Ontario

This article is about the province of Canada. For other uses, see Ontario (disambiguation).

Ontario is a province of Canada. It is in the eastern half of Canada, between Manitoba and Quebec. Ontario has the most people of any province, with over 16,000,000 in 2025, and is home to the biggest city in Canada, Toronto, which is also the capital of the province.

Ontario
Province
Flag Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet  (Latin) "Loyal she began, loyal she remains"
BC AB SK MB ON QC NB PE NS NL YT NT NU
Coordinates: 49°15′N 84°30′W[1]
Country	Canada
Confederation	July 1, 1867 (1st, with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec)
Capital	Toronto
Largest city	Toronto
Largest metro	Greater Toronto Area
Government
• Type	Parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Lieutenant Governor	Edith Dumont
• Premier	Doug Ford (PC)
Legislature	Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Federal representation	Parliament of Canada
House seats	121 of 338 (35.8%)
Senate seats	24 of 105 (22.9%)
Area  (2021 land)[3]
• Total	1,076,395 km2 (415,598 sq mi)
• Land	892,411.76 km2 (344,562.11 sq mi)
• Water	158,654 km2 (61,257 sq mi)  14.7%
• Rank	Ranked 4th
	10.8% of Canada
Population  (2021)
• Total	14,223,942[4]
• Estimate  (2025 Q1)	16,182,641[5]
• Rank	Ranked 1st
• Density	15.94/km2 (41.3/sq mi)
Demonym	Ontarian[6]
Official languages	English[7]
GDP
• Rank	1st
• Total (2022)	CA$1,044.670 billion[8]
• Per capita	CA$69,288 (8th)
HDI
• HDI (2021)	0.943[9]—Very high (3rd)
Time zones
East of 90th meridian west	UTC−05:00 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (EDT)
West of 90th meridian west, except Atikokan and Pickle Lake	UTC−06:00 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−05:00 (CDT)
Atikokan and Pickle Lake (No DST)	UTC−05:00 (EST)
Postal abbr.	ON
Postal code prefix	K L M N P
ISO 3166 code	CA-ON
Flower	White trillium
Tree	Eastern white pine
Bird	Common loon
Rankings include all provinces and territories

Ontario also has the 2nd largest land area, with 1,076,395 kilometers; only Quebec is larger by size. (Nunavut and Northwest Territories are also larger, but are called territories and not provinces). Along this border are four large lakes called Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior. They each are partly in Ontario and partly in the United States, and the border runs through them, but not Lake Michigan, which is entirely in the United States. These five lakes are together are called the Great Lakes.

There are a number of symbols that represent the province of Ontario. The flag is red with the United Kingdom in the top left corner and the provincial shield is on the right hand side of the flag. The provincial bird is the loon, and the provincial flower is the trillium. It has 3 flower petals and it is usually white but some times is pink or purple.

History

Ontario became part of Canada when it was created in 1867. Before 1840, it was known as Upper Canada, which was a colony in the British Empire. Between 1840 and 1867 it was known as Canada West. The government of Ontario sits at Queen's Park in Toronto. The leader of the government is called the Premier, and the current Premier is Doug Ford. There is also a Lieutenant Governor who represents the Queen, and the current Lieutenant Governor is Edith Dumont.

Geography

Ontario is very large, so sometimes people break it into two. The two parts are called Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. Most of the people in Ontario live in the south, and that is where the big cities are. The big cities in Southern Ontario are Toronto and the rest of the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa and the National Capital Region, Hamilton, London, Windsor, and Sarnia. The cities in the north are smaller. In the far north of Ontario hardly any people live at all, and there are no roads or railways making it difficult to even get to those places.

Much of Ontario gets lots of snow in the winter. In the summer, it can get very hot in the south parts. In some big cities, there is smog in the summer.

Ontario borders the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Quebec and the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.