demand for electricity of 496,000 kilowatts, up from 4,000 kilowatts just 12 years before. To help meet the growing demand, in 1922 Hydro completed construction of its first major power station, Queenston-Chippawa, later renamed the Sir Adam Beck-Niagara Generating Station No. 1. It had taken 2,000 men to build and was the largest power generator in the world.

In the 1930s the commission took over administration of a series of small northern systems--later to be known as the Northern Ontario Properties--that primarily provided service to the paper and mining industries in that region. Three systems, serving the southern, more populated, area of Ontario, were consolidated into the Southern Ontario System in 1944. These two systems were eventually combined into one in 1962, although two others, divided at Sault Ste. Marie into the East System and West System, remained separate. In 1970 all of them were finally merged into one province-wide integrated system, with enough capacity to supply electricity to the United States at a handsome profit.

Diversification and Expansion: 1950s-Early 1990s

The years after World War II saw a huge expansion of utility companies, including the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario. Immediately after the war, Hydro began construction of eight additional hydroelectric stations. In the late 1950s--with demand for electricity still unsatisfied--the commission decided to harness the St. Lawrence River, Ontario's last major undeveloped hydraulic site. The St. Lawrence project was undertaken jointly with the State of New York, and, when completed, added an extra one million kilowatts to the Hydro system, which, at the time, included 65 hydro stations and two fossil-fueled plants.

With the completion of the St. Lawrence project in 1958, Ontario had only minor waterways available for hydroelectric development. While thermal-electric plants were efficient generators during peak usage periods, these did not provide a viable alternative to meeting the spiraling demand for electricity, due to the expense of importing the fossil fuels necessary to run the plants. Nuclear power seemed to be the answer, and Ontario was richly endowed with the uranium that was used in the nuclear reactors. As early as 1951 Hydro had begun to experiment with nuclear power for commercial use, completing its first experimental nuclear power plant in 1962, followed in 1967 by a much larger one. While nuclear power was clean and efficient, it was also costly. Hydro engineers began experimenting successfully with increasing the size of nuclear power generators, developing the CANDU, or Canadian-type reactor, later used by all nuclear power stations in Canada. CANDU reactors were successfully installed in the Pickering A generating station, Canada's first major nuclear power facility, completed in 1971.

Diminishing natural resources, soaring costs, growing environmental consciousness, and the rise of aboriginal movements in Canada signaled that it was time for the Hydro Electric Power Commission to evaluate its direction for the future. An Ontario legislative task force was established in 1971 to examine these changes and to determine how Hydro could best meet them. The result was a major reorganization that enabled the company to better respond to the social and economic complexities of the late 20th century. Hydro ceased being a commission and became incorporated as a crown corporation in 1974, adopting the name Ontario Hydro. While still a government monopoly, the company became financially independent and was expected to turn a profit. The new Hydro was managed by a 17-member board of directors, 16 of which, including the chair, were appointed by the provincial lieutenant governor, while the president was appointed by the board itself. Although the newly reorganized company began to focus on social and environmental issues in addition to producing electricity, Ontario Hydro's mandate remained as it was in 1906, although expanded: not only electricity, but also electrical services including inspection and repair of electrical wiring and equipment, would be provided to Ontario citizens.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Ontario Hydro faced the public's growing concern about the world's shortage of fossil fuels and mounting damage to the environment. In an effort to deal with these problems, as well as keep costs down and moderate demand, conservation became an important company initiative. By late 1991 Ontario Hydro had invested nearly $179 million in energy conservation, which produced a reduction in demand, in that year, of 250 megawatts and resulted in a savings to customers of $28 million. Other measures undertaken to aid the environment included companywide recycling and the installation of scrubbers in many of the hydroelectric plants.

Although Ontario Hydro continued to show a modest profit, it found it necessary to reduce its workforce and restructure its operations in response to the recession of the early 1990s. Throughout the early 1990s Ontario Hydro executives worked to streamline the organization. The company was praised, however, for its humane downsizing, in which employees whose jobs were targeted for elimination were given the option of assessing their abilities and determining how and where they could best fit into other areas of the company. Those employees who left the company received generous severance packages. Salary freezes were approved for senior management for the foreseeable future. To further offset increased costs and the effects of the recession, the Ontario Energy Board gave its approval for a sizable rate hike of 11.8 percent.

Ontario Hydro continued to generate profits and increase its exports during the early 1990s. It signed 76 new contracts to provide its services abroad in 1991, for example, and managed to boost revenues ten percent to about $7.14 billion. Sales grew similarly in 1992 and net income increased to a healthy $312 million. Throughout the period, Ontario Hydro managers worked to cut costs and improve efficiency. In 1993 Ontario Hydro appointed Allan Kupcis CEO.

Under Kupcis's direction Ontario Hydro continued to cut costs, reduce the size of its workforce, and reposition itself for future gains. Restructuring efforts showed up on the bottom line in 1994 when the company recorded net income of $855 million. Although its debt was still more than $34 billion going into 1995, the company's liabilities had been significantly reduced since the late 1980s. Furthermore, Ontario Hydro had reduced its workforce to less than 21,000 from more than 32,000 just a few years earlier. Although Ontario Hydro's competitive stance was improved over the early 1990s, its long-term success was contingent on some factors outside its control--including the possibility of deregulation, or 'open access,' in the Ontario electricity supply market.

Moving Toward a Free Market in the Late 1990s

In 1995, following in the footsteps of electric industry trends in the United States, Ontario began a process to restructure its electricity industry. The deregulation of Ontario Hydro was a major campaign issue in the June provincial election in Ontario, and the winner, Mike Harris of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, had spoken in favor of privatization of Ontario Hydro's non-nuclear assets. Harris had stated that privatization earnings would be used to reduce the monopoly's significant debt. Ontario Hydro, too, welcomed deregulation. Maurice Strong, Ontario Hydro's chairman since 1992, had been lobbying for privatization since he joined the firm, only to face opposition from the government. With a new premier in office, however, Ontario Hydro once again began to vocalize its opinions. CEO Strong stated in a speech to the Canadian Electrical Association in mid-1995: 'In the election campaign ... Premier Harris indicated that his government would consider major changes in Ontario Hydro, including at least some degree of privatization. We welcome--and we need--his leadership in effecting changes. Ontario Hydro is ready.' Harris appointed William Farlinger, former chairman and CEO of accounting firm Ernst & Young, as chairman of Ontario Hydro, and Farlinger also agreed that the firm needed to be privatized quickly. With Ontario Hydro's debt mounting and retail prices rising, fear that consumers would switch to alternative power sources, such as the new gas turbine technology, was warranted.

The road to privatization was not a smooth one, however, and the call for timely deregulation was left unanswered for several years as the government pondered how best to restructure the electricity industry. By late 1998 Ontario Hydro had C$23.3 billion in stranded debts--money borrowed for projects not expected to be financially viable after the privatization process. A significant portion of the stranded debts was a result of the billions Ontario Hydro had invested in building a nuclear power generating network, a network deemed to be nearly worthless on the retail market. The firm reported a net loss of C$6.3 billion for fiscal 1997, the largest net loss ever recorded in Canadian corporate history. The unusually high loss was due to C$6.7 billion worth of write-offs and charges.

The Electricity Act of 1998 succeeded in pushing forward the breakup of Ontario Hydro. The Act called for Ontario Hydro to be split into five entities, the two most prominent being Ontario Hydro Services Company, which would handle electricity transmission, distribution, and retail operations; and Ontario Power Generation, to operate hydroelectric, nuclear, and fossil fuel generating stations. The three remaining groups were Electrical Safety Authority, to perform electric installation inspection operations; Independent Electricity Market Operator, to oversee the system and make sure electricity is distributed to all customers; and Ontario Electricity Financial Corp., to manage Ontario Hydro's debt that would not be taken over by the new companies. The debt, estimated to be around $20.9 billion, was to be pared down through a surcharge billed to electricity customers. The restructuring into five groups was the first stage toward an open market for electricity in 2000.

Ontario Hydro Services Company was born on April 1, 1999, when Ontario Hydro was officially broken up. OHSC was to function as it had prior to restructuring until sometime in 2000, when access to the market opened to outside entities. The new CEO and president of OHSC was Eleanor Clitheroe, and William Farlinger remained chairman. OHSC's worth was estimated by the province to be C$8.6 billion.

The new entity wasted no time getting started on its mission to expand its energy network and to prepare for the impending free market. OHSC acquired the electricity distribution assets of Artemesia Township for C$600,000, its first purchase under Bill 35, also known as the Energy Competition Act. Bill 35, which passed in November 1998, was designed to stimulate competition and lower utility prices. Several months after the Artemesia deal, in July, OHSC acquired six municipal utilities in southwestern Ontario for about C$11.5 million. The municipalities served nearly 9,000 customers. Because OHSC already served more than 12,000 customers in the same county, the acquisition was considered to be ideal. The company unveiled its new diesel generating station in Armstrong, located in northwestern Ontario, in August. Because of Armstrong's remote location, customers in those communities were unable to be serviced through OHSC's existing power grid; rather, local generation was required. The estimated C$3.5 million project used new technologies intended to reduce environmental hazards and increase safety.

OHSC, though a young company, exuded confidence and made preparations as it grew closer to an open utilities market. The prospects of new competitors and customers being able to freely select their utilities providers were viewed as opportunities rather than hindrances. OHSC looked forward to being able to expand and seek new customers in Ontario and beyond, and also to offering a wide array of new products and services. The company planned to leverage its existing fiber-optics system, used to transmit information regarding its power grid, to expand into the communications sector. OHSC also planned to enter such service arenas as gas and water distribution. CEO Clitheroe commented on the future in a speech made at the Canadian Transmission Restructuring Conference in June 1999: 'We feel a deep connection with those pioneers, led by Sir Adam Beck, who at the beginning of this century took up the challenge of bringing abundant, affordable energy to every corner of this vast province. We've not only inherited their success ... we've also held on to the values behind that success, which are timeless. These are the lighthouses, so to speak, that will guide us through the uncertain waters of the first few years of an open marketplace in which we--and everyone else in the industry today&mdashe the new generation of pioneers.'

Principal Competitors: Consolidated Edison, Inc.; Hydro-Quebec; Power Authority of the State of New York.

Related information about Ontario

pop (2000e) 11 293 000; area 1 068 580 km²/412 578 sq mi. Province in SE Canada; boundaries include Hudson Bay (N), James Bay (NE), and USA (S), largely across the Great Lakes; rocky Canadian Shield in N, with clay belt suitable for farming; several rivers flow into Hudson and James Bays, the St Lawrence, and the Great Lakes; many lakes; N area sparsely populated, densely wooded; capital, Toronto, largest city in Canada; major cities include Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Hamilton; most populated and second largest province; tobacco, corn, livestock, poultry, dairy products, fur, vehicles and parts, food processing, iron and steel, machinery, mining (nickel, copper, uranium, zinc, gold, iron), hydroelectricity; indigenous societies included Ojibwa, Cree, Nipissing, Huron (Wyandot), Petun, Neutral, and other Iroquoian speakers; widely explored by French fur traders and missionaries, 17th-c; British territory, 1763; many United Empire Loyalist immigrants after the American War of Independence; constituted as Upper Canada, 1791; rebellion against executive government, 1837–8; joined to Lower Canada, 1840; modern province established at time of confederation, 1867; governed by a lieutenant-governor and a 130-member legislature.

otheruses

Ontario is the most populous and second-largest in area of Canada's ten provinces. As of August 2006 there are 12,792,619 Ontarians (residents of Ontario), representing approximately 37.9% of the total Canadian population and an area of 1,076,395 square kilometres (415,598 sq. mi.).

The province takes its name from Lake Ontario, which in turn is derived from the Iroquois word Skanadario, meaning "beautiful lake" or "sparkling water".

Geography

Ontario is bounded on the north by Hudson Bay and James Bay, on the east by Quebec, on the west by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Ontario's long American border is formed almost entirely by lakes and rivers, starting in Lake of the Woods and continuing to the Saint Lawrence River near Cornwall; it passes through the four Great Lakes Ontario shares with bordering states, namely Lakes Superior, Huron (which includes Georgian Bay), Erie, and Ontario (for which the province is named; There are approximately 250,000 lakes and over 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) of rivers in the province.

The province consists of three main geographical regions:

the thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions which covers over half the land area in the province, though mostly infertile land it is rich in minerals and studded with lakes and rivers; Southwestern Ontario (parts of which formerly referred to as Western Ontario), Golden Horseshoe, Central Ontario (although not actually the province's geographic centre) and Eastern Ontario.

Despite the absence of any mountainous terrain in the province, there are large areas of uplands, particularly within the Canadian Shield which traverses the province from northwest to southeast but also above the Niagara Escarpment which crosses the south. The highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693m above sea level located in Northeastern Ontario.

The Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern section, its northern extent is part of the Greater Toronto Area at the western end of Lake Ontario. The Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. conversely Southern Ontario contains 94% of the population (see article Geography of Canada).

Point Pelee National Park is a peninsula in southwestern Ontario (near Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan) that extends into Lake Erie and is the part of Canada's mainland furthest south. slightly further south than the northern border of California.

Demographics

Population of Ontario since 1851

Year	Population	Five Year % change	Ten Year % change	Rank Among Provinces
1851	952,004	n/a	208.9	1
1861	1,396,091	n/a	46.6	1
1871	1,620,851	n/a	16.1	1
1881	1,926,922	n/a	18.9	1
1891	2,114,321	n/a	9.7	1
1901	2,182,947	n/a	3.2	1
1911	2,527,292	n/a	15.8	1
1921	2,933,662	n/a	16.1	1
1931	3,431,683	n/a	17.0	1
1941	3,787,655	n/a	10.3	1
1951	4,597,542	n/a	21.4	1
1956	5,404,933	17.6	n/a	1
1961	6,236,092	15.4	35.6	1
1966	6,960,870	11.6	28.8	1
1971	7,703,105	10.7	23.5	1
1976	8,264,465	7.3	18.7	1
1981	8,625,107	4.4	12.0	1
1986	9,101,695	5.5	10.1	1
1991	10,084,885	10.8	16.9	1
1996	10,753,573	6.6	18.1	1
2001	11,410,046	6.1	13.1	1

Source: Statistics Canada Statistics Canada - Ontario population

Ethnic Groups

Ethnic Origin	Population	Percent
Canadian	3,350,275	29.69%
English	2,711,485	24.03%
Scottish	1,843,110	16.33%
Irish	1,761,280	15.61%
French	1,235,765	10.95%
German	965,510	8.56%
Italian	781,345	6.92%
Chinese	518,550	4.59%
Dutch (Netherlands)	436,035	3.86%
East Indian	413,415	3.66%
Polish	386,050	3.42%
Ukrainian	290,925	2.58%
North American Indian	248,940	2.21%
Portuguese	248,265	2.20%

The information regarding ethnicities below is from the 2001 Canadian Census.Statistics Canada - 2001 Canadian Census
The percentages add to more than 100% because of dual responses (e.g. Groups with greater than 200,000 responses are included.

The major Religious Groups in Ontario are:

34.9% Protestant
34.7% Roman Catholic
3.1% Muslim
2.7% other Christian
2.3% Orthodox
1.9% Hindu
1.7% Jewish
1.1% Buddhist
0.9% Sikh
16.7% other, non-professing

Increasing immigration from all parts of the world, especially to Toronto and its environs, is rapidly diversifying the province's ethnic makeup. Slightly less than five per cent of the population of Ontario is Franco-Ontarian, that is those whose native tongue is French, usually in addition to English.

10 largest Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) by population

Statistics Canada's measure of a "metro area", the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) roughly bundles together population figures from the core municipality with those from "commuter" municipalitiesStatistics Canada - Census Metropolitan Area population.

CMA (largest other included municipalities in brackets)	2005 (est.)	2001
TorontoCMA (Mississauga, Brampton)	5,304,100	4,883,800
Ottawa?GatineauCMA, Ontario part (Clarence-Rockland, Russell)	870,616	806,096
HamiltonCMA (Burlington, Grimsby)	714,900	689,200
LondonCMA (St. Thomas, Strathroy-Caradoc)	464,300	449,600
KitchenerCMA (Cambridge, Waterloo)	458,600	431,300
St. Catharines?Niagara CMA (Niagara Falls, Welland)	396,900	391,700
OshawaCMA (Whitby, Clarington)	340,300	308,500
WindsorCMA (Lakeshore, LaSalle)	332,300	320,800
BarrieCA (Innisfil, Springwater)	165,000	148,480
Greater SudburyCMA (Whitefish Lake & Wahnapitei Reserves)	161,100	161,500

10 largest municipalities by population

City	2001	1996
Toronto(provincial capital)	2,481,494	2,385,421
Ottawa(national capital)	808,391	721,136
Mississauga(part of Greater Toronto)	612,925	544,382
Hamilton	499,268	467,799
London	336,539	325,669
Brampton(part of Greater Toronto)	325,428	268,251
Markham(part of Greater Toronto)	208,615	173,383
Windsor	208,402	197,694
Kitchener	190,399	178,420
Vaughan(part of Greater Toronto)	182,022	132,549

Climate

Southern Ontario's climate is humid continental (Koppen climate classification Dfa-Dfb), with relatively hot, humid summers and cold winters.

The open lakes result in lake effect snow squalls on the eastern and southern shores of the lakes, that affect much of the Georgian Bay shoreline including Killarney, Parry Sound District, Muskoka and Simcoe County; the Lake Huron shore from east of Sarnia northward to the Bruce Peninsula, sometimes reaching London. The most severe weather prone regions are southwestern and central Ontario, much of them resulting from the localized Lake Breeze Front. Lake Breeze Front London has the most lightning strikes per year, and is also one of the most active areas for storms, in Canada. Tornadoes are also common throughout the province, especially in the southwestern/south-central parts, although they are rarely destructive, the vast majority are classified as F0 or F1 on the Fujita Scale.

Economy

Ontario's rivers, including its share of the Niagara River, make it rich in hydroelectric energy. Since the privatization of Ontario Hydro which began in 1999, Ontario Power Generation runs 85% of electricity generated in the province, but not the transmission of power, which is under the control of Hydro One.

This steady supply of electricity production along with an abundance of natural resources, excellent transportation links to the American heartland and the inland Great Lakes making ocean access possible via ship containers, have all contributed to making manufacturing the principal industry, found mainly in the Golden Horseshoe region which is the largest industrialized area in Canada. Important products include motor vehicles, iron, steel, food, electrical appliances, machinery, chemicals, and paper. Ontario surpassed the American state of Michigan in car production, assembling 2.696 million vehicles in 2004 (see Canada-United States Automotive Agreement).

However, as a result of steeply declining sales, on November 21, 2005, General Motors announced massive layoffs at production facilities across North America including two large GM plants in Oshawa and a drive train facility in St. Catharines which by 2008 will result in 8,000 job losses in Ontario alone. Subsequently in January 23, 2006 money losing Ford Motor Co. announced between 25,000 and 30,000 layoffs phased until 2012, Ontario was spared the worst, but job losses were announced for the St. Thomas facility and the Windsor casting plant. Toyota also announced its plans to build a RAV-4 producing plant in Woodstock by 2008 and Honda also has plans to add an engine plant at its large facility in Alliston.

Some economists believe that the North American Free Trade Agreement has contributed to a decline in manufacturing in part of North America's manufacturing "Rust Belt" that includes a portion of Southern Ontario from roughly Windsor east to St. Catharines (50km south of Toronto). Suburban cities in the Greater Toronto Area like Brampton, Mississauga and Vaughan are large product distribution centres, in addition to having automobile and other manuafacturing industries. The information technology sector is also important, particularly in Markham, Waterloo and Ottawa. Hamilton is the largest steel manufacturing city in Canada and Sarnia is the centre for petrochemical production. Mining and the forest products industry, notably pulp and paper, are vital to the economy of Northern Ontario. At other times of the year, hunting, skiing and snowmobiling are among the out of high-season draws. at Ontario FactsOntario Facts

Transportation

Historically, the province has used two major east-west routes, both starting from Montreal in the neighbouring province of Quebec. Major cities on or near the route include Ottawa, North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. The southerly route, which was popularized by later English-speaking United Empire Loyalists, travels southwest from Montreal along the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie before entering the United States in Michigan. Major cities on or near the route include Kingston, Oshawa, Toronto, Mississauga, Kitchener/Waterloo, London, Sarnia, and Windsor.

Road transportation

400-Series Highways make up the primary vehicular network in the south of province and they connect to numerous border crossings with US, the busiest being the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. The primary highway along the southern route is Highway 401, North America's busiest highway, while the primary highway across the northern route is Highway 417 and Highway 17, part of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Water transportation

The St. Lawrence Seaway, which extends across most of the southern portion of the province and connects to the Atlantic Ocean, is the primary water transportation route for cargo, particularly iron ore and grain. Ontario Northland provides rail service to destinations as far north as Moosonee near James Bay, connecting them with the south. Freight rail is dominated by the founding cross-country CN and CP rail companies, which during the 1990s sold many short rail lines from their vast network to private companies operating mostly in the south. Regional Commuter rail is limited to the provincially owned GO Transit, which serves a train/bus network spanning the Golden Horseshoe region, its hub in Toronto. Outside of Toronto, the O-Train LRT line operates in Ottawa with ongoing expansion of the current line and proposals for additional lines. Toronto/Pearson and Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier form two of the three points in Air Canada's Rapidair triangle, Canada's busiest set of air routes (the third point is Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport). Marie, Sudbury, North Bay, Timmins, Windsor, London, and Kingston feed directly into Toronto/Pearson. The Ontario origins of Massey-Ferguson Ltd., once one of the largest farm implement manufacturers in the world, indicate the importance agriculture once had to the Ontario economy (see Geography of Canada for more detail).

History

Pre-1867

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the region was inhabited both by Algonquian (Ojibwa, Cree and Algonquin) and Iroquoian (Iroquois and Huron) tribes. The English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed the area for England, but Samuel de Champlain reached Lake Huron in 1615 and French missionaries began to establish posts along the Great Lakes. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War by awarding nearly all of France's North American possessions (New France) to Britain. From 1783 to 1796, the United Kingdom granted United Empire Loyalists leaving the United States following the American Revolution 200 acres (0.8 km²) of land and other items with which to rebuild their lives. This measure substantially increased the population of Canada west of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence during this period, a fact recognized by the Constitutional Act of 1791, which split Quebec into The Canadas: Upper Canada southwest of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence, and Lower Canada east of it. John Graves Simcoe was appointed Upper Canada's first Lieutenant-Governor in 1793.

American troops in the War of 1812 invaded Upper Canada across the Niagara River and the Detroit River but were successfully pushed back by British and Native American forces. The Americans gained control of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, however, and during the Battle of York occupied the Town of York (later named Toronto) in 1813.

As the population began to increase, many in the colony began to chafe against the aristocratic Family Compact that governed while benefitting economically from the regions resources, much as the Château Clique ruled Lower Canada. Louis-Joseph Papineau led the Lower Canada Rebellion and William Lyon Mackenzie led the Upper Canada Rebellion. For more on the rebellions of 1837, see History of Canada.

Although both rebellions were crushed in short order, the British government sent Lord Durham to investigate the causes of the unrest. Accordingly, the two colonies were merged into the Province of Canada by the Act of Union (1840), with Ontario becoming known as Canada West. Parliamentary self-government was granted in 1848.

A political stalemate between the French- and English-speaking legislators, as well as fear of aggression from the United States during the American Civil War, led the political elite to hold a series of conferences in the 1860s to effect a broader federal union of all British North American colonies. The British North America Act took effect on July 1, 1867, establishing the Dominion of Canada, initially with four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. He consolidated and expanded Ontario's educational and provincial institutions, created districts in Northern Ontario, and fought tenaciously to ensure that those parts of Northwestern Ontario not historically part of Upper Canada (the vast areas north and west of the Lake Superior-Hudson Bay watershed, known as the District of Keewatin) would become part of Ontario, a victory embodied in the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889. Macdonald's the National Policy (1879) and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1875-1885) through Northern Ontario and the Prairies to British Columbia, Ontario manufacturing and industry flourished, however, population increase slowed as many people moved west along the railroads to seek new opportunities.

From 1896 to the present

Mineral exploitation accelarated in the late 19th century, leading to the rise of important mining centres in the northeast like Sudbury, Cobalt and Timmins. The province harnessed its water power to generate hydro-electric power, and created the state-controlled Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, later Ontario Hydro. It was eventually repealed in 1927.

Influenced by events in the United States, the government of Sir William Hearst introduced prohibition of alcoholic drinks in 1916 with the passing of the Ontario Temperance Act. From a largely ethnically British province, Ontario has now become very culturally diverse.

The nationalist movement in Quebec, particularly after the election of the Parti Québécois in 1976, contributed to driving many businesses out of Quebec to Ontario, and Toronto surpassed Montreal as the largest city and economic centre of Canada.

Ontario has no official language, but English is considered the de facto language. Numerous French language services are available under the French Language Services Act of 1990.

Timeline of Ontario history

Government

The British North America Act 1867 section 69 stipulated "There shall be a Legislature for Ontario consisting of the Lieutenant Governor and of One House, styled the Legislative Assembly of Ontario." The assembly has 103 seats representing ridings elected in a first-past-the-post system across the province. In the last few decades the liberal Ontario Liberal Party, conservative Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and social-democratic Ontario New Democratic Party have all ruled the province at different times.

Currently Ontario is under a Liberal government headed by Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Federally, Ontario is known as being the province that offers the strongest support for the Liberal Party of Canada. As the province has the most seats of any province in Canada, earning support from Ontario voters is considered a crucial matter for any party hoping to win a Canadian Federal Election.

Territorial evolution 1788-1899

Land was not legally subdivided into administrative units until a treaty had been concluded with the native peoples ceding the land (see Royal Proclamation of 1763). In 1788, while part of the Province of Quebec (1763-1791), southern Ontario was divided into four districts: Hesse, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, and Nassau.

In 1792, the four districts were renamed: Hesse became the Western District, Lunenburg became the Eastern District, Mecklenburg became the Midland District, and Nassau became the Home District. Counties were created within the districts.

By 1798, there were eight districts: Eastern, Home, Johnstown, London, Midland, Newcastle, Niagara, and Western.

By 1826, there were eleven districts: Bathurst, Eastern, Gore, Home, Johnstown, London, Midland, Newcastle, Niagara, Ottawa, and Western.

By 1838, there were twenty districts: Bathurst, Brock, Colbourne, Dalhousie, Eastern, Gore, Home, Huron, Johnstown, London, Midland, Newcastle, Niagara, Ottawa, Prince Edward, Simcoe, Talbot, Victoria, Wellington, and Western.

In 1849, the districts of southern Ontario were abolished by the Province of Canada and county governments took over certain municipal responsibilities. The Province of Canada also began creating districts in sparsely populated Northern Ontario with the establishment of Algoma District and Nipissing District in 1858.

The northern and western boundaries of Ontario were in dispute after Confederation. Ontario's right to Northwestern Ontario was determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1884 and confirmed by the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Four more northern districts were created between 1907 and 1912: Cochrane, Kenora, Sudbury and Timiskaming.

Early Districts and Counties 1788-1899Archivers o Ontario Government - Early Districts and Counties 1788-1899

List of Ontario counties (current census divisions)

References

Michael Sletcher, 'Ottawa', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., M.

Chronology

Key Dates:
1895: First major hydroelectric station is built in Niagara Falls, New York.
1906: Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission is formed by Sir Adam Beck.
1914: The Commission purchases its first generating station.
1922: Construction of the Commission's first major power station is completed.
1944: The Southern Ontario System is created through the combination of three divisions.
1962: First experimental nuclear power plant is completed.
1974: Hydro becomes incorporated and adopts the name Ontario Hydro.
1998: Ontario's electricity industry is deregulated through the Energy Competition Act.
1999: Ontario Hydro is restructured, resulting in the creation of Ontario Hydro Services Company.

Additional topics

Company HistoryElectricity & Utilities

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