"A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow" (''Ontari-ari-ari-o!'') is the unofficial provincial anthem of the Canadian province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. It was written as the signature tune for a movie of the same name that was featured at the

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

Ontario pavilion. The song was written by

Dolores Claman Dolores Olga Claman (July 6, 1927July 17, 2021) was a Canadian composer and pianist. She is best known for having composed the 1968 theme song for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) ''Hockey Night In Canada'' show, known simply as "The ...

, who also wrote "

The Hockey Theme "The Hockey Theme" is a Canadian piece of instrumental theme music composed in 1968 by Dolores Claman and orchestrated by Jerry Toth. It was widely recognized as Canada's unofficial second national anthem. The theme was associated with CBC Te ...

", with lyrics by Richard Morris and orchestrations by Jerry Toth. Lyrics for a French version were written by Larry Trudel. It was commissioned by the Progressive Conservative government of

John Robarts John Parmenter Robarts (January 11, 1917 – October 18, 1982) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th premier of Ontario from 1961 to 1971. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Early life Robar ...

for the Ontario pavilion at

, the

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

held in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in Canada's centennial year of 1967, and was used again in the following decades. The song was featured at the Province of Ontario's exhibit in the short film '' A Place to Stand'', which won the 1967 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film. The

Government of Ontario The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor� ...

maintains three versions of the song, an English, French, and a bilingual version that incorporates both English and French.

Cultural resonance

*In season 8 episode 6 of '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' titled "The Undead" from March 8th 1997 the character of

Tom Servo Tom Servo is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Tom is one of two wise-cracking, robotic main characters of the show, built by Joel Robinson to act as a com ...

portrayed by Kevin Murphy sings this song. *In their early busking days, Barenaked Ladies would often perform this song, with their hometown of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

replacing Ontario.Leslie Scrivener,
Forty years on, a song retains its standing
, ''Toronto Star'' Section D, page 4. April 22, 2007. *In 2004, Jim Carrey sang the song on ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

'' when the show travelled to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

to tape four episodes. *An episode of ''

Rick Mercer's Monday Report ''Rick Mercer Report'' (also called the ''Mercer Report'' or ''RMR'') is a Canadian television comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 2004 to 2018. Launched in 2004, as ''Rick Mercer's Monday Report'', or simply ''Monday Report'', by ...

'' uses this song during a report on the massive

grow-op This article presents common techniques and facts regarding the cultivation of cannabis, primarily for the production and consumption of its infructescences ("buds" or "flowers"). Cultivation techniques for other purposes (such as hemp product ...

s in Ontario. * In 2017, the song was revived for a television commercial promoting provincial commemorations of the 150th anniversary of Confederation. With the tagline "A place for all of us", the ad was designed to reflect multiculturalism and diversity based on real-life experiences, including scenes of a Syrian refugee, an

Ojibway The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

father and his son,

African-Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...

parents, and a gay couple. * In February 2020, the Ontario government unveiled a new Ontario passenger license plate, which contained the slogan "A Place to Grow". The license plate design and slogan briefly replaced the previous license plate design and slogan, "Yours to Discover". However in May 2020, the new plates were discontinued after they were found to have visibility issues.

References

External links

''A Place to Stand''
1967, Archives of Ontario YouTube Channel * Whelan, J., '' Expo 67 in Montreal'
Real Audio link to the song
Accessed January 28, 2007.
Lyrics
on Ontario.ca. Accessed September 2, 2018. 1967 songs 1967 in Canadian music Expo 67 Canadian anthems Ontario music World's fair music {{1960s-song-stub

Cultural resonance

See also

References

External links