Brief History
Toronto is the largest city in Canada, situated on the northern shore of
Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. The city is the seat
of government of the province of Ontario. While Ottawa, the capital of
Canada, is the center of politics, Toronto serves as the center of industry
in Canada. Toronto was long striving, in competition with Montreal, for
the position of the country's center of industry and commerce. Since the
1950s in particular, Toronto has made remarkable changes from a good and
comfortable city to the Canada's most vibrant international city. Although,
Lake Ontario serves to moderate Toronto's climate, the temperature often
climbs over 30 degrees centigrade in summer. During cold winter months,
the temperature often goes below -18.
Toronto is an aboriginal term for a "meeting place". The Toronto
region had been populated by the indigenous people before the first European,
a French explorer Etienne Brule, arrived in 1615. As early as the 17th
century, Canada was already widely known in Europe as a land for fur trade.
The territory was brought under the British control as a result of England's
victory over France in the French and Indian War (1754-1763). During the
1850s, the trans-continental railway opened and the free trade agreement,
though on some selected items, was concluded in 1854 with the United States,
which led to rapid development and expansion of forests and farming lands.
Thus Toronto grew to be a modern city at a rapid pace, becoming the center
of industry and commercial trade. The population increased from 45,000
in 1861 to 208,000 in 1901, and then to as many as 522,000 in 1921.
After the World War 11, Toronto, like all industrial cities in North America,
experienced a tremendous influx of people. As the central cities became
filled, the population spilled over the borders and created a series of
satellite or suburban municipalities. In 1953, the committee of the provincial
legislature recommended, based on its extensive research and consultation,
to merge 12 surrounding municipalities with City of Toronto to establish
a new administrative body and the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto
Act was enacted. Thus, the regional government, the municipality of Metropolitan
Toronto was born on January 1, 1954. The Metropolitan Council was composed
of 24 representatives elected from the member municipality and the chairman.
The Metropolitan Toronto (administered by Metropolitan Corporation) was
responsible for water supply, sewage disposal, housing, education (providing
money to local boards of education), construction and maintenance of arterial
highway, certain welfare services (provision of homes for the aged, etc.),
and the overall planning of the area. The new council made remarkable achievements
in administration of the broader urban region and was much respected for
its success. It was called the "Toronto Method" and affected
the urban administration of many countries in the world.
On January 1, 1998, the former city of Toronto and five other surrounding
municipalities that formed the Metro Toronto at the time; Etobicoke, North
York, Scarborough, York and East York, were amalgamated to create the new
City of Toronto ("Mega City").
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