1.
Canada's Wonderland
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Canadas Wonderland is a 330-acre theme park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a suburb approximately 40 kilometres north of Downtown Toronto. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and The Great-West Life Assurance Company as the first major park in Canada. The park, currently owned by Cedar Fair, has been the most visited amusement park in North America for several consecutive years. As a seasonal park, Canadas Wonderland is open daily from May to September, with openings in late April, October. With sixteen roller coasters, Canadas Wonderland is ranked second in the world by number of coasters, after Six Flags Magic Mountain. The 330-acre park includes a 20-acre water park named Splash Works, the park holds Halloween Haunt, a Halloween-themed event, each fall, as well as special events throughout the season. The park was owned by Paramount Parks from 1993 to 2006, when Cedar Fair purchased the park in 2006, Paramount was dropped from the title. In 2015, it was the second most visited park in the Cedar Fair chain, behind Knotts Berry Farm, when Canadas Wonderland was planned the region lacked a seasonal amusement park. In 1972, the Taft Broadcasting Company, headed by Kelly Robinson, first proposed building a 330-acre theme park in the small village of Maple, part of Vaughan. Others had seriously considered the Greater Toronto Area as a spot to build a theme park, Walt Disney also considered the idea before choosing Florida, rejecting Toronto mainly because the climate was too cold, making the operating season too short to be profitable. Construction of the park was opposed on multiple fronts, other groups that fought the building of Wonderland included a Vaughan residential association called SAVE, which thought the increased traffic would reduce property values. People in the region were concerned that the new park would be similar in aesthetics to a carnival or midway, some of the concessions the company made included a landscaped berm around the park to reduce noise and modifying the appearance of the large parking lot. Taft was concerned about opposition and flew a group of opponents and regional councilors to Mason, Canadas Wonderland was also responsible for changing the master development plan for the province of Ontario. This infrastructure paved the way for increased development throughout the region, concerns were also raised about the cultural implications of allowing an American theme park to open in Canada. Many felt that it would be a Trojan Horse for American culture, to counter the criticism, Taft planned to open Frontier Canada, a part of the park devoted to Canadas history. Early park maps show the area encompassing what is now Splash Works, White Water Canyon, the F/X Theatre, Taft also proposed including a steam passenger train. While Frontier Canada was never built, several original themes remain in the area, unlike its sister parks, Kings Island and Kings Dominion, it was decided early that the centrepiece of the park would not be a replica of Pariss famous Eiffel Tower. Instead, the designers chose to build a massive mountain, known as Wonder Mountain
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Provinces and territories of Canada
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Canadas geography is divided into administrative divisions known as provinces and territories that are responsible for delivery of sub-national governance. Over its history, Canadas international borders have changed several times, the ten provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Several of the provinces were former British colonies, Quebec was originally a French colony, the three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, which govern the rest of the area of the former British North America. Together, the provinces and territories make up the worlds second-largest country by area, the powers flowing from the Constitution Act are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively. In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign divisions, the territories are not sovereign, but simply part of the federal realm, and have a commissioner who represents the federal government. Notes, There are three territories in Canada, unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, the following table lists the territories in order of precedence. Prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were united as the Province of Canada, over the following years, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces. The Hudsons Bay Company controlled large swathes of western Canada referred to as Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory until 1870, subsequently, the area was re-organized into the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. The remaining Arctic islands were transferred by Britain to Canada in 1880,1898 saw the Yukon Territory, later renamed simply as Yukon, carved from the parts of the Northwest Territories surrounding the Klondike gold fields. On September 1,1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60th parallel north became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba were expanded northward, Manitobas to the 60° parallel, Ontarios to Hudson Bay, in 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status. In the middle of the Great Depression in Canada with Newfoundland facing a period of economic crisis. In 2001, it was officially renamed Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1903, the Alaska Panhandle Dispute fixed British Columbias northwestern boundary. This was one of two provinces in Canadian history to have its size reduced. In 1999, Nunavut was created from the portion of the Northwest Territories. Yukon lies in the portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east. All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada, covering 3,921,739 km2 in land area and they are often referred to as a single region, The North, for organisational and economic purposes
4.
Ontario
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Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada. It is Canadas most populous province by a margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and it is home to the nations capital city, Ottawa, and the nations most populous city, Toronto. There is only about 1 km of land made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes divided into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontarios population and arable land is located in the south, in contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested. The province is named after Lake Ontario, a thought to be derived from Ontarí, io, a Huron word meaning great lake, or possibly skanadario. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes, the province consists of three main geographical regions, The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes, Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the north and northeast, mainly swampy. Southern Ontario which is further sub-divided into four regions, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level located in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands, the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment, the Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 87 percent of the area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario that is the southernmost extent of Canadas mainland, Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the border of California. The climate of Ontario varies by season and location, the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontarios climate is classified as humid continental, Ontario has three main climatic regions
5.
Regional Municipality of York
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The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. It replaced the former York County in 1971, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area, the regional government is headquartered in Newmarket. The 2011 census population was 1,032,524, surpassing the mark of one million. At the Canada 2011 Census,53,989 residents inhabited rural areas in the municipality,67,551 resided in urban areas. Its growth rate of 15. 7% from 2006 to 2011 was the sixth highest amongst all census divisions in Canada, and the Government of Ontario expects its population to surpass 1.5 million residents by 2031. At a meeting in Richmond Hill on 6 May 1970, officials representing the municipalities of York County approved plans for the creation of a government entity to replace York County. The plan had been presented in 1969 by Darcy McKeough, the Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs, the Regional Municipality of York was created by Act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1970, which took effect on January 1,1971. The eastern boundary of the new town of Markham was defined to be at Yonge Street, the townships of Georgina, North Gwillimbury, and Sutton were merged into the township of Georgina, and the East Gwillimbury neighbourhood of East Gwillimbury Heights was merged into Newmarket. The boundary between Aurora and Newmarket was defined to be St. Johns Sideroad, and Newmarkets northern boundary was defined to be Green Lane. The growth centres were each restricted to grow to a population of 25,000 by 2000. The municipal realignment merged 40% of East Gwillimburys population into Newmarket, the council of East Gwillimbury voted to amalgamate with Newmarket, but Newmarket council opposed the amalgamation. In the plan presented by McKeough, the councils of the towns of Newmarket, the internal municipal realignments resulted in some politicians residing in a new municipality from that which they represented at the time of realignment. York Region covers 1,762 square kilometres from Lake Simcoe in the north to the city of Toronto in the south and its eastern border is shared with Durham Region, to the west is Peel Region, and Simcoe County is to the northwest. A detailed map of the region showing its major roads, communities, York Regions landscape includes farmlands, wetlands and kettle lakes, the Oak Ridges Moraine and over 2,070 hectares of regional forest, in addition to the built-up areas of its municipalities. York Region is situated on a continental climate with warm summers. The region is governed by a known as York Regional Council. Wayne Emmerson, a mayor of Whitchurch-Stouffville, was elected to this office in December,2014. In October 2008, the York Regional Municipality was named one of Greater Torontos Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc, the economy of York Region is diverse
6.
Concord, Ontario
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Concord is a suburban industrial neighbourhood in the City of Vaughan in York Region, located north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. According to the 2001 Census, the neighbourhood has 8,255 residents and it is accessed by two provincial highways, Highway 407 and Highway 400. Concord is bordered by Steeles Avenue to the south, Black Creek to the west, housing developments also began in the 1950s, east of Keele Street, as well as construction of a Canadian National Railway by-pass of Toronto with a 4 km freight yard, MacMillan Yard. This decade also saw an industrial park added near Jane Street, in the 1970s, the industrialization of the northern part of the Greater Toronto Area began. The area east of Keele consists of industrialized buildings and a plaza on Highway 7, a residential area, Glen Shields, was built in the 1970s and 1980s in the southeast, west of Dufferin. 1992 also saw the commencement of the construction of Highway 407, another residential section, Dufferin Hill, was built in the 2000s in the northeast, near Dufferin and Rutherford. In the early 2000s, construction of the Vaughan Mills shopping mall began, being completed in 2004. Until the opening of Canadas Wonderland in nearby Maple, Concord had only one interchange, at Highway 7, three more interchanges were opened on the 407 Express Toll Route in 1997. A partial interchange, connecting the 400 with Vaughan Mills, opened several years later, today, Concord has eight interchanges, of which three connect with the toll highway, two are partial, one is a four-level stack and the other two connect to the 400. A plan for an interchange at Centre Street was proposed, much of Concord is industrial while empty spaces remain in the southern part, in the Black Creek and 407 area, and along the CN railway line. Mixed forests are located in the north and within Black Creek, one tract of forest is located to the northwest. All main roads except for Langstaff east of Creditstone Road are four-lane roadways, Concord is a hub, second only to Mississauga in size. Many large multi-national and domestic corporations have headquarters in Concord and its access to several major highways and the strength and skill of its workforce is a key factor in the locations of these businesses. The draft Concord GO Centre secondary plan was presented in a house for the public on 4 November 2013. The area to be developed consists of the immediately adjacent to the intersection of Highway 7. The plan enables the location of a station for the Barrie line. Creation of the station and its location are the responsibility of GO Transit, the plan also provides for a Vivanext station, but does not incorporate it into the design. Glen Shields Public School Forest Run Public School Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic School
7.
Kleinburg
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Kleinburg is an unincorporated village in the city of Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, an art gallery with a focus on the Group of Seven, and the Kortright Centre for Conservation. In 2001, the village and its surrounding communities had a population of 4,595, Kleinburg comprises a narrow section of hilly landscape situated between two branches of the Humber River. The historic village is bounded by Highway 27 on the west, Kleinburg has subsumed the nearby hamlet of Nashville. The village is located between two branches of the Humber River, and features dense forests throughout its 1.05 km² of land area and its northern and western peripheries are primarily agricultural. Kleinburg was founded in 1848 by John Nicholas Kline, a German-Canadian settler, a direct German translation of Kleinburg is small castle. Residents argue that the community of Kleinburg could be named after its founder or after its landscape, in its early days, Kleinburg was dependent on its many flour and wheat mills, located off the Humber River. Kleinburg has historically been a small, quiet town, but now attracts many affluent visitors, housing developments began in the 1950s in the west and continued in the 1970s southeast of Kleinburg. Other developments occurred in 1993 in the south,1998 in the northeast, during its major expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s, many new large homes were built. The historic commercial district of Kleinburg has many buildings, as well as modern developments with mixed residential and commercial uses. Main street has shops, restaurants, and national chains including Subway, Starbucks. Its oldest extant building, built in 1867, is home of The Doctors House restaurant, local attractions include McMichael Art Gallery, Kortright Centre, Humber River Trails, and Binder Twine Park, Copper Creek Golf Course. Most of these settled in Kleinburg before 1971, Kleinburg is not an incorporated entity, it has no political jurisdiction and no geopolitically-defined boundaries. Residents vote for a councillor in ward 1 of Vaughan City Council, the community of Nashville, though distinct from Kleinburg, is considered part of Kleinburg. Residents of Nashville receive many of their services, such as postal and medical services, most non-Catholic students were once bused to nearby King City Secondary School in King City. Since the opening of Emily Carr Secondary School, busing was eliminated, there are not enough students for Kleinburgs own secondary school. However, there is a school in the area, known as The Hill Academy. In 2008, the oldest and most historical school, Kleinburg Public Elementary school, was demolished and this tradition began in 1890 by Charles Shaw Jr. who distributed binder twine to local farmers
8.
Maple, Ontario
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Maple is a high-growth suburban community, part of the city of Vaughan, Ontario in York Region, northwest of Toronto. The west branch of the Don River rises to the northwest, several creeks are to the east and the Black Creek begins slightly west of Vellore. The Oak Ridges Moraine is to the northeast which supplies a lot of water to the Greater Toronto Area, Black Creek flows in the west, the Don River flows to the northern and the eastern part. York University Keele Campus lies to the south of Steeles Avenue, Maple has a continental climate moderated by the Great Lakes and influenced by warm, moist air masses from the south, and cold, dry air from the north. Maple is accessed by its cross streets, Major Mackenzie Drive. The nearest major highway exit is 3 km west at Highway 400 and Major Mackenzie with access also at Highway 400, the industrial areas are south and west of Maple, closer to Highway 407, and the Canadian National yards north of Highway 7. Maple is located 13 km NE of Woodbridge,11 km E of Kleinburg 8 km S of King City,6.5 km from downtown Richmond Hill 12 km NW of Thornhill N of Highway 401, and SSE of Barrie. Maple is accessed by the GO Transit Barrie commuter line, with stations at Maple. Toronto Transit Commission, York Region Transit, and GO Transit buses serve the area, the Maple GO Station, built in 1903 by the Grand Trunk Railroad, is a federally designated a heritage railway station. Maple formerly had an airport in the west, the Maple Airport. The runways ran diagonally like the letter x, the runway from northwest to southeast was the longer, streets like Avro, Lockheed, and Mustang on the site of the airport are named after airplanes. In 2006 Maple gained bus-rapid-transit service under York Regions Transit system, the founding families of Maple were the Noble and the Rupert families. The Nobles settled around the present Major Mackenzie Drive and Keele Street intersection in the half of the 19th century. In 1852 the town was called Noble’s Corner after Joseph Noble, later, a Doctor Rupert lived in Maple and was such a respected member of the community that the town’s name was changed to Rupertsville. Local folklore associates the name Maple with the numerous Maple trees once found along Keele Street in the town, Maple was dominated for most of the 19th century by the more prosperous towns of Sherwood and Teston. Keele Street was then a swamp area that forced most travelers to take alternate routes. Once the Ontario, Huron, and Simcoe Railway built a line through Maple, the station was then called Richmond Hill. The Canadian National Railway bought the line in early 1900 and the station was renamed Maple, Maple, as a centre of agriculture, was enhanced with the proximity of the CNR line, as well as the growing urban development of Toronto
9.
Thornhill, Ontario
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Thornhill is a neighbourhood in the Regional Municipality of York in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is along Torontos northern border and bisected by Yonge Street—thus, once a police village, Thornhill is now a community and postal designation. According to the 2001 Census, Thornhill-Vaughans population was 56,361, and it is immediately south and south-west of Richmond Hill. Its first settlers on Yonge Street in Thornhill were Asa Johnson, of particular importance was the arrival of Benjamin Thorne in 1820 from Dorset, England, who was operating a gristmill, a sawmill, and a tannery in the community. The settlement came to be known as Thornes Mills, and later, Thornes Hill, between 1830 and 1848, Thornhill experienced a period of continued growth and prosperity. The business district of Thornhill developed on its portion of Yonge Street, stagecoaches travelled between Holland Landing and York as Yonge Streets road conditions improved with new stonework. During this prosperous period, several churches, many of which are standing today, were constructed. Thornhills location along Yonge Street, a transportation route, proved beneficial to the communitys growth throughout much of the twentieth century. By the 1920s, automobiles also facilitated travel along Yonge Street, before 1931, each township administered its half of the village. The creation of the Police Village gave Thornhill its own political boundaries, the village was headed by a reeve. The establishment of an administration effectively eliminated the Police Village of Thornhill. Thornhills administration reverted to the newly formed towns of Markham and Vaughan at this time, however, many political and social institutions remained organized around the former municipal entities eliminated in 1971. As an example, until the residents of Thornhill residents who wanted to play high-level hockey were required to play for a Thornhill team. Thornhills growth since the 1960s and 1970s has been connected to its location bordering what is now the City of Toronto. Developments have sprung up across various areas of Thornhill in each of the districts which encompass Thornhill. Thornhill has an ethnically diverse population. It is home to a significant number of Jewish, Chinese, Korean, Iranian, according to the 2009 Report of Canadas Demographic Task Force, Thornhill-Vaughan is home to more than 33,000 members of the Jewish community. Thornhill is a federal and provincial riding, the Member of Parliament for Thornhill is Peter Kent, and the Member of Provincial Parliament is Gila Martow
10.
Woodbridge, Ontario
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Woodbridge is a large suburban community in the City of Vaughan, just north of Toronto in Southern Ontario. Situated West of Hwy 400 and East of Hwy 50, North of Steeles Ave and it was once an independent town before being amalgamated with nearby communities to form the city in 1971. Its traditional downtown core is the Woodbridge Avenue stretch between Islington Avenue and Kipling Avenue north of Highway 407. The community had its origins with the British Crown granting the west half of lots six and seven, concession 7 of Vaughan Township to Jacob Philips and Hugh Cameron in 1802. During the early half the 19th century, a school was built on Vaughans eighth concession, and a mill and store flourished at Pine Grove. A scattering of houses arose around Smiths mill, Smiths mill later became known as Smithsville, but was eventually incorporated into the town of Woodbridge. A similar settlement, known as Brownsville, came into being around a run by John Brown on the Humber River on what is today Wallace Street in todays downtown Woodbridge business section. Woodbridge proper, however, did not begin to take the form of a settlement or village until the arrival of Rowland Burr in 1837, the towns name was changed to Woodbridge in 1855 because there was already a settlement named Burrwick. The name was taken from the bridge that crossed the Humber River as an entry point into town. The historic bridge was located close to what is today Islington Avenue and Langstaff Road, a replica bridge circa 1930 made out of concrete remains close to the original bridge location and is accessible from Boyd Park and to a city maintenance facility. However, it has not been maintained for decades and is dangerous to stand on, the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway arrived from Weston in 1870. This line was constructed as a gauge railway through Caledon. Owing to financial difficulty, it was operated by the Grand Trunk Railway until 1883, conversion to standard gauge required realigning some of the track curves, particularly around Woodbridge. In 1908 this line was linked to the route through Sudbury. Woodbridge was also served by a branch of the Toronto Suburban Railway until the 1930s, the Radial railway from Weston came in along the west side of the river, north of Humber Summit, after descending from its route along Albion Road and Kipling Avenue. Construction of Highway 7 began in the 1920s, passing south of the business section, during much of this time, the land surrounding much of Woodbridge was used for farming. Slowly the area populated with custom country houses. In the 1950s, Woodbridge experienced growth from suburban Toronto houses, the suburban expansion began east of the Humber and East Humber and to the northeast
11.
Canadian federal election, 2006
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The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23,2006, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats,40. 3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36. 3% of votes, up from 29. 6% in the 2004 election. The election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, by proportion of seats, this was Canadas smallest minority government since Confederation. Despite this it was the minority government overall. An investigation by Elections Canada into improper election spending by the Conservative Party became widely known as the In, charges were eventually dropped in a plea deal. The following morning Martin met with Governor General Michaëlle Jean, who then dissolved parliament, summoned the next parliament, the last set January 23,2006, as election day and February 13 as the date for return of the writs. The campaign was almost eight weeks in length, the longest in two decades, in order to time for the Christmas and New Year holidays. Recent political events, most notably testimony to the Gomery Commission investigating the sponsorship scandal, the first Gomery report, released November 1,2005, had found a culture of entitlement to exist within the Government. Although the next election was not legally required until 2009, the opposition had enough votes to force the dissolution of Parliament earlier, the election was held on January 23,2006. The first polls closed at 7,00 p. m. ET, Harper was reelected in Calgary Southwest, which he has held since 2002, ensuring that he had a seat in the new parliament. Shortly after midnight that night, incumbent Prime Minister Paul Martin conceded defeat and he continued to sit as a Member of Parliament representing LaSalle—Émard, the Montreal-area riding he had held since 1988, until his retirement in 2008. At 9,30 a. m. on January 24, Martin informed Governor General Michaëlle Jean that he would not form a government and intended to resign as Prime Minister. It was announced a month later there would be a Liberal leadership convention later in the year. Later that day, at 6,45 p. m, Jean invited Harper to form a government. Martin formally resigned and Harper was formally appointed and sworn in as Prime Minister on February 6, the elections resulted in a Conservative minority government with 124 seats in parliament with a Liberal opposition and a strengthened NDP. In his speech following the loss, Martin stated he would not lead the Liberal Party of Canada in another election, preliminary results indicated that 64. 9% of registered voters cast a ballot, a notable increase over 2004s 60. 9%. The NDP won new seats in British Columbia and Ontario as their popular vote increased 2% from 2004. The Bloc managed to win almost as many seats as in 2004 despite losing a significant percentage of the vote
12.
Ontario general election, 2003
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The Ontario general election of 2003 was held on October 2,2003, to elect the 103 members of the 38th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The election was won, however, by the Ontario Liberal Party, a movement to provide tax credits to parents with children in private schools also proved to be unpopular. In October 2001, Harris announced his intention to resign, at one point, anti-abortion activists apparently supporting Flaherty distributed pamphlets attacking Tony Clement because his wife worked for hospitals that performed abortions. At the convention, Eves was able to win on the ballot after Elizabeth Witmer. Eves took office on April 15,2002, and promptly re-aligned his government to the political centre, many political observers felt that Eves had the momentum to win an election at that time. However, several factors likely convinced Eves to wait to call an election, first, in 1990, the Liberals had lost the election in part due to perceptions that they called the election early for purely partisan reasons. Since then, the shortest distance between elections has been four years less five days, Second, the PC Party was exhausted and divided from a six-month leadership contest. Third, the move to the centre had created opposition in traditional Conservative support, financial conservatives and businesses were angered over Eves cancellation of the hydro IPO. In the fall of 2002, the opposition Liberals began a round of attacks on perceived PC mismanagement, first, Jim Flaherty was embroiled in scandal when it was revealed that his leadership campaigns largest donor had received a highly lucrative contract for slot machines from the government. Then, Tourism Minister Cam Jackson was forced to resign when the Liberals revealed he had charged taxpayers more than $100,000 for hotel rooms, steak dinners and alcoholic beverages. The Liberals showed the Tories had secretly given a tax break to the Toronto Blue Jays. At the same time, both the New Democrats and Liberals criticized the government over skyrocketing electricity prices, in May 2002, the government had followed California and Alberta in deregulating the electricity market. In November, Eves fixed the price of electricity and ended the market, appeasing consumers. That winter, Eves promised a budget before the beginning of the fiscal year. The budget was instead to be announced at the Magna International headquarters in Newmarket, the move was met with outrage from the PC Speaker, Gary Carr who called the move unconstitutional and would rule that it was a prima facae case of contempt of the legislature. The controversy over the location of the budget would far outstrip any support earned by the content of the budget, the government faced a major crisis when SARS killed several people in Toronto and threatened the stability of the health care system. On April 23, when the World Health Organization advised against all but essential travel to Toronto to prevent the spread of the virus, stockwell finally stepped aside after dominating the provincial news for almost a month, and would not seek reelection. By the summer of 2003, the Progressive Conservatives received an opportunity to re-gain popularity in the form of the 2003 North American blackout
13.
Peter Kent
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Peter Kent, PC, MP is a Conservative member of parliament for the riding of Thornhill, and the former Minister of the Environment in the 28th Canadian Ministry. Before entering politics, he was Deputy Editor of the Global Television Network and he has worked as a news editor, producer, foreign correspondent and news anchorman on Canadian and American television networks. Kent was born in Sussex, England in a Canadian Army Hospital, both parents serving with the Canadian Army. The family moved to Canada and, after a period in Ottawa, settled in Medicine Hat and his parents were Aileen and Parker Kent. The elder Kent was an employee of the Southam Newspaper Group who retired as associate editor of the Calgary Herald. Peter Kents younger brother, Arthur, is also a journalist, there were three sisters, Adele and Norma and Susan. The latter, an editor and writer, died in 2014. Peter Kent is married to Cilla, a print journalist with South Africas Argus newspaper group for over 26 years. They have a daughter, Trilby, who published her first novel, Medina Hill, Kent was a member of the board of Canadian Coalition for Democracies and has represented them at public events such as a demonstration supporting publication of the controversial Muhammed cartoons. Kent is a member of the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame and he is also a Founding Supporter of Canadians for Defence and Security and was a member of the board of the revitalized ParticipACTION. He was a member of the pro-Israel media advocacy group Honest Reporting Canada. Kent began his career as a radio journalist in the early 1960s and he then moved to television, joining Calgary station CFCN-TV in 1965 and subsequently worked for CBC Television, CTV, Global, NBC and the Christian Science Monitors television newscast. In 1966, he went to South East Asia to cover the Vietnam War as a foreign correspondent. He stayed on to cover the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam in 1973. Kent returned to Canada and worked as a producer for CBCs The National and, in 1976, as a result of his intervention and descent from The National anchor desk, Kent accepted assignment to the newly created African Bureau of the CBC, located in Johannesburg. The CBC subsequently created protocols to govern Prime Ministerial access to the public broadcaster and they remain in effect today, and the most recent example was the speech made to the country by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on the eve of the 1995 Quebec referendum. In that testimony Kent—the first journalist to anchor The National—supported Nashs credentials, Kent returned to Canada and the CBC in 1982 as a founding producer, correspondent and occasional co-host of The Journal, hosted by Barbara Frum and Mary Lou Finlay. On January 24,1984, the CBC television program The Journal broadcast a full edition documentary called The Greenhouse Effect and Planet Earth, hosted, narrated, Broadcast more than 27 years ago, this may be one of the first major media reports on the subject
14.
Conservative Party of Canada
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The Conservative Party of Canada, colloquially known as the Tories, is a political party in Canada. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum, the partys leader from 2004 to 2015 was Stephen Harper, who served as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015. The Conservative Party is the successor to multiple right-wing parties which have existed in Canada for over a century, until 1942, one of the partys predecessors was known as the Conservative Party of Canada, and participated in numerous governments. Before 1942, the predecessors to the Conservatives had multiple names, but by 1942, in 1957, John Diefenbaker became the first Prime Minister from the Progressive Conservative Party, and remained in office until 1963. Another Progressive Conservative government was elected after the results of the 1979 federal election, Clark served from 1979 to 1980, when he was defeated by the Liberal Party after the 1980 federal election. In 1984, the Progressive Conservatives won with Brian Mulroney becoming Prime Minister, Mulroney was Prime Minister from 1984 to 1993, and his government was marked by free trade agreements and economic liberalization. A similar result occurred in 1997, and in 2000, when the Reform Party became the Canadian Alliance, in 2003, the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservatives merged, forming the Conservative Party of Canada. The party is currently being led by interim leader Rona Ambrose as it is undergoing a leadership election, which will take place in 2017. John Lynch-Staunton served as leader of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada from 8 December 2003 until 20 March 2004. On 19 January 2016, the party announced that a permanent leader will be elected on 27 May 2017, the National Council is the partys national governing body that is elected by the Conservative Party membership at its bi-annual meetings. A National Councillor is elected for a term and cannot serve for more than three consecutive terms. The party president is elected by National Council following their election, since 2016, the President of the Conservative Party has been Scott Lamb, a councillor representing British Columbia. The party President is the conduit between the Party Leader and the National Council, don Plett interim until 2005 John Walsh Scott Lamb The Executive Director answers to the party President, and is responsible for the day-to-day management and operations of the party. From February 2009 to October 2013, the Executive Director was Dan Hilton, from October to December 2013, the Acting Executive Director was Dave Forestell. Dimitri Soudas was named the new Executive Director in December 2013, on 30 March 2014, Soudas was told to resign or be fired from the position after allegedly interfering with the nomination contest taking place in his fiancees riding. On 30 March 2014, Simon Thompson was named as interim Executive Director, Thompson was previously the partys Chief Information Officer. In July 2014, Dustin Van Vugt was brought in as the Deputy Executive Director – a position created specifically for him, in October 2014, Van Vugts position was unanimously ratified by the partys National Council, and Thompson became the Chief Operations Officer. The Director of Political Operations reports to the Executive Director, and is one of the most important positions within the party
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Thornhill (electoral district)
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Thornhill is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It covers the community of Thornhill, which is made up of portions of Vaughan and Markham, and was created in 1996 from parts of Markham—Whitchurch—Stouffville and York North ridings. It consists of the part of the city of Vaughan that is east of Highway 400 and south of Rutherford Road, and it is one of only two ridings in Canada with a Jewish plurality. 32. 8% of the population is Jewish, the highest in Canada, Thornhill also has the highest percentage of Russians of all Canadian ridings. The Thornhill riding has the highest percentage of population with an educational attainment of University certificate or diploma above bachelor level with 5. 0%. The riding lost all of its territory east of Bayview Avenue to Markham-Thornhill, note, Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election. List of Canadian federal electoral districts Past Canadian electoral districts Census Profile, riding history from the Library of Parliament 2011 results from Elections Canada
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Liberal Party of Canada
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The Liberal Party of Canada, colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, and generally sits at the centre of the Canadian political spectrum, the Liberal Party is traditionally positioned to the left of the Conservative Party of Canada and to the right of the New Democratic Party. During the beginning of the 21st century, the party lost a significant amount of support, in the present times, the Liberal party has favoured a variety of big tent policies from both right and left of the political spectrum. It also legalized same-sex marriage and allowed the use of cannabis for medical purposes, during the 2015 election, the Liberal partys proposed policies included, Cut the middle class tax bracket from 22% to 20.88 per $100 to $1. In the 29 years after Canadian confederation, the Liberals were consigned to opposition, with the exception of one stint in government. Alexander Mackenzie was able to lead the party to power for the first time in 1873, Mackenzie subsequently won the 1874 election, and served as Prime Minister for an additional four years. However the party was able to build a solid support base in Ontario. The Liberals would spend the next 18 years in opposition, in their early history, the Liberals were the party of continentalism and opposition to imperialism. The Liberals also became identified with the aspirations of Quebecers as a result of the hostility of French Canadians to the Conservatives. It was not until Wilfrid Laurier became leader that the Liberal Party emerged as a modern party, Laurier was able to capitalize on the Tories alienation of French Canada by offering the Liberals as a credible alternative. Laurier was able to overcome the reputation for anti-clericalism that offended the still-powerful Quebec Roman Catholic Church. In English-speaking Canada, the Liberal Partys support for reciprocity made it popular among farmers, Laurier led the Liberals to power in the 1896 election, and oversaw a government that increased immigration in order to settle Western Canada. Lauriers government created the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta out of the North-West Territories, there was no national membership of the party, an individual became a member by joining a provincial Liberal party. The new organization allowed individuals to join the national Liberal Party for the first time. No national convention was held, however, until 1948, the Liberal Party held only three national conventions prior to the 1950s – in 1893,1919 and 1948). Over time, provincial Liberal parties in most provinces were separated from provincial wings of the federal party, by the 1980s, the National Liberal Federation was officially known as the Liberal Party of Canada. Under Laurier, and his successor William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Liberals promoted Canadian sovereignty, after the King–Byng Affair of 1926, the Liberals argued that the Governor General of Canada should no longer be appointed on the recommendation of the British government. The decisions of the Imperial Conferences were formalized in the Statute of Westminster, which was passed in 1931
17.
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
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The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, often shortened to Ontario PC Party or PC, is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. It governed the province for 80 of the 149 years since Confederation and it is the Official Opposition in the current Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The first Conservative Party in Upper Canada was made up of United Empire Loyalists, once responsible government was granted in response to the 1837 Rebellions, the Tories emerged as moderate reformers who opposed the radical policies of the Reformers and then the Clear Grits. The modern Conservative Party originated in the Liberal-Conservative coalition founded by Sir John A. Macdonald and it is a variant of this coalition that formed the first government in Ontario with John Sandfield Macdonald as Premier. Sandfield Macdonald was actually a Liberal and sat concurrently as a Liberal Party of Canada MP in the Canadian House of Commons, after losing power in 1871, this Conservative coalition began to dissolve. The party became opposed to funding for schools, opposed to language rights for French-Canadians. Paradoxically, an element of the party gained a reputation for being pro-labour as a result of links between the Orange Order and the labour movement. After 33 years in Opposition, the Tories returned to power under James P. Whitney, the Whitney government initiated massive public works projects such as the creation of Ontario Hydro. It also enacted legislation against the French-Canadian population in Ontario. The Tories were in power for all but five years from 1905 to 1934, after the death of Whitney in 1914, however, they lacked vision and became complacent. The Tories lost power to the United Farmers of Ontario in the 1919 election but were able to regain office in 1923 election due to the UFOs disintegration and they were defeated by Mitch Hepburns Liberals in 1934 due to their inability to cope with the Great Depression. Late in the 1930s and early in the 1940s, the Conservatives re-organized and developed new policies, the Conservatives took advantage of Liberal infighting to win a minority government in the 1943 provincial election, reducing the Liberals to third-party status. Drew called another election in 1945, only two years into his mandate, to get a majority government, the party would dominate Ontario politics for the next four decades. In 1961, John Robarts became the 17th premier of Ontario and he was one of the most popular premiers in years. Under Robarts lead, the party epitomized power and he hosted the 1967 Confederation of Tomorrow conference in Toronto in an unsuccessful attempt to achieve an agreement for a new Constitution of Canada. Robarts opposed Canadian medicare when it was proposed, but later endorsed it fully, and he led the party towards a civil libertarian movement. As a strong believer in the promotion of official languages, he opened the door to French education in Ontario schools. In 1971, Bill Davis became party leader and the 18th premier, anti-Catholicism became an issue again in the 1971 election, when the Tories campaigned strenuously against a Liberal proposal to extend funding for Catholic separate schools until Grade 13
18.
Steven Del Duca
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Steven Del Duca is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was elected in a by-election on September 6,2012 and he represents the riding of Vaughan. He serves in the cabinet in the government of Kathleen Wynne, Del Duca earned a law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School but has not been called to the bar. He was director of affairs for the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario. Previously, he was an aide to Dalton McGuinty when McGuinty was leader of the opposition and he lives with his wife and two daughters in Woodbridge, Ontario. In 2012 he ran as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Vaughan, a by-election was called to replace Greg Sorbara who retired earlier in the year. He defeated the Progressive Conservative candidate Tony Genco by 5,795 votes and he was easily re-elected in the 2014 provincial election defeating PC candidate Peter Meffe by 16,891 votes. On June 24,2014, he was appointed to cabinet by Premier Kathleen Wynne as the Minister of Transportation, official website Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History
19.
Ontario Liberal Party
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The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the election of 2003. The party is aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada. The party is led by Kathleen Wynne, who was sworn in as Premier of Ontario on February 11,2013 after winning the Ontario Liberal leadership election on January 26,2013. The modern Liberals were founded by George Brown, who sought to rebuild the Reform Party after its collapse in 1854, the party adopted a position in favour of uniting Upper and Lower Canada into the United Province of Canada, a concept that eventually led to Canadian confederation. After 1867, Edward Blake became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, the party sat in opposition to the Conservative government led by John Sandfield Macdonald. Blakes Liberals defeated the Tories in 1871, but Blake left Queens Park for Ottawa the next year, Mowat served as Premier of Ontario until 1896. The Liberals were defeated in 1905 after over thirty years in power, the party had grown tired and arrogant in government and became increasingly cautious. As well, a growing anti-Catholic sectarian sentiment hurt the Liberals, the party was so disorganized that it was led for seven years by an interim leader, W. E. N. Sinclair, as there was not enough money or a sufficient level of organization, by 1930, the Liberals were reduced to a small, rural and prohibitionist rump with a base in south western Ontario. After a series of leaders, the Liberals turned to Mitchell Hepburn. Hepburn was able to build a coalition with Liberal-Progressives and attract reformers. The Liberal-Progressives had previously supported the UFO and the Progressive Party of Canada, a wet, Hepburn was able to end the divisions in the party around the issue of temperance which had reduced it to a narrow sect. The revitalized party was able to win votes from farmers, particularly in southwestern Ontario, urban Ontario, Catholics. It also had the advantage of not being in power at the onset of the Great Depression, with the economy in crisis, Ontarians looked for a new government, and Hepburns populism was able to excite the province. In government, Hepburns Liberals warred with organized labour led by the Congress of Industrial Organizations, later, he battled with the federal Liberal Party of Canada government of William Lyon Mackenzie King, which, Hepburn argued, was insufficiently supportive of the war effort. The battle between Hepburn and King split the Ontario Liberal Party and led to Hepburns ouster as leader and it also contributed to the partys defeat in the 1943 election, which was followed by the partys long stint in opposition. The Liberals declined to a wing, rural rump
20.
Eastern Time Zone
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Places that use Eastern Standard Time when observing standard time are 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. Eastern Daylight Time, when observing daylight saving time DST is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, in the northern parts of the time zone, on the second Sunday in March, at 2,00 a. m. EST, clocks are advanced to 3,00 a. m. EDT leaving a one-hour gap, on the first Sunday in November, at 2,00 a. m. EDT, clocks are moved back to 1,00 a. m, southern parts of the zone do not observe daylight saving time. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 ruled that daylight saving time would run from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday in October in the United States, the act was amended to make the first Sunday in April the beginning of daylight saving time as of 1987. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended daylight saving time in the United States beginning in 2007. So local times change at 2,00 a. m. EST to 3,00 a. m. EDT on the second Sunday in March, in Canada, the time changes as it does in the United States. However, a handful of communities unofficially observe Eastern Time because they are part of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area – Phenix City, Smiths Station, Lanett, and Valley. Florida, All of Florida is in the Eastern Time zone except for the portion of the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River, as the Eastern–Central zone boundary approaches the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the Bay/Gulf county line. Indiana, All of Indiana observes Eastern Time except for six counties in the Chicago metropolitan area. Kentucky, Roughly, the half of the state, including all of metropolitan Louisville, is in the Eastern Time Zone. Historically the entire state observed Central Time, when daylight saving time was first introduced, the Lower Peninsula remained on DST after it formally ended, effectively re-aligning itself into the Eastern Time Zone. The Upper Peninsula continued to observe Central Time until 1972, when all, Tennessee, Most of the eastern third of Tennessee is legally on Eastern Time. Eastern Time is also used somewhat as a de facto official time for all of the United States, since it includes the capital and the largest city. Major professional sports leagues also post all game times in Eastern time, for example, a game time between two teams from Pacific Time Zone will still be posted in Eastern time. Most cable television and national broadcast networks advertise airing times in Eastern time, national broadcast networks generally have two primary feeds, an eastern feed for Eastern and Central time zones, and a tape-delayed western feed for the Pacific Time Zone. The prime time is set on Eastern and Pacific at 8,00 p. m. with the Central time zone stations receiving the eastern feed at 7,00 p. m. local time. Mountain Time Zone stations receive a separate feed at 7,00 p. m. local time, as Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, during the summer months, it has its own feed at 7,00 p. m. local time
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UTC-5
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UTC−05,00 is a time offset that subtracts five hours from Coordinated Universal Time. In North America, it is observed in the Eastern Time Zone during standard time, the western Caribbean uses it year round. The southwestern and northwestern portions of Indiana Mexico – Central Zone Central, in most of Mexico, daylight time starts a few weeks after the United States. Communities on the U. S. border that observe Central Time follow the U. S. daylight time schedule
22.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
23.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
24.
Toronto
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. With a population of 2,731,571, it is the fourth most populous city in North America after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited the area now known as Toronto for thousands of years, the city itself is situated on the southern terminus of an ancient Aboriginal trail leading north to Lake Simcoe, used by the Wyandot, Iroquois, and the Mississauga. Permanent European settlement began in the 1790s, after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase of 1787, the British established the town of York, and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York, York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities at various times in its history to its current area of 630.2 km2. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canadas major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Toronto is known for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto and this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, in the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagonon the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759. During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario, the new province of Upper Canada was in the process of creation and needed a capital. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto, in 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, instead naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the towns natural harbour, sheltered by a long sandbar peninsula. The towns settlement formed at the end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the towns capture, the surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. US soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation, the sacking of York was a primary motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troops later in the war
25.
Greater Toronto Area
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The Greater Toronto Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Canada. As of the 2016 census, it has a population of 6,417,516, the Greater Toronto Area is defined as the central city of Toronto, and the four regional municipalities that surround it, Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. The regional span of the Greater Toronto Area is sometimes combined with the city of Hamilton, Ontario and its region, to form the Greater Toronto. The Greater Toronto Area anchors a much larger urban agglomeration known as the Golden Horseshoe. However, it did not come into everyday usage until the mid- to late 1990s, the latter includes communities like Barrie, Guelph and the Niagara Region. The GTA continues, however, to be in use elsewhere in the Government of Ontario. For example, Oshawa, which is the centre of its own CMA, other municipalities, such as New Tecumseth in southern Simcoe County and Mono Township in Dufferin County are included in the Toronto CMA but not in the GTA. Other nearby urban areas, such as Hamilton, Barrie or St. Catharines-Niagara and Kitchener-Waterloo, are not part of the GTA or the Toronto CMA, but form their own CMAs near the GTA. Ultimately, all the places are part of the Golden Horseshoe metropolitan region, an urban agglomeration. When the Hamilton, Oshawa and Toronto CMAs are agglomerated with Brock and Scugog and it is part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, containing an estimated 59 million people in 2011. The term Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area refers to the usual GTA plus the former Regional Municipality of Hamilton–Wentworth, the Greater Toronto Area was home to a number of First Nations groups who lived on the shore of Lake Ontario long before the first Europeans arrived in the region. At various times the Neutral, Seneca, Mohawk and Huron nations were living in the vicinity, the Mississaugas arrived in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, driving out the occupying Iroquois. While it is unclear as to who was the first European to reach the Toronto area, the area would later become very crucial for its series of trails and water routes that led from northern and western Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Known as the Toronto Passage, it followed the Humber River, for this reason area became a hot spot for French fur traders. In 1787, the British negotiated the purchase of more than a million acres of land in the area of Toronto with the Mississaugas of New Credit. The Town of York would later be attacked by American forces in the War of 1812 in what is now known as the Battle of York, in 1816, Wentworth County and Halton County were created from York County. In 1851, Ontario County and Peel County were separated from York, the idea for a single government municipality would not be seriously explored until the late 1940s when planners decided the city needed to incorporate its immediate suburbs. However, due to opposition from suburban politicians, a compromise was struck which resulted in the creation of Metropolitan Toronto
26.
Wyandot people
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By the 15th century, the pre-contact Wyandots settled in the large area from the north shores of most of present-day Lake Ontario, northwards up to Georgian Bay. They were located in the part of what is now the Canadian province of Ontario around Georgian Bay. Drastically reduced in number by epidemic diseases after 1634, they were dispersed by war in 1649 from the Iroquois, today the Wyandot have a First Nations reserve in Quebec, Canada. They also have three major settlements in the United States, two of which have independently governed, federally recognized tribes, due to differing development of the groups, they speak distinct forms of Wendat and Wyandot languages. Early theories placed Huron origin in the St. Lawrence Valley, with some arguing for a presence near Montreal, in 1975 and 1978, archeologists excavated a large 15th-century Huron village, now called the Draper Site, in Pickering, Ontario near Lake Ontario. In 2003 a larger village was discovered five kilometres away in Whitchurch-Stouffville, the sites each were surrounded by a palisade, as was typical of Iroquoian cultures. The Mantle Site had more than 70 multi-family longhouses, subsequently they moved from there to their historic territory on Georgian Bay, where they were encountered by Champlain in 1615. In the early 17th century, this Iroquoian people called themselves the Wendat, the Wendat historic territory was bordered on three sides, by the waters of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe. Early French explorers referred to these natives as the Huron, either from the French huron, according to tradition, French sailors thought that the bristly hairstyle of Wendat warriors resembled that of a boar. However, these negative etymological meanings conflict with the bon Iroquois attitude held by the French fur traders and explorers, an alternate etymology is from the Algonquin words ronon, or Irri-ronon. It was pronounced Hirri-ronon by the French, eventually shortened to Hirr-on, other etymological possibilities come from the Algonquin words ka-ron or tu-ron. The Wendat were not a tribe, but a confederacy of four or more tribes with mutually intelligible languages, according to tradition, this Wendat Confederacy was initiated by the Attignawantans and the Attigneenongnahacs, who made their alliance in the 15th century. They were joined by the Arendarhonons about 1590, and the Tahontaenrats around 1610, a fifth group, the Ataronchronons, may not have attained full membership in the confederacy, and may have been a division of the Attignawantan. The largest Wendat settlement, and capital of the confederacy, was located at Ossossane, near modern-day Elmvale and they called their traditional territory Wendake. Closely related to the people of the Huron Confederacy were the Tionontate and they lived further south and were divided into two groups, the Deer and the Wolves. Considering that they formed the nucleus of the later known as the Wyandot. Tuberculosis was endemic among the Huron, aggravated by the close, despite this, the Huron on the whole were healthy, the Jesuits wrote that the Huron effectively employed natural remedies and were more healthy than we. The earliest written accounts of the Huron were made by the French, news of the Europeans reached the Huron, particularly when Samuel de Champlain explored the Saint Lawrence River in the early 17th century
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Humber River (Ontario)
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The Humber River is a river in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin, is a tributary of Lake Ontario and is one of two rivers on either side of the city of Toronto, the other being the Don River to the east. It was designated a Canadian Heritage River on September 24,1999 and they join north of Toronto and then flow in a generally southeasterly direction into Lake Ontario at what was once the far western portions of the city. The river mouth is flanked by Sir Casimir Gzowski Park and Humber Bay Park East. The Anishinaabe, the most recent native inhabitants of the area, refer to the river as Gabekanaang-ziibi, for “leave the canoes and go back. ”During the 1600s and 1700s, popples map of 1733 shows a prominent river beside the native settlement Tejajagon assumed to be the Humber. Its name is given as the Tanaovate River, the river was also known as the Toronto River. Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe gave the river the name of Humber, the Humber has a long history of human settlement along its banks. Native settlement of the area is well documented archaeologically and occurred in three waves, the first settlers were the Palaeo-Indians who lived in the area from 10,000 to 7000 BC. The second wave, people of the Archaic period, settled the area between 7000 and 1000 BC and began to adopt seasonal migration patterns to take advantage of available plants, fish, and game. The third wave of settlement was the Woodland period, which saw the introduction of the bow and arrow. Étienne Brûlé was the first European to encounter the Humber while travelling the Toronto Carrying-Place Trail, Brûlé passed through the watershed in 1615 on a mission from Samuel de Champlain to build alliances with native peoples. The Trail became a convenient shortcut to the upper Great Lakes for traders, explorers, and missionaries. A major landmark on the end of the trail in Lake Simcoe was used to describe the trail as a whole. A fort, Fort Toronto, was constructed about 1,000 metres inland from the mouth of the Humber to protect the Trail, during the 1660s this was the site of Teiaiagon, a permanent settlement of the Seneca used for trading with the Europeans. Popples map of 1733 shows a prominent river beside Tejajagon which is assumed to be the Humber, french missionaries used the area for many years, including Jean de Brébeuf and Joseph Chaumonot in 1641, Louis Hennepin in 1678, and Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle in 1680. However, no permanent European settlement occurred until the arrival of Jean-Baptiste Rousseau in the late 18th century, Rousseau piloted John Graves Simcoes ship into Toronto Bay to officially begin the British era of control in 1793. Most of the British attention was focussed to the east of the Humber, settlement was scattered until after the War of 1812 when many loyalists moved to the area, who were joined by immigrants from Ireland and Scotland who chose to remain in British lands. Upon his arrival in York, Simcoe was keenly aware of the need for a lumber mill and he had constructed a sawmill on the west bank of the river near present-day Bloor Street in 1793, which was operated by John Wilson
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Ossuary
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An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where space is scarce. A body is first buried in a grave, then after some years the skeletal remains are removed and placed in an ossuary. The greatly reduced space taken up by a means that it is possible to store the remains of many more people in a single tomb than if the original coffins were left as is. In Persia, the Zoroastrians used a well for this function from the earliest times. There are many rituals and regulations in the Zoroastrian faith concerning the astudans, the village of Wamba in the province of Valladolid, Spain, has an impressive ossuary of over a thousand skulls inside the local church, dating from between the 12th and 18th centuries. A more recent example is the Douaumont ossuary in France, which contains the remains of more than 130,000 French, the Catacombs of Paris represents another famous ossuary. The catacombs beneath the Monastery of San Francisco in Lima, Peru, the use of ossuaries is a longstanding tradition in the Orthodox Church. In Orthodox monasteries, when one of the dies, his remains are buried for one to three years, and then disinterred, cleaned and gathered into the monasterys charnel house. If there is reason to believe that the departed is a saint, the remains of an abbot may be placed in a separate ossuary made out of wood or metal. The use of ossuaries is also found among the laity in the Greek Orthodox Church, during the time of the Second Temple, Jewish burial customs included primary burials in burial caves, followed by secondary burials in ossuaries placed in smaller niches of the burial caves. Some of the ossuaries that have been discovered, particularly around the Jerusalem area. The custom of burial in ossuaries did not persist among Jews past the Second Temple period nor appear to exist among Jews outside the land of Israel. The skeletal remains of 6 million people lie, neatly arranged, in subterranean catacombs beneath the streets of Paris, aircraft boneyard Boneyard, Arizona Catacomb Charnel house Columbarium Crypt Grave James Ossuary Mausoleum Reliquary Tomb
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Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
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Township (Canada)
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The term township generally means the district or area associated with a town. However, in some systems no town needs to be involved, the specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country, usually to describe a local rural or semi-rural government within the country itself. In eastern Canada a township is one form of the subdivision of a county, in Canadian French, it is called a canton. The historic colony of Nova Scotia used the term township as a subdivision of counties, in New Brunswick, parishes have taken over as the present-day subdivision of counties, whereas present-day Nova Scotia uses districts where appropriate. In Ontario, there are geographic and political townships. Most of Ontario, except for the sparsely populated far north, is subdivided into geographic townships and these are used primarily for geographic purposes, such as land surveying, natural resource exploration and tracking of phenomena such as forest fires or tornados. Often rural counties are subdivided into townships, in some places, usually if the township is in a county rather than in a regional municipality, the head of a political township is called a reeve, not a mayor. However, this distinction is changing as many rural townships are replacing the title reeve with mayor to reduce confusion, a few townships keep both titles and designate mayor as the head of the municipal council and use the title reeve to denote the representative to the upper tier council. The term geographic township is used in reference to former political townships which were abolished or superseded as part of municipal government restructuring. In Quebec, townships are called cantons in French and can also be political and geographic, similar to Ontario and they were introduced after the British conquest primarily as a surveying unit. Townships often served as basis for new municipalities, but township municipalities are no different from other types such as parish or village municipalities. In the Prairie provinces and parts of British Columbia, a township is a division of the Dominion Land Survey, townships are 6-by-6-mile squares – about 36 square miles in area. These townships are not political units, but exist only to define parcels of land in a simple way. Townships are divided into 36 equal 1-by-1-mile square parcels known as sections, in Saskatchewan, a political unit called a rural municipality in general is 3 townships by 3 townships in size, or 18 miles squared – about 324 square miles. Three municipalities in British Columbia, Langley, Esquimalt and Spallumcheen, have township in their official names, List of townships in Ontario List of townships in Prince Edward Island List of townships in Quebec
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Benjamin Vaughan
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Benjamin Vaughan MD LLD was a British political radical. He was a commissioner in the negotiations between Britain and the United States and the drafting of the Treaty of Paris, Vaughan was born in Jamaica to Samuel Vaughan, a British West India merchant planter, and an Anglo-American mother Sarah Hallowell. He was educated at Newcomes School and Warrington Academy and attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge and he then read medicine at the University of Edinburgh. His interest was in politics and sciences, the led to his friendship with Benjamin Franklin. Vaughan was a political economist, merchant and medical doctor, through Benjamin Horne, brother of John Horne, he met the politician Lord Shelburne. Shelburne then used Vaughan in a role, to try to bring peace between Great Britain and the United States, towards the end of the American War of Independence. He was also a middleman in reconciling Franklin and Shelburne and he was elected at a by-election in 1792 as a Member of Parliament for the borough of Calne in Wiltshire, and held the seat until the 1796 general election. He spoke in parliament in defence of slavery in Jamaica, in his maiden speech, by 1794 he was in favour of the abolition of the slave trade. After 1794, Vaughan left France for Switzerland and later to America and his interest in republicanism lead to his permanent departure from Britain. He settled in Boston and then on a farm in Hallowell, in 1805, Vaughan was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 1813, he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society. He died in Hallowell in 1835, several places are named for Vaughan, City of Vaughan, Ontario is named in his honour Indirectly Vaughan Road is linked to him as the northern end of the road headed into then Township of Vaughan. Vaughan Road Academy, name after Vaughan Road Vaughan Stream in Hallowell, Maine Vaughan Field in Hallowell Vaughan Homestead, his Hallowell estate, now a museum
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Kingdom of Great Britain
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The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
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Sora, Italy (1992)
Ramla, Israel (1993)
Sanjō, Japan (1993)
Yangzhou, China (1995)
Baguio, Philippines (1997)
Vaughan
