History of Ontario
Encyclopedia
The history of Ontario covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. The lands that make up present-day Ontario
, currently the most populous province
of Canada
, have been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples
, with French
and British
exploration and colonization commencing in the 17th century.
(Ojibwa
, Cree
and Algonquin) and Iroquoian (Iroquois
, Petun
and Huron) tribes. The French explorer Étienne Brûlé
explored part of the area in 1610-12. 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. French settlement was hampered by their hostilities with the Iroquois, who would ally themselves with the British. Around this period some Iroquois tribes of the five leagues (based in New York State) were actively engaged in territorial expansion both over related Iroquoians and others, boosted by their alliances with the British.
ended the Seven Years' War
by awarding nearly all of France's North American possessions
(New France
) to Britain.
in 1774. From 1783 to 1796, Britain 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.
came north to Ontario where they were safe.
invaded Upper Canada across the Niagara River and the Detroit River
but were successfully defeated and pushed back by British forces, local militia and Native American
forces. The Americans gained control of Lake Erie
at the Battle of Lake Erie
. The British had to flee on foot, and the American William Henry Harrison
caught up and decisively defeated them at the Battle of the Thames
. The Americans also killed Tecumseh
, leader of the anti-American First Nations military force, which permanently disrupted the military alliance between Britain and the Indians.
During the Battle of York
Americans occupied the Town of York
(later named Toronto
) in 1813. After losing their general Zebulon Pike
and having a difficult time holding the town, the departing American soldiers burned it to the ground.
(1778–1867), the Anglican bishop of Toronto. Strahan (and the Family Compact generally) was opposed by Methodist leader Egerton Ryerson
(1803–1882). The Family Compact consisted of English gentry who arrived before 1800, and the sons of United Empire Loyalists
, who were exiles who fled the American revolution. The term "family" was metaphorical, for they generally were not related by blood or marriage. There were no elections and the leadership controlled appointments, so local officials were generally allies of the leaders. The Family Compact looked for the ideal model to Britain, where landed aristocrats held power. The Family Compact was noted for its conservatism and opposition to democracy, especially the rowdy American version. They developed the theme that they and their militia had defeated American attempts to annex Canada in the War of 1812. They were based in Toronto, and were integrated with the bankers, merchants and financiers of the city, and were active in promoting canals and railroads. Gagan shows the Family Compact controlled much of the best farm lands as well. Of the 26 largest landowners in Peel County between 1820 and 1840, 23 were absentee proprietors, of whom 17 were involved in government. Of these 17, 12 were part of the Family Compact.
After the War of 1812, relative stability allowed for increasing numbers of immigrants to arrive from Britain and Ireland rather than from the United States. As was the case in the previous decades, this deliberate immigration shift was encouraged by the colonial leaders. Despite affordable and often free land, many arriving newcomers from Europe (mostly from Britain and Ireland) found frontier life with the harsh climate difficult, and some of those with the means eventually returned home or went south. However, population growth far exceeded emigration in the decades that would follow. Still, a mostly agrarian-based society, canal projects and a new network of plank roads spurred greater trade within the colony and with the United States, thereby improving relations over time. Land tracts in the south previously unoccupied quickly filled with those willing to farm, by this time much of the native forest in the south had been cut down to make way for agriculture.
Meanwhile, Ontario's numerous waterways aided travel and transportation into the interior and supplied water power for development. Canals were capital intensive infrastructure projects that facilitated trade. The Oswego Canal
, built in New York 1825-1829, was a vital commercial link the in Great Lakes-Atlantic seaway. It linked into Ontario's Welland Canal in 1829. The newly fashioned Oswego-Welland line offered an alternative route to the St. Lawrence River and Europe, as opposed to the Erie Canal which terminated in New York City.
As the population increased, so did the industries and transportation networks, which in turn led to further development. By the end of the century, Ontario vied with Quebec as the nation's leader in terms of growth in population, industry, arts and communications.
that governed through personal connections among the elite, which controlled the best lands. This resentment spurred republican ideals and sowed the seeds for early Canadian nationalism. Accordingly, rebellion in favour of responsible government
rose in both regions; Louis-Joseph Papineau
led the Lower Canada Rebellion
and William Lyon Mackenzie
led the Upper Canada Rebellion
. The rebellions failed but there were long-term changes that resolved the issue. The changes in the next generation in the town of Woodstock in southwestern Ontario exemplified the shift of power from the Tory elite to middle class merchants and professionals. The once-unquestioned leadership of the magistracy and the Anglican Church, with their closed interlocking networks of patron-client relations, faded year by year as modern ideas of respectability based on merit and economic development grew apace. The new middle class was solidly in control by the 1870s and the old elite had all but vanished.
to investigate the causes of the unrest. He recommended that self-government be granted and that Lower and Upper Canada be re-joined in an attempt to assimilate the French Canadians. Accordingly, the two colonies were merged into the Province of Canada
by the Act of Union (1840), with the capital at Kingston, and Upper Canada becoming known as Canada West. Parliamentary self-government was granted in 1848.
Due to heavy waves of immigration in the 1840s, the population of Canada West more than doubled by 1851 over the previous decade, and as a result for the first time the English-speaking population of Canada West surpassed the French-speaking population of Canada East, tilting the representative balance of power.
An economic boom in the 1850s coincided with railway expansion across the province further increasing the economic strength of Central Canada.
, especially as expressed in Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857) gave the middle class a model for sports that provided moral education and training for citizenship. Late in the 19h century the Social Gospel themes of muscular Christianity had an impact, as in the invention of basketball in 1891 by James Naismith
, an Ontarian employed at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School in Massachusetts. Outside of sports the social and moral agendas behind muscular Christianity influenced numerous reform movements, thus linking it to the political left in Canada.
, 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. The Province of Canada
was divided at this point into Ontario and Quebec so that each linguistic group would have its own province. Both Quebec and Ontario were required by section 93 of the BNA Act to safeguard existing educational rights and privileges of the Protestant and Catholic minorities. Thus, separate Catholic schools and school boards were permitted in Ontario. However, neither province had a constitutional requirement to protect its French- or English-speaking minority. Toronto was formally established as Ontario's provincial capital at this time.
Source: 2006 Census
Once constituted as a province, Ontario proceeded to assert its economic and legislative power. In 1872, the Liberal Party leader Oliver Mowat
became premier, and remained as premier until 1896, despite Conservative control in Ottawa. Mowat fought for provincial rights, weakening the power of the federal government in provincial matters, usually through well-argued appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
. His battles with the federal government greatly decentralized Canada, giving the provinces far more power than Prime Minister John A. Macdonald
had intended. Mowat 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. He also presided over the emergence of the province into the economic powerhouse of Canada. Mowat was the creator of what is often called Empire Ontario.
Meanwhile Ontario's Conservative Party leader William Ralph Meredith
had difficulty balancing the province's particular interests with his national party's centralism. Meredith was further undercut by lack of support from the national Conservative party and his own elitist aversion to popular politics at the provincial level.
In the 1894 election
the main issues were the Liberals' "Ontario System", as well as French language schools and anti-Catholicism (led by the Protestant Protective Association
(PPA)), farmer interests as expressed by the new Patrons of Industry
, support for Toronto business, woman suffrage, the temperance movement, and the demands of labour unions. Mowat and the Liberals maintained their large majority in the assembly.
(1879-) and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway
(1875–1885) through Northern Ontario
to the Prairies and British Columbia
, Ontario manufacturing and industry flourished. However, population increase slowed after a large recession hit the province in 1893, thus slowing growth drastically but only for a few short years. Many newly arrived immigrants and others moved west along the railroad, while shipping their wheat east and buying from merchants who placed orders with Ontario wholesalers.
in Guelph in 1874.
Commercial wine production began with an aristocrat from France Count Justin McCarthy De Courtenay in County Peel in the 1860s. His success followed from the realization that the right grapes could grow in the cold climate, producing an inexpensive good wine that could reach a commercial market. He gained government support and raised the capital for a commercial-scale vineyard and winery. His financial success encouraged others to enter the business.
exploitation accelerated in the late 19th century, leading to the rise of important mining centres in the northeast like Sudbury, Cobalt
and Timmins
.
Energy policy focused on hydro-electric power, leading to the formation in 1906 of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario (HEPC), renamed Ontario Hydro
in 1974. HEPC was a unique hybrid of a government department, a crown corporation, and a municipal cooperative that coexisted with the existing private companies. It was a "politically rational" rather than a "technically efficient" solution that depended on the watershed election of 1905 when the main issue became "Niagara Power", with the Conservative slogan of "water power of Niagara should be free". The Conservatives replaced the Liberals and set up HEPC. In 1908 HEPC began purchasing electricity from Niagara Falls. In the next decade it purchased most of the privately owned distribution systems and built an integrated network. The availability of cheap electric power further facilitated the development of industry. The Ford Motor Company
of Canada was established in 1904. General Motors of Canada Ltd. was formed in 1918. The motor vehicle industry became by 1920 the most productive industry in Ontario and a customer for smaller suppliers.
Entrepreneurship was exemplified by the career John Northway (1848–1926). Beginning as a tailor in a small town, he moved to Toronto and soon developed a chain of department stores. His innovations in the sewing and marketing of ladies' wear enabled the emergence of a Canadian ladies' garment industry. Northway pioneered modern business methods and accounting methods. He innovated as well in labour relations, as a pioneer in sickness and accident compensation and profit-sharing schemes. A millionaire by 1910, he played a leading role in Toronto's civic life.
. In 1923 J.J.R. Macleod (1876–1935) and Frederick Banting
(1891–1941), researchers there won the Nobel Pr1ze in Medicine for their 1921 discovery of insulin, putting Toronto on the world map of avant-garde science.
which severely limited the availability of French-language schooling to the province's French-speaking minority. French could only be used in the first two years of schooling, and then only English was allowed. French-Canadians—growing rapidly in number in eastern Ontario because of migration, reacted with outrage, journalist Henri Bourassa
denouncing the "Prussians of Ontario". It was one of the key reasons the Francophones turned away from the war effort in 1915 and refused to enlist. Ontario's Catholics were led by the Irish, who united with the Protestants in opposing French schools. Regulation 17 was eventually repealed in 1927.
, the first provincial park, was established in 1893. The creation of the provincial Department of Planning and Development in 1944 brought conservation offices throughout the province and made for an integrated approach. The conservation authorities started to create heritage museums, but that ended in the 1970s when responsibility was shifted to the new ministry of Culture and Recreation. Repeated budget cuts in the 1980s and 1990s reduced the operation of many museums and historical sites.
after Britain's top commander. Left wing antiwar activists also came under attack. In 1917-18 Isaac Bainbridge of Toronto, the dominion secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Canada
and editor of its newspaper, Canadian Forward, was charged three times with seditious libel and once with possession of seditious material, and he was imprisoned twice.
Anti-German sentiment after 1914 and the accession of Conservative William Hearst to the premiership made prohibition a major political issues. The Methodists and Baptists (but not the Anglicans or Catholics) demanded the province be made dry. The government introduced prohibition
of alcoholic sales in 1916 with the Ontario Temperance Act
. However, drinking itself was never illegal and residents could distill and retain their own personal supply. Major liquor producers could continue distillation and export for sale, which allowed Ontario to become a center for the illegal smuggling of liquor into the United States, which after 1920 was under complete prohibition. The drys won a referendum in 1919. Prohibition came to an end in 1927 with the establishment of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario
by the Conservative government.
The sale and consumption of liquor, wine, and beer are still controlled to ensure that strict community standards and revenue generation from the alcohol retail monopoly are upheld. In April 2007, Ontario Minister of Provincial Parliament Kim Craitor
suggested that local brewers should be able to sell their beer in local corner stores, however, the motion was quickly rejected by Premier Dalton McGuinty
.
with 45 seats formed a bare majority coalition with the trades union party, known as the "Ontario Independent Labour Party", with 11 seats. They made farm leader Ernest Drury premier, enforced prohibition, passed a mother's pension and minimum wage that Hearst had proposed, and promoted good roads in the rural areas. The farmers and unionists did not get along well and the 1923 election
saw a sharp move to the right, with the Conservatives winning 50% of the vote and 75 seats of the 111 seats, making George Howard Ferguson premier.
When surveys of public health showed infant mortality rates were high in Ontario, particularly in the more rural and isolated areas, the provincial government teamed with middle-class public health reformers to take action. They launched an educational campaign to teach mothers to save and improve the lives of infants and young children, with the long-range goal of uplifting the average Canadian family.
; hardest hit were the lumbering regions, the auto plants and the steel mills. The milk industry suffered from price wars that hurt both dairy farmers and dairies. The government set up the Ontario Milk Control Board (MCB), which raised and stabilized prices through licensing, bonding, and fixed price agreements. The MCB resolved the crisis for the industry but consumers complained loudly. The government favoured producers over consumers as the industry rallied behind the MCB.
Following a massive defeat in 1934 by the Liberals, the Conservatives reorganized themselves over the next decade. Led by pragmatic leaders Cecil Frost, George Drew, Alex McKenzie, and Fred Gardiner, they minimized internal conflicts, quietly dropped laissez-faire positions and opted in favor of state intervention to deal with the Great Depression and encourage economic growth. The revised party declared loyalty to the Empire, called for comprehensive health care and pension programs, and sought more provincial autonomy. The reforms set the stage for a long run of election wins from 1943 onward.
The post-World War II
period was one of exceptional prosperity and growth. Ontario, and the Greater Toronto Area
in particular, have been the recipients of most immigration to Canada, largely immigrants from post war Europe in the 1950s and 1960s and after changes in federal immigration law
, a massive influx of non-Europeans since the 1970s. From a largely ethnically British province, Ontario has rapidly become very culturally diverse.
By contrast the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)
, which rebranded itself as the New Democratic Party (NDP)
in 1961, was in the doldrums after the war. Its best showing was in 1948
when it elected 21 MPPs, and formed the official opposition. Purists said its decline resulted from a loss of Socialist purity and abandonment of the founding left-wing principles of the movement and party. They said democratic socialist activity in terms of activism, youth training, and volunteerism was lost in favor of authoritarian political bureaucracy. Moderates said the decline demonstrated the need for cooperation with Liberals. Political scientists said the party lacked a more coherent organizational base if it was to survive. The NDP routinely captured 20-some percent of the vote, save for its surprise win in 1990
when it surged briefly to 38%, won 75 of the 120 seats, and formed a government under Bob Rae
. He served as premier but Ontario's labour unions, the backbone of the NDP, were outraged when Rae imposed pay cuts on unionized public workers. The NDP was defeated in 1995
, falling back to 21% of the vote. Rae quit the NDP in 1998 as too leftist and joined the Liberals.
in 1976, systematically drove Anglophone business away. Depressed economic conditions in the Maritime Provinces
have also resulted in de-population of those provinces in the 20th century, with heavy migration into Ontario.
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 in designated areas where sizable francophone
populations exist.
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, currently the most populous province
Provinces and territories of Canada
The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, have been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples
Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....
, with French
French colonization of the Americas
The French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and continued in the following centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France founded colonies in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands, and in South America...
and British
British colonization of the Americas
British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas...
exploration and colonization commencing in the 17th century.
Pre-1867
First Nations
Before the arrival of the Europeans, the region was inhabited both by AlgonquianAlgonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
(Ojibwa
Ojibwa
The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...
, Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
and Algonquin) and Iroquoian (Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
, Petun
Petun
The Petún , or Tionontati in their language, were an Iroquoian-speaking First Nations people closely related to the Wendat Confederacy. Their homeland was located along the southwest edge of Georgian Bay, in the area immediately to the west of the Huron territory in Southern Ontario of...
and Huron) tribes. The French explorer Étienne Brûlé
Étienne Brûlé
Étienne Brûlé , was the first of European French explorers to journey along the St. Lawrence River with the Native Americans and to view Georgian Bay and Lake Huron Canada in the 17th century. A rugged outdoorsman, he took to the lifestyle of the First Nations and had a unique contribution to the...
explored part of the area in 1610-12. The English explorer Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed the area for England, but Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
reached Lake Huron in 1615 and French missionaries began to establish posts along the Great Lakes. French settlement was hampered by their hostilities with the Iroquois, who would ally themselves with the British. Around this period some Iroquois tribes of the five leagues (based in New York State) were actively engaged in territorial expansion both over related Iroquoians and others, boosted by their alliances with the British.
British
The British established trading posts on Hudson Bay in the late 17th century and began a struggle for domination of Ontario. The 1763 Treaty of ParisTreaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
ended the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
by awarding nearly all of France's North American possessions
French colonization of the Americas
The French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and continued in the following centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France founded colonies in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands, and in South America...
(New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
) to Britain.
Upper Canada
The region was annexed to QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in 1774. From 1783 to 1796, Britain granted United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
leaving the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
following the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
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
The Canadas
The Canadas is the collective name for Upper Canada and Lower Canada, two British colonies in Canada. They were both created by the Constitutional Act of 1791 and abolished in 1841 with the union of Upper and Lower Canada....
: Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
southwest of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence, and Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
east of it. John Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe
John Graves Simcoe was a British army officer and the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1791–1796. Then frontier, this was modern-day southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior...
was appointed Upper Canada's first Lieutenant-Governor in 1793.
Slavery
Slavery was legal, and was strengthened by the arrival of Loyalist exiles from the American Revolution who brought along their slaves. Lt. Governor Simcoe detested slavery and tried to abolish it, but was forced to compromise. The 1793 "Simcoe Act," forbade the importation of any additional slaves and freed children. It did not grant freedom to adult slaves—they were finally freed by the British Parliament in 1833. As a consequence many Canadian slaves fled south to New England and New York, where slavery was no longer legal. Many American slaves who had escaped from the South via the Underground RailroadUnderground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
came north to Ontario where they were safe.
War of 1812
American troops in the War of 1812War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
invaded Upper Canada across the Niagara River and the Detroit River
Detroit River
The Detroit River is a strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as "River of the Strait". The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river...
but were successfully defeated and pushed back by British forces, local militia and Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
forces. The Americans gained control of Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
at the Battle of Lake Erie
Battle of Lake Erie
The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of Great Britain's Royal Navy...
. The British had to flee on foot, and the American William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...
caught up and decisively defeated them at the Battle of the Thames
Battle of the Thames
The Battle of the Thames, also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was a decisive American victory in the War of 1812. It took place on October 5, 1813, near present-day Chatham, Ontario in Upper Canada...
. The Americans also killed Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
, leader of the anti-American First Nations military force, which permanently disrupted the military alliance between Britain and the Indians.
During the Battle of York
Battle of York
The Battle of York was a battle of the War of 1812 fought on 27 April 1813, at York, Upper Canada . An American force supported by a naval flotilla landed on the lake shore to the west, defeated the defending British force and captured the town and dockyard...
Americans occupied the Town of York
York, Upper Canada
York was the name of Old Toronto between 1793 and 1834. It was the second capital of Upper Canada.- History :The town was established in 1793 by Governor John Graves Simcoe, with a new 'Fort York' on the site of the last French 'Fort Toronto'...
(later named Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
) in 1813. After losing their general Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. was an American officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806-1807, he led the Pike Expedition to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase and to find the headwaters of the Red River,...
and having a difficult time holding the town, the departing American soldiers burned it to the ground.
Family Compact
In the absence of a hereditary aristocracy, Upper Canada was run by an oligarchy or closed group of powerful men who controlled most of the political, judicial and economic power from the 1810s to the 1830s. Opponents called it the "Family Compact," but its members avoided the term. In the religious sphere a key leader was John StrachanJohn Strachan
John Strachan was an influential figure in Upper Canada and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto.-Early life:Strachan was the youngest of six children born to a quarry worker in Aberdeen, Scotland. He graduated from King's College, Aberdeen in 1797...
(1778–1867), the Anglican bishop of Toronto. Strahan (and the Family Compact generally) was opposed by Methodist leader Egerton Ryerson
Egerton Ryerson
Adolphus Egerton Ryerson was a Methodist minister, educator, politician, and public education advocate in early Ontario, Canada...
(1803–1882). The Family Compact consisted of English gentry who arrived before 1800, and the sons of United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
, who were exiles who fled the American revolution. The term "family" was metaphorical, for they generally were not related by blood or marriage. There were no elections and the leadership controlled appointments, so local officials were generally allies of the leaders. The Family Compact looked for the ideal model to Britain, where landed aristocrats held power. The Family Compact was noted for its conservatism and opposition to democracy, especially the rowdy American version. They developed the theme that they and their militia had defeated American attempts to annex Canada in the War of 1812. They were based in Toronto, and were integrated with the bankers, merchants and financiers of the city, and were active in promoting canals and railroads. Gagan shows the Family Compact controlled much of the best farm lands as well. Of the 26 largest landowners in Peel County between 1820 and 1840, 23 were absentee proprietors, of whom 17 were involved in government. Of these 17, 12 were part of the Family Compact.
Settlement and transportation
Oswego Canal
The Oswego Canal is a canal in the New York State Canal System located in New York, United States. Opened in 1828, it is 23.7 miles in length, and connects the Erie Canal at Three Rivers to Lake Ontario at Oswego...
, built in New York 1825-1829, was a vital commercial link the in Great Lakes-Atlantic seaway. It linked into Ontario's Welland Canal in 1829. The newly fashioned Oswego-Welland line offered an alternative route to the St. Lawrence River and Europe, as opposed to the Erie Canal which terminated in New York City.
As the population increased, so did the industries and transportation networks, which in turn led to further development. By the end of the century, Ontario vied with Quebec as the nation's leader in terms of growth in population, industry, arts and communications.
Legal reform
Road and canal construction brought in rowdy workers whose wages often went to liquor, gambling and women, with much fighting involved. Community leaders realized the traditional method of dealing with troublemakers one by one was inadequate and they moved to less personal modernized procedures that followed imperial models of policing, trial, and punishment through the courts.Rebellion
Many men chafed against the anti-democratic Family CompactFamily Compact
Fully developed after the War of 1812, the Compact lasted until Upper and Lower Canada were united in 1841. In Lower Canada, its equivalent was the Château Clique. The influence of the Family Compact on the government administration at different levels lasted to the 1880s...
that governed through personal connections among the elite, which controlled the best lands. This resentment spurred republican ideals and sowed the seeds for early Canadian nationalism. Accordingly, rebellion in favour of responsible government
Responsible government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
rose in both regions; Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau
Louis-Joseph Papineau , born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the seigneurie de la Petite-Nation. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. His father was Joseph Papineau, also a famous politician in Quebec...
led the Lower Canada Rebellion
Lower Canada Rebellion
The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
and William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie
William Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish born American and Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.-Background and early years in Scotland, 1795–1820:Mackenzie was...
led the Upper Canada Rebellion
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was, along with the Lower Canada Rebellion in Lower Canada, a rebellion against the British colonial government in 1837 and 1838. Collectively they are also known as the Rebellions of 1837.-Issues:...
. The rebellions failed but there were long-term changes that resolved the issue. The changes in the next generation in the town of Woodstock in southwestern Ontario exemplified the shift of power from the Tory elite to middle class merchants and professionals. The once-unquestioned leadership of the magistracy and the Anglican Church, with their closed interlocking networks of patron-client relations, faded year by year as modern ideas of respectability based on merit and economic development grew apace. The new middle class was solidly in control by the 1870s and the old elite had all but vanished.
Canada West
Although both rebellions were put down in short order, the British government sent Lord DurhamJohn Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham GCB, PC , also known as "Radical Jack" and commonly referred to in history texts simply as Lord Durham, was a British Whig statesman, colonial administrator, Governor General and high commissioner of British North America...
to investigate the causes of the unrest. He recommended that self-government be granted and that Lower and Upper Canada be re-joined in an attempt to assimilate the French Canadians. Accordingly, the two colonies were merged into the Province of Canada
Province of Canada
The Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...
by the Act of Union (1840), with the capital at Kingston, and Upper Canada becoming known as Canada West. Parliamentary self-government was granted in 1848.
Due to heavy waves of immigration in the 1840s, the population of Canada West more than doubled by 1851 over the previous decade, and as a result for the first time the English-speaking population of Canada West surpassed the French-speaking population of Canada East, tilting the representative balance of power.
An economic boom in the 1850s coincided with railway expansion across the province further increasing the economic strength of Central Canada.
Religion
While Anglicans consolidated their hold on the upper classes, workingmen and farmers responded to the Methodist revivals, often sponsored by visiting preachers from America. Typical was Rev. James Caughey, an American sent by the Wesleyan Methodist Church from the 1840s through 1864. He brought in teh converts by the score, most notably in the revivals in Canada West 1851-53. His technique combined restrained emotionalism with a clear call for personal commitment, coupled with followup action to organize support from converts. It was a time when the Holiness Movement caught fire, with the revitalized interest of men and women in Christian perfection. Caughey successfully bridged the gap between the style of earlier camp meetings and the needs of more sophisticated Methodist congregations in the emerging cities.Medicine
Numerous local rivalries had to overcome before physicians could form a single, self-regulating, and unified medical body for licensing and educating practitioners. Professionalization began with the first medical board in 1818, and an 1827 act that required all doctors to be licensed. From the 1840s on, the number of new doctors with medical degrees increased rapidly because of legislation and the establishment of local medical schools. Finally the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons was chartered in 1869. As physicians became better organized they has the assembly pass laws controlling the practice of medicine and pharmacy and banning marginal and traditional practitioners. Midwifery—practiced along traditional lines by women—was restricted and practically died out by 1900. Even so the great majority of childbirths took pace at home until the 1920s, when hospitals became preferred, especially by women who were better educated, more modern, and more trusting in modern medicine.Sport and recreation
Travelers commented on the class differentials in recreation, contrasting the gentrified masculinity of the British middle class and the rough-and-ready bush masculinity of the workers. Working class recreations featured cockfights, boxing matches, wrestling, and animal baiting. That was too bloody for gentlemen and army officers, who favoured games that promoted honor and built character. Middle-class sports, especially lacrosse and snowshoeing, evolved from military training. The ideals promulgated by English author and reformer Thomas HughesThomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays , a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. It had a lesser-known sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford .- Biography :Hughes was the second son of John Hughes, editor of...
, especially as expressed in Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857) gave the middle class a model for sports that provided moral education and training for citizenship. Late in the 19h century the Social Gospel themes of muscular Christianity had an impact, as in the invention of basketball in 1891 by James Naismith
James Naismith
The first game of "Basket Ball" was played in December 1891. In a handwritten report, Naismith described the circumstances of the inaugural match; in contrast to modern basketball, the players played nine versus nine, handled a soccer ball, not a basketball, and instead of shooting at two hoops,...
, an Ontarian employed at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School in Massachusetts. Outside of sports the social and moral agendas behind muscular Christianity influenced numerous reform movements, thus linking it to the political left in Canada.
Confederation
A political stalemate between the French- and English-speaking legislators, as well as fear of aggression from the United States during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, 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
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and Ontario. The Province of Canada
Province of Canada
The Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...
was divided at this point into Ontario and Quebec so that each linguistic group would have its own province. Both Quebec and Ontario were required by section 93 of the BNA Act to safeguard existing educational rights and privileges of the Protestant and Catholic minorities. Thus, separate Catholic schools and school boards were permitted in Ontario. However, neither province had a constitutional requirement to protect its French- or English-speaking minority. Toronto was formally established as Ontario's provincial capital at this time.
Population
| Population | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Census Figures | Five-year % change |
Ten-year % change |
Rank among provinces |
| 1851 | 952,004 | n/a | 208.8 | 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 |
| 2006a | 12,160,282 | 6.6 | 11.6 | 1 |
Source: 2006 Census
From 1867 to 1896
Oliver Mowat
Sir Oliver Mowat, was a Canadian politician, and the third Premier of Ontario from 1872 to 1896, making him the longest serving premier of that province and the 3rd longest in all of Canadian history...
became premier, and remained as premier until 1896, despite Conservative control in Ottawa. Mowat fought for provincial rights, weakening the power of the federal government in provincial matters, usually through well-argued appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
. His battles with the federal government greatly decentralized Canada, giving the provinces far more power than Prime Minister John A. Macdonald
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...
had intended. Mowat consolidated and expanded Ontario's educational and provincial institutions, created districts in Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
, and fought tenaciously to ensure that those parts of Northwestern Ontario
Northwestern Ontario
Northwestern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior, and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the Canadian province of Manitoba, which disputed Ontario's claim to the...
not historically part of Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
(the vast areas north and west of the Lake Superior-Hudson Bay watershed, known as the District of Keewatin
District of Keewatin
The District of Keewatin was a territory of Canada and later an administrative district of the Northwest Territories.The name "Keewatin" comes from Algonquian roots—either kīwēhtin in Cree or giiwedin in Ojibwe—both of which mean north wind in their respective languages...
) would become part of Ontario, a victory embodied in the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889. He also presided over the emergence of the province into the economic powerhouse of Canada. Mowat was the creator of what is often called Empire Ontario.
Meanwhile Ontario's Conservative Party leader William Ralph Meredith
William Ralph Meredith
The Hon. Sir William Ralph Meredith, Q.C., LL.D. was Leader of the Ontario Conservatives from 1878 to 1894; Chancellor of the University of Toronto from 1900 until his death, and Chief Justice of Ontario from 1913 until his death...
had difficulty balancing the province's particular interests with his national party's centralism. Meredith was further undercut by lack of support from the national Conservative party and his own elitist aversion to popular politics at the provincial level.
In the 1894 election
Ontario general election, 1894
The Ontario general election, 1894 was the eighth general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 26, 1894, to elect the 94 Members of the 8th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ....
the main issues were the Liberals' "Ontario System", as well as French language schools and anti-Catholicism (led by the Protestant Protective Association
Protestant Protective Association
The Protestant Protective Association was an anti-Catholic group in the 1890s based in Ontario, Canada, associated with the Orange Order. Originally a spinoff of the American group the American Protective Association, it became independent in 1892...
(PPA)), farmer interests as expressed by the new Patrons of Industry
Patrons of Industry
The Grand Association of the Patrons of Industry in Ontario was a Canadian farmers' organization formed in 1890 that cooperated with the urban labour movement to address the political frustrations of both groups with big business....
, support for Toronto business, woman suffrage, the temperance movement, and the demands of labour unions. Mowat and the Liberals maintained their large majority in the assembly.
Transportation
Thanks to the federal government's high-tariff National PolicyNational Policy
The National Policy was a Canadian economic program introduced by John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party in 1876 and put into action in 1879. It called for high tariffs on imported manufactured items to protect the manufacturing industry...
(1879-) and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
(1875–1885) through Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
to the Prairies and British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Ontario manufacturing and industry flourished. However, population increase slowed after a large recession hit the province in 1893, thus slowing growth drastically but only for a few short years. Many newly arrived immigrants and others moved west along the railroad, while shipping their wheat east and buying from merchants who placed orders with Ontario wholesalers.
Farming
Farming was generally quite profitable, especially after 1896. The major changes involved mechanization of technology and a shift toward output of high-grade consumer oriented products," such as milk, eggs and vegetables for the fast-growing urban markets. It took farmers a half century to appreciate the value of high-protein soybean crops. Introduced in the 1890s, acceptance was slow until 1943-52, when farmers in the southwestern counties expanded production. Farmers increasingly demanded more information on the best farming techniques. Their demands led to farm magazine and agricultural fairs. In 1868 the assembly created an agricultural museum, which morphed into the Ontario Agricultural CollegeOntario Agricultural College
The Ontario Agricultural College originated at the agricultural laboratories of the Toronto Normal School, and was officially founded in 1874 as an associate agricultural college of the University of Toronto...
in Guelph in 1874.
Commercial wine production began with an aristocrat from France Count Justin McCarthy De Courtenay in County Peel in the 1860s. His success followed from the realization that the right grapes could grow in the cold climate, producing an inexpensive good wine that could reach a commercial market. He gained government support and raised the capital for a commercial-scale vineyard and winery. His financial success encouraged others to enter the business.
Economic growth
MineralMineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
exploitation accelerated in the late 19th century, leading to the rise of important mining centres in the northeast like Sudbury, Cobalt
Cobalt, Ontario
Cobalt is a town in the district of Timiskaming, province of Ontario, Canada, with a population of 1,223 In 2001 Cobalt was named "Ontario's Most Historic Town" by a panel of judges on the TV Ontario program Studio 2, and in 2002 the area was designated a National Historic Site.-History:Silver was...
and Timmins
Timmins, Ontario
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
.
Energy policy focused on hydro-electric power, leading to the formation in 1906 of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario (HEPC), renamed Ontario Hydro
Ontario Hydro
Ontario Hydro was the official name from 1974 of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario which was established in 1906 by the provincial Power Commission Act to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity generated by private companies already operating at Niagara...
in 1974. HEPC was a unique hybrid of a government department, a crown corporation, and a municipal cooperative that coexisted with the existing private companies. It was a "politically rational" rather than a "technically efficient" solution that depended on the watershed election of 1905 when the main issue became "Niagara Power", with the Conservative slogan of "water power of Niagara should be free". The Conservatives replaced the Liberals and set up HEPC. In 1908 HEPC began purchasing electricity from Niagara Falls. In the next decade it purchased most of the privately owned distribution systems and built an integrated network. The availability of cheap electric power further facilitated the development of industry. The Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
of Canada was established in 1904. General Motors of Canada Ltd. was formed in 1918. The motor vehicle industry became by 1920 the most productive industry in Ontario and a customer for smaller suppliers.
Entrepreneurship was exemplified by the career John Northway (1848–1926). Beginning as a tailor in a small town, he moved to Toronto and soon developed a chain of department stores. His innovations in the sewing and marketing of ladies' wear enabled the emergence of a Canadian ladies' garment industry. Northway pioneered modern business methods and accounting methods. He innovated as well in labour relations, as a pioneer in sickness and accident compensation and profit-sharing schemes. A millionaire by 1910, he played a leading role in Toronto's civic life.
Modernizing medicine
Once they had taken control of the practice of medicine, the doctors on the Medical Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) turned their attention to the quality of medical education in Ontario. Marginal and untrained practitioners were banned, but the question rose of the permanence and the quality of propritory for-profit medical schools. CPSO imposed regulations to staring in the 1860s to increase faculty size and raise matriculation standards. They required students to take Council-administered examinations. Toronto had two medical schools - Trinity Medical School and the Toronto School of Medicine (TSM). During the 1880s the TSM added instructors, expanded its curriculum, and focused on clinical instruction. Enrollments grew at both both schools. Critics found proprietary schools lacking especially for their failure to offer sufficient instruction in the basic sciences. In 1887, the TSM became the medical faculty of the University of Toronto, increasing its emphasis on research within the medical curriculum. Trinity realized that its survival depended as well on close ties to basic science, and it in 1904 it also merged into the University of Toronto Faculty of MedicineUniversity of Toronto Faculty of Medicine
The Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto is the medical school of the University of Toronto. The faculty is based in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along with most of its teaching hospitals and research institutes. Founded in 1843, it is one of Canada's oldest institutions of...
. In 1923 J.J.R. Macleod (1876–1935) and Frederick Banting
Frederick Banting
Sir Frederick Grant Banting, KBE, MC, FRS, FRSC was a Canadian medical scientist, doctor and Nobel laureate noted as one of the main discoverers of insulin....
(1891–1941), researchers there won the Nobel Pr1ze in Medicine for their 1921 discovery of insulin, putting Toronto on the world map of avant-garde science.
Modernizing the police
Toronto, Hamilton, Berlin (Kirchner), Windsor and other cities modernized and professionalized their public services in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. No service was changed more dramatically than the police. The introduction of emergency telephone call boxes linked to a central dispatcher, plus bicycles, motorcycles and automobiles shifted the patrolman's duties from passively walking the beat to fast reaction to reported incidents, as well as handling automobile traffic. After 1930 the introduction of police radios speeded response times.Language war
In July 1912, the Conservative government of Sir James P. Whitney issued Regulation 17Regulation 17
Regulation 17 was a regulation of the Ontario Ministry of Education, issued in July 1912 by the Conservative government of premier Sir James P. Whitney. It restricted the use of French as a language of instruction to the first two years of schooling. It was amended in 1913, and it is that version...
which severely limited the availability of French-language schooling to the province's French-speaking minority. French could only be used in the first two years of schooling, and then only English was allowed. French-Canadians—growing rapidly in number in eastern Ontario because of migration, reacted with outrage, journalist Henri Bourassa
Henri Bourassa
Joseph-Napoléon-Henri Bourassa was a French Canadian political leader and publisher. He is seen by many as an ideological father of Canadian nationalism....
denouncing the "Prussians of Ontario". It was one of the key reasons the Francophones turned away from the war effort in 1915 and refused to enlist. Ontario's Catholics were led by the Irish, who united with the Protestants in opposing French schools. Regulation 17 was eventually repealed in 1927.
Conservation and heritage museums
The preservation of natural resources began with the passage of the Public Parks Act in 1883, which called for public parks in every town and city. Algonquin Provincial ParkAlgonquin Provincial Park
Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Central Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canada. Additions since its creation have increased...
, the first provincial park, was established in 1893. The creation of the provincial Department of Planning and Development in 1944 brought conservation offices throughout the province and made for an integrated approach. The conservation authorities started to create heritage museums, but that ended in the 1970s when responsibility was shifted to the new ministry of Culture and Recreation. Repeated budget cuts in the 1980s and 1990s reduced the operation of many museums and historical sites.
World War
The British element strongly supported the war with men, money and enthusiasm. So too did the Francophone element until it reversed position in 1915. The government doubted the loyalty of residents of German descent, as anti-German sentiment escalated. The City of Berlin was renamed KitchenerKitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
after Britain's top commander. Left wing antiwar activists also came under attack. In 1917-18 Isaac Bainbridge of Toronto, the dominion secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Canada
Social Democratic Party of Canada
The Social Democratic Party was a social democratic political party in Canada founded in 1911 by members of the right wing of the Socialist Party of Canada. these members were dissatisfied with what they saw as that party's rigid, doctrinaire approach...
and editor of its newspaper, Canadian Forward, was charged three times with seditious libel and once with possession of seditious material, and he was imprisoned twice.
Prohibition
Starting in the late 1870s the Ontario Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) wanted the schools to teach "scientific temperance," which reinforced moralistic temperance messages with the study of anatomy and hygiene, taught as a compulsory subject in schools. Although initially successful in convincing the Ontario Department of Education to adopt scientific temperance as part of the curriculum, teachers opposed the plan and refused to implement it. The WCTU then moved to dry up the province through government action. They started with "local option" laws, which allowed local governments to prohibit the sale of liquor. Many towns and rural areas went dry in the years before 1914, but not the larger cities.Anti-German sentiment after 1914 and the accession of Conservative William Hearst to the premiership made prohibition a major political issues. The Methodists and Baptists (but not the Anglicans or Catholics) demanded the province be made dry. The government introduced prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
of alcoholic sales in 1916 with the Ontario Temperance Act
Ontario Temperance Act
Ontario Temperance Act was a law passed in Ontario in 1916 to prohibit the sale of alcohol, a period known as Prohibition. This meant the province remained dry in legal terms, but smugglers continued to import alcohol into the province. The cause was the demand of religious elements led by women...
. However, drinking itself was never illegal and residents could distill and retain their own personal supply. Major liquor producers could continue distillation and export for sale, which allowed Ontario to become a center for the illegal smuggling of liquor into the United States, which after 1920 was under complete prohibition. The drys won a referendum in 1919. Prohibition came to an end in 1927 with the establishment of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario
Liquor Control Board of Ontario
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is a provincial Crown corporation in Ontario, Canada established in 1927 by Lieutenant Governor William Donald Ross, on the advice of his Premier, Howard Ferguson, to sell liquor, wine, and beer through a chain of retail stores...
by the Conservative government.
The sale and consumption of liquor, wine, and beer are still controlled to ensure that strict community standards and revenue generation from the alcohol retail monopoly are upheld. In April 2007, Ontario Minister of Provincial Parliament Kim Craitor
Kim Craitor
Kim Craitor is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the constituency of Niagara Falls for the Ontario Liberal Party.-Early life:...
suggested that local brewers should be able to sell their beer in local corner stores, however, the motion was quickly rejected by Premier Dalton McGuinty
Dalton McGuinty
Dalton James Patrick McGuinty, Jr., MPP is a Canadian lawyer, politician and, since October 23, 2003, the 24th and current Premier of the Canadian province of Ontario....
.
1920s
Premier Hearst had a number of progressive ideas planned for his next term, but his Conservatives were swept from power in 1919 by an avalanche led by a totally new farmer's party. The United Farmers of OntarioUnited Farmers of Ontario
The United Farmers of Ontario was a political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century.- Foundation and rise :...
with 45 seats formed a bare majority coalition with the trades union party, known as the "Ontario Independent Labour Party", with 11 seats. They made farm leader Ernest Drury premier, enforced prohibition, passed a mother's pension and minimum wage that Hearst had proposed, and promoted good roads in the rural areas. The farmers and unionists did not get along well and the 1923 election
Ontario general election, 1923
The Ontario general election, 1923 was the 16th general election held in the Province of Ontario, Canada. It was held on June 25, 1923, to elect the 111 Members of the 16th Legislative Assembly of Ontario ....
saw a sharp move to the right, with the Conservatives winning 50% of the vote and 75 seats of the 111 seats, making George Howard Ferguson premier.
When surveys of public health showed infant mortality rates were high in Ontario, particularly in the more rural and isolated areas, the provincial government teamed with middle-class public health reformers to take action. They launched an educational campaign to teach mothers to save and improve the lives of infants and young children, with the long-range goal of uplifting the average Canadian family.
Great Depression
Agriculture and industry alike suffered in the Great Depression in CanadaGreat Depression in Canada
Canada was hit hard by the Great Depression. Between 1929 and 1939, the gross national product dropped 40% . Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933...
; hardest hit were the lumbering regions, the auto plants and the steel mills. The milk industry suffered from price wars that hurt both dairy farmers and dairies. The government set up the Ontario Milk Control Board (MCB), which raised and stabilized prices through licensing, bonding, and fixed price agreements. The MCB resolved the crisis for the industry but consumers complained loudly. The government favoured producers over consumers as the industry rallied behind the MCB.
Following a massive defeat in 1934 by the Liberals, the Conservatives reorganized themselves over the next decade. Led by pragmatic leaders Cecil Frost, George Drew, Alex McKenzie, and Fred Gardiner, they minimized internal conflicts, quietly dropped laissez-faire positions and opted in favor of state intervention to deal with the Great Depression and encourage economic growth. The revised party declared loyalty to the Empire, called for comprehensive health care and pension programs, and sought more provincial autonomy. The reforms set the stage for a long run of election wins from 1943 onward.
Postwar
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
period was one of exceptional prosperity and growth. Ontario, and the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
in particular, have been the recipients of most immigration to Canada, largely immigrants from post war Europe in the 1950s and 1960s and after changes in federal immigration law
Immigration law
Immigration law refers to national government policies which control the phenomenon of immigration to their country.Immigraton law, regarding foreign citizens, is related to nationality law, which governs the legal status of people, in matters such as citizenship...
, a massive influx of non-Europeans since the 1970s. From a largely ethnically British province, Ontario has rapidly become very culturally diverse.
Politics
The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party held power in the province from 1943 until 1985 by occupying the political center and isolating both the Left and Right, at a time when Liberals most often controlled Ottawa.By contrast the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section)
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation – The Farmer-Labor Party of Ontario, or more informally and commonly known as The Ontario CCF, was a democratic socialist political party that existed from 1932 to 1961. It was the provincial wing of the National CCF. The party officially had no leader in...
, which rebranded itself as the New Democratic Party (NDP)
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...
in 1961, was in the doldrums after the war. Its best showing was in 1948
Ontario general election, 1948
The Ontario general election of 1948 was held on June 7, 1948, to elect the 90 members of the 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
when it elected 21 MPPs, and formed the official opposition. Purists said its decline resulted from a loss of Socialist purity and abandonment of the founding left-wing principles of the movement and party. They said democratic socialist activity in terms of activism, youth training, and volunteerism was lost in favor of authoritarian political bureaucracy. Moderates said the decline demonstrated the need for cooperation with Liberals. Political scientists said the party lacked a more coherent organizational base if it was to survive. The NDP routinely captured 20-some percent of the vote, save for its surprise win in 1990
Ontario general election, 1990
The Ontario general election of 1990 was held on September 6, 1990, to elect members of the 35th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada....
when it surged briefly to 38%, won 75 of the 120 seats, and formed a government under Bob Rae
Bob Rae
Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
. He served as premier but Ontario's labour unions, the backbone of the NDP, were outraged when Rae imposed pay cuts on unionized public workers. The NDP was defeated in 1995
Ontario general election, 1995
The Ontario general election of 1995 was held on June 8, 1995, to elect members of the 36th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada...
, falling back to 21% of the vote. Rae quit the NDP in 1998 as too leftist and joined the Liberals.
Toronto as business center
Toronto replaced Montreal as the nation's premier business center because the nationalist movement in Quebec, particularly with the success of the Parti QuébécoisParti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
in 1976, systematically drove Anglophone business away. Depressed economic conditions in the Maritime Provinces
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
have also resulted in de-population of those provinces in the 20th century, with heavy migration into Ontario.
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
French Language Services Act
The French Language Services Act is a law in the province of Ontario, Canada which is intended to protect the rights of Franco-Ontarians, or French-speaking people, in the province....
of 1990 in designated areas where sizable francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
populations exist.
Roads and travel
The rapid spread of automobiles after 1910 and the building of roads, especially after 1920, opened up opportunities in remote rural areas to travel to the towns and cities for shopping and services. City people moved outward to suburbs. By the 1920s it was common for city folk to have a vacation cottage in remote lake areas. The trend accelerated after 1945 and brought new money into remote areas, while also bringing negative environmental impacts and occasional conflict between cottagers and the permanent residents.General
- The Dictionary of Canadian Biography (1966–2006), thousands of scholarly biographies of notables who died by 1930
- Canadian Encyclopedia (2008) reliable detailed encyclopedia, on-line free
- Celebrating One Thousand Years of Ontario's History: Proceedings of the Celebrating One Thousand Years of Ontario's History Symposium, April 14, 15, and 16, 2000. Ontario Historical Society, 2000. 343 pp.
- Baskerville, Peter A. Sites of Power: A Concise History of Ontario. Oxford U. Press., 2005. 296 pp. (first edition was Ontario: Image, Identity and Power, 2002). online review
- Hall, Roger; Westfall, William; and MacDowell, Laurel Sefton, eds. Patterns of the Past: Interpreting Ontario's History. Dundurn Pr., 1988. 406 pp.
- McGowan, Mark George and Clarke, Brian P., eds. Catholics at the "Gathering Place": Historical Essays on the Archdiocese of Toronto, 1841-1991. Canadian Catholic Historical Assoc.; Dundurn, 1993. 352 pp.
- McKillop, A. B. Matters of Mind: The University in Ontario, 1791-1951. U. of Toronto Press, 1994. 716 pp.
- Mays, John Bentley. Arrivals: Stories from the History of Ontario. Penguin Books Canada, 2002. 418 pp.
Geography and environment
- Berton, Pierre. Niagara: A History of the Falls. (1992).
- Brown, Ron,Top 100 Unusual Things to See in Ontario (2007) excerpt and text search
- Cruickshank, Tom, and John de Visser. Old Ontario Houses : Traditions in Local Architecture (2000)
- Freeman, Neil B. The Politics of Power: Ontario Hydro and its Government, 1906-1995 (1996)
- MacPherson, Allen. Ontario Provincial Parks Trail Guide (2005)briefly describes the 325 interpretive and hiking trails found in 86 operating Ontario Provincial Parks excerpt and text search
- Nelles, H. V. The Politics of Development: Forests Mines & Hydro-Electric Power in Ontario, 1849-1941 (2005)
- Rawlings-Way, Charles, and Natalie Karneef.Toronto (2007)
Ontario to 1869
- Akenson, Donald H. The Irish in Ontario: A Study in Rural History (2009)
- Careless, J. M. S. Brown of the Globe (2 vols, Toronto, 1959–63), vol 1: The Voice of Upper Canada 1818-1859; vol 2: The Statesman of Confederation 1860-1880.
- Clarke, John. Land Power and Economics on the Frontier of Upper Canada McGill-Queen's University Press (2001) 747pp.
- Cohen, Marjorie Griffin. Women's Work, Markets, and Economic Development in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1988. 258 pp.
- Craig, Gerald M Upper Canada: the formative years 1784-1841 McClelland and Stewart, 1963, the standard history online edition
- Craven, Paul, ed. Labouring Lives: Work and Workers in Nineteenth-Century Ontario (University of Toronto Press, 1995)
- Dunham, Eileen Political unrest in Upper Canada 1815-1836 McClelland and Stewart, 1963.
- Errington, Jane The Lion, the Eagle, and Upper Canada: A Developing Colonial Ideology McGill-Queen's University Press, 1987.
- Forkey, Neil. Shaping the Upper Canadian Frontier: Environment, Society and Culture in the Trent Valley (2003)
- Gidney, R. D. and Millar, W. P. J. Professional Gentlemen: The Professions in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1994.
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- Johnson, J. K. and Wilson, Bruce G., eds. Historical Essays on Upper Canada: New Perspectives. Carleton U. Press, (1975). . 604 pp.
- Keane, David and Read, Colin, ed. Old Ontario: Essays in Honour of J. M. S. Careless. Toronto: Dundurn, 1990.
- Kilbourn, William.; The Firebrand: William Lyon Mackenzie and the Rebellion in Upper Canada (1956) online edition
- Knowles, Norman. Inventing the Loyalists: The Ontario Loyalist Tradition and the Creation of Usable Pasts. U. of Toronto Press, 1997. 244 pp.
- Kristofferson, Robert. Craft Capitalism: Craftsworkers and Early Industrialization in Hamilton, Ontario (Canadian Social History Series) (2007)
- Landon, Fred, and J.E. Middleton. Province of Ontario: A History (1937) 4 vol. with 2 vol of history and 2 vol. of biographies
- Lewis, Frank and Urquhart, M.C. Growth and standard of living in a pioneer economy: Upper Canada 1826-1851 Institute for Economic Research, Queen's University, 1997.
- McCalla, Douglas Planting the province: the economic history of Upper Canada 1784-1870 (U. of Toronto Press, 1993)
- McGowan, Mark G. Michael Power: The Struggle to Build the Catholic Church on the Canadian Frontier. (McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2005). 382 pp.
- McNairn, Jeffrey L The capacity to judge: public opinion and deliberative democracy in Upper Canada 1791-1854 (U of Toronto Press, 2000).
- Marks, Lynne. Revivals and Roller Rinks: Religion, Leisure and Identity in Late-Nineteenth-Century Small-Town Ontario (U. of Toronto Press, 1996)
- Moorman, David T. "Where are the English and the Americans in the Historiography of Upper Canada?" Ontario History 88 (1996): 65–9; claims they have been deliberately left out by historians
- Noel, S. J. R. Patrons, Clients, Brokers: Ontario Society and Politics, 1791-1896 (1990)
- Oliver, Peter. "Terror to Evil-Doers": Prisons and Punishments in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. (U. of Toronto Press, 1998). 575 pp. post 1835
- Rea, J. Edgar. "Rebellion in Upper Canada, 1837" Manitoba Historical Society Transactions Series 3, Number 22, 1965–66, historiography online edition
- Reid, Richard M. The Upper Ottawa Valley to 1855. Champlain Soc., 1990. 354 pp.
- Rogers, Edward S. and Smith, Donald B., eds. Aboriginal Ontario: Historical Perspectives on the First Nations. Dundurn, 1994. 448 pp.
- Smart, Susan. A Better Place: Death and Burial in Nineteenth-Century Ontario (2011)
- Styran, Roberta M. and Taylor, Robert R., ed. The "Great Swivel Link": Canada's Welland Canal. Champlain Soc., 2001. 494 pp.
- Westfall, William. Two Worlds: The Protestant Culture of Nineteenth-Century Ontario. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1989. 265 pp.
- Wilton, Carol. Popular Politics and Political Culture in Upper Canada, 1800-1850. McGill-Queen's University Press, (2000). 311pp
Ontario since 1869
- Abel, Kerry M.Changing Places: History, Community, and Identity in Northeastern Ontario (2007) excerpt and text search
- Azoulay, Dan. Keeping the Dream Alive: The Survival of the Ontario CCF/NDP, 1950-1963. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1997. 307 pp.
- Baskerville, Peter A. A Silent Revolution?: Gender and Wealth in English Canada, 1860-1930 (2009)
- Cameron, David R. and White, Graham. Cycling into Saigon: The Conservative Transition in Ontario. U. of British Columbia Press, 2000. 224 pp. Analysis of the 1995 transition from New Democratic Party (NDP) to Progressive Conservative (PC) rule in Ontario
- Campbell, Lara. Respectable Citizens: Gender, Family, and Unemployment in Ontario's Great Depression (2009)
- Carbert, Louise I. Agrarian Feminism: The Politics of Ontario Farm Women (1995)
- Chenier, Elise Rose. Strangers in Our Midst: Sexual Deviancy in Post-war Ontario (2008)
- Comacchio, Cynthia R. Nations Are Built of Babies: Saving Ontario's Mothers and Children, 1900-1940. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1993. 390 pp.
- Cook, Sharon Anne. "Through Sunshine and Shadow": The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Evangelicalism, and Reform in Ontario, 1874-1930. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1995. 281 pp.
- Darroch, Gordon and Soltow, Lee. Property and Inequality in Victorian Ontario: Structural Patterns and Cultural Communities in the 1871 Census. U. of Toronto Press, 1994. 280 pp.
- Devlin, John F. "A Catalytic State? Agricultural Policy in Ontario, 1791-2001." PhD dissertation U. of Guelph 2004. 270 pp. DAI 2005 65(10): 3972-A. DANQ94970 Fulltext: in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
- Evans, A. Margaret. Sir Oliver Mowat. U. of Toronto Press, 1992. 438 pp. Premier 1872-1896
- Fleming, Keith R. Power at Cost: Ontario Hydro and Rural Electrification, 1911-1958. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1992. 326 pp.
- Gidney, R. D. From Hope to Harris: The Reshaping of Ontario's Schools. U. of Toronto Press, 1999. 362 pp. deals with debates and changes in education from 1950 to 2000
- Gidney, R. D. and Millar, W. P. J. Inventing Secondary Education: The Rise of the High School in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 1990. 440 pp.
- Halpern, Monda. And on that Farm He Had a Wife: Ontario Farm Women and Feminism, 1900-1970. McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2001. 234 pp.
- Hines, Henry G. East of Adelaide: Photographs of Commercial, Industrial and Working-Class Urban Ontario, 1905-1930. London Regional Art and History Museum, 1989.
- Hodgetts, J. E. From Arm's Length to Hands-On: The Formative Years of Ontario's Public Service, 1867-1940. U. of Toronto Press, 1995. 296 pp.
- Houston, Susan E. and Prentice, Alison. Schooling and Scholars in Nineteenth-Century Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1988. 418 pp.
- Ibbitson, John. Promised Land: Inside the Mike Harris Revolution. Prentice-Hall, 1997. 294 pp. praise for Conservatives
- Kechnie, Margaret C. Organizing Rural Women: the Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario, 1897-1910. (McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2003). 194 pp.
- Kozolanka, Kirsten. The Power of Persuasion: The Politics of the New Right in Ontario (2006)
- Landon, Fred, and J.E. Middleton. Province of Ontario: A History (1937) 4 vol. with 2 vol of biographies
- Manthorpe, Jonathan. The power & the Tories: Ontario politics, 1943 to the present (1974)
- Marks, Lynne. Revivals and Roller Rinks: Religion, Leisure and Identity in Late Nineteenth-Century Small-Town Ontario. U. of Toronto Press, 1996. 330 pp.
- Montigny, Edgar-Andre, and Lori Chambers, eds. Ontario since Confederation: A Reader (University of Toronto Press, 2000).
- Moss, Mark. Manliness and Militarism: Educating Young Boys in Ontario for War. (Oxford U. Press, 2001). 216 pp.
- Neatby, H. Blair and McEown, Don. Creating Carleton: The Shaping of a University. (McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2002). 240 pp.
- Ontario Bureau of Statistics and Research. A Conspectus of the Province of Ontario (1947) online edition
- Parr, Joy, ed. A Diversity of Women: Ontario, 1945-1980. (U. of Toronto Press, 1996). 335 pp.
- Ralph, Diana; Régimbald, André; and St-Amand, Nérée, eds. Open for Business, Closed for People: Mike Harris's Ontario. Fernwood, 1997. 207 pp. leftwing attack on Conservative party of 1990s
- Roberts, David. In the Shadow of Detroit: Gordon M. McGregor, Ford of Canada, and Motoropolis. (Wayne State U. Press, 2006). 320 pp.
- Santink, Joy L. Timothy Eaton and the Rise of His Department Store. (U. of Toronto Press, 1990). 319 pp.
- Saywell, John T. "Just Call Me Mitch": The Life of Mitchell F. Hepburn. U. of Toronto Press, 1991. 637 pp. Biography of Liberal premier 1934-1942
- Schryer, Frans J. The Netherlandic Presence in Ontario: Pillars, Class and Dutch Ethnicity. Wilfrid Laurier U. Press, 1998. 458 pp. focus is post WW2
- Schull, Joseph. Ontario since 1867 (1978), narrative history
- Smith, Edward. "Working-Class Anglicans: Religion and Identity in Victorian and Edwardian Hamilton, Ontario," Social History/Histoire Sociale, 2003 online edition
- Stagni, Pellegrino. The View from Rome: Archbishop Stagni's 1915 Reports on the Ontario Bilingual Schools Question McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2002. 134 pp.
- Warecki, George M. Protecting Ontario's Wilderness: A History of Changing Ideas and Preservation Politics, 1927-1973.' Lang, 2000. 334 pp.
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Primary sources
- Baskerville, Peter, ed. The Upper Ottawa Valley to 1855: A collection of documents (1990)