city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

is a subtype of

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in 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 Ca ...

. A city can have the municipal status of either a single-tier or lower-tier municipality. Prior to 2003, Ontario had minimum population thresholds of 15,000 and 25,000 for city status. Minimum population thresholds are no longer necessary for a municipality to brand itself as a city. Ontario has 52 cities, which together had in 2016 a cumulative population of 9,900,179 and average population of 190,388. The most and least populous are

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 ancho ...

and

Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

, with 2,731,571 and 7,749 residents, respectively. Ontario's newest city is Richmond Hill, whose council voted to change from a town to a city on March 26, 2019. Previous to that,

Markham Markham may refer to: It may also refer to brand of of clothing which originates from South Africa which saw it's establishment in 1873. Biology * Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia * ...

changed from a town to a city on July 1, 2012.

History

Under the former ''Municipal Act, 1990'', a city was both an urban and a local municipality. Under that act, the

Ontario Municipal Board The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters sp ...

(OMB) could change the status of a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

, upon its request, to a city if it had a population of 15,000 or more. The OMB could also incorporate a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

as a city under the same conditions with the exception that the population requirements was 25,000 or more. In either event, if located within a county, authorization by the Minister of Municipal Affairs was also required. In the transition to the ''Municipal Act, 2001'', conventional municipal statuses and their associated population threshold requirements were abandoned. On December 31, 2002, every city that: *"existed and formed part of a county, a regional or district municipality or the County of Oxford for municipal purposes" became a lower-tier municipality yet retained its name as a city; and *"existed and did not form part of a county, a regional or district municipality or the County of Oxford for municipal purposes" became a single-tier municipality yet retained its name as a city. The current legislation also provides lower- and single-tier municipalities with the authority to name themselves as "cities", or other former conventional municipal status types such as "towns", "villages" or "townships", or generically as "municipalities".

Cities in Ontario

File:Toronto skyline toronto islands b.JPG, alt=Skyline of Toronto,

is Ontario's capital and Canada's largest city File:Parliament-Ottawa.jpg, alt=Parliament Hill in Ottawa,

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

is Canada's capital and Ontario's second largest city File:Brampton Dominion Building.jpg, alt=Downtown Brampton Street Level, Downtown

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it ...

File:HamiltonOntarioSkylineC.JPG, alt=Skyline of downtown Hamilton, Skyline of downtown

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

File:London, Ontario, Canada- The Forest City from above.jpg, alt=Skyline of London, Ontario, Skyline of downtown

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

File:RichmondHillCentreForThePerformingArts.JPG, alt=Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts,

Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts The Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts is a multi-use cultural facility on of land directly on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill's downtown core, at the corner of Yonge and Wright Streets. History The Town of Richmond Hill Council app ...

in Richmond Hill, Ontario's newest city File:View from the top of Behemoth (Canada's Wonderland).jpg, alt=Vaughan seen from Canada's Wonderland,

Vaughan Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...

as viewed from

Canada's Wonderland Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Great-West Life As ...

File:Arial photo of downtown Kitchener Ontario.JPG, alt=Areal view of Kitchener-Waterloo, Downtown Kitchener File:Windsor Ontario skyline.jpg, alt= Skyline of Windsor seen from Detroit, Downtown

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

File:Mississauga City Center - 20191019233249.jpg, Downtown Mississauga

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{Canada topic, List of cities in *

Cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

History

Cities in Ontario

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References