Southwestern Ontario

43°30′N 81°00′W / 43.500°N 81.000°W / 43.500; -81.000Country CanadaProvince OntarioArea • Total36,797.54 km² (14,207.61 sq mi)Population • Total2,796,367 • Density76/km² (200/sq mi)Time zoneUTC−5 (EST) • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)Postal code prefixesArea code(s)519, 226, 548, 905, 289, 365

Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and Detroit River, to the west; and Lake Erie to the south. To the east, on land, Southwestern Ontario is bounded by Central Ontario and the Golden Horseshoe. The region had a population of 2,796,367 in 2021. It is sometimes further divided into "Midwestern Ontario" covering the eastern half of the area and the heart of Southwestern Ontario encompassing the western half of the region.

Definitions

The Government of Ontario also classifies municipalities along the eastern side of Southwestern Ontario near the Grand River, including Wellington County (containing Guelph), the Region of Waterloo (containing Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge), and Brant County (containing Brantford), as part the "Greater Golden Horseshoe" region that surrounds western Lake Ontario.^[1] Some non-profit organizations, government bodies, and news organizations also classify a larger swath of the eastern side of Southwestern Ontario (the area from Huron County, Bruce County, and Grey County in the north, southward through Dufferin County, Wellington County, the Region of Waterloo, Perth County, and Oxford County, and sometimes south to Brant County and Norfolk County on Lake Erie) as being "Midwestern Ontario."^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][excessive citations]} This thereby places only the counties southwest of this in their definition of Southwestern Ontario,^[12] although in some cases Perth County is also grouped in Southwestern Ontario.^{[citation needed]}

History

Archaeological findings from the Princess Point Complex suggest that indigenous peoples grew maize in the region as early as 260 CE. Iroquoians are recognizable from 500 CE, and by 900 CE longhouse villages began appearing near modern-day Brantford.^[13]

Europeans settlement began in the early 18th century, when it was part of the Royal Province of New France. One of the oldest continuous settlements in the region is Windsor, which originated as a southerly extension of the settlement of Fort Detroit in 1701. With the transfer of New France to British control in 1763, the region was part of the British Province of Quebec, 1774 to 1791; the Province of Upper Canada, 1791 to 1841; and the Canada West division of the Province of United Canada, 1841 to Confederation in 1867, when United Canada was formally partitioned into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

During the 19th century and early 20th century, the largest city in Southwestern Ontario was Windsor; however, as both cities grew, Windsor was outpaced by the faster growth of London, and passed the mantle of regional anchor to that city in the 1960s. Late in the 20th century the Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo metropolitan area became the most populous metropolitan area in southwestern Ontario surpassing the London-St. Thomas metropolitan area, and serves as the anchor of Midwestern Ontario.

Southwestern Ontario is a prosperous agricultural region whose chief crops are tobacco, sweet corn, soybean, winter wheat, canola, and tomatoes.^[14] Additionally, Southwestern Ontario has developed a significant concentration of commercial greenhouses, predominantly centred in the town of Leamington, where tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, flowers, and cannabis are grown. It is the largest concentration of commercial greenhouses in North America. Dairy and beef farming, breeding and training of standardbred horses and wine growing and production are also important industries. Its climate is among the mildest in Canada. Although brief periods of winter can be severe, summers are hot and humid with a longer growing season than in most of the country.

A large section of Southwestern Ontario was part of the Talbot Settlement, and the region has benefited from the settlement’s facilitation of agriculture and of trade in general. Its economy is heavily tied in with that of the midwestern United States, in particular the border state of Michigan. Auto manufacturing and parts, agriculture and hi-tech industries are key components of the region’s economy. The region also provides important transportation routes for commercial trucking, railway and tanker shipping from Detroit-Windsor and Port Huron, Michigan-Sarnia linking Canada with major markets in the eastern and midwestern United States.

Demographics

Population

Census Region	Population (2021)[15]	Population (2016)[15]	Population (2011)[15]	Population (2006)[15]	Population (2001)[15]	Area (km2)[15]
Waterloo	587,165	535,154	507,096	478,121	438,515	1,368.92
London-Middlesex	500,563	455,526	439,151	422,333	403,185	2,821.00
Windsor-Essex	422,860	398,953	388,782	393,402	374,975	1,662.73
Guelph-Wellington	241,026	222,726	208,360	200,425	187,313	2,665.36
Brant	144,771	134,808	136,035	125,099	118,485	817.66
Sarnia-Lambton	128,154	126,638	126,199	128,204	126,971	2,999.93
Oxford	121,781	110,846	105,719	102,756	99,270	2,036.61
Chatham-Kent	104,316	102,042	104,075	108,589	107,709	2,457.90
Grey	100,905	93,830	92,568	92,411	89,073	4,513.50
St. Thomas-Elgin	94,752	88,978	87,461	85,351	81,553	1,845.41
Stratford-Perth	81,565	76,812	75,112	74,344	73,675	2,177.78
Bruce	73,396	68,147	66,102	65,349	63,892	3,978.76
Norfolk	67,490	64,044	63,175	62,563	60,847	1,607.55
Dufferin	66,257	61,735	56,881	54,436	51,013	1,486.44
Huron	61,366	59,297	59,100	59,325	59,701	3,399.27
Total	2,796,367	2,599,536	2,515,816	2,452,708	2,336,177	36,797.54

Census Metropolitan Areas

Metropolitan Area	Type	Population[16][17]			Change	Land Area (km2)[16]	Population Density (/km2)
		(2022) Estimate	(2021)	(2016)
Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	CMA	622,497	575,847	523,894	+9.92%	1092.33	527.2
London	CMA	574,238	543,551	494,069	+10.02%	2661.48	204.2
Windsor	CMA	434,655	422,630	398,718	+6.00%	1803.17	234.4
Guelph	CMA	172,400	165,588	151,984	+8.95%	595.08	278.3
Brantford	CMA	158,391	144,162	134,203	+7.42%	1074.00	134.2
Chatham-Kent	CA	109,051	104,316	102,042	+2.23%	2464.52	42.3
Sarnia	CA	102,216	97,592	96,151	+1.50%	1117.20	87.4
Norfolk	CA	73,166	67,490	64,044	+5.38%	1597.68	42.2
Woodstock	CA	49,819	46,705	41,098	+13.64%	56.46	827.2
Owen Sound	CA	34,606	32,712	31,820	+2.80%	624.18	52.4

Geography

Southwestern Ontario is located within the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone (as classified by Environment and Climate Change Canada, further subclassified into the Lake Erie Lowland and Manitoulin-Lake Simcoe regions),^[18] which largely consists of glacial till plains underlain by sedimentary limestone bedrock. The vast majority of Southwestern Ontario maintains a relatively flat geography with rolling hills, with the exception of areas near the Niagara Escarpment in Bruce and Grey Counties, where exposed limestone cliff faces can be seen along the shores of Georgian Bay. Sandier soils are generally located near Lake Erie, resulting in the creation of a sandy escarpment along the entire north shore, in addition to many sandspit peninsulas, including Point Pelee in Essex County, Pointe aux Pins (Rondeau) in Chatham-Kent, and Long Point in Norfolk County. Pelee Island, the southernmost populated area in Canada, is located south of Point Pelee in Lake Erie.

Southwestern Ontario was originally covered by vast forests prior to agricultural development in the region. Two forest regions are located in Southwestern Ontario;^[19] Carolinian forest, located predominantly along Lake Erie and the southern tip of Lake Huron^[20], and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest, located around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.^[21] A very small percentage of forest coverage areas remain in the region due to extensive agricultural development and urbanization, but conservation efforts are underway to preserve and/or protect these forests. Three major federally protected areas, Point Pelee National Park, Bruce Peninsula National Park, and Long Point National Wildlife Area, are located in Southwestern Ontario. In 2021, the federal government announced plans to designate a new National Urban Park in Windsor's Ojibway Prairie Complex.^[22]

The Carolinian forest zone is Canada's smallest forest zone, but it is home to a very high biodiversity of species due to it being one of the warmest regions in the country. Over 500 rare and/or endangered species are located in this region^[20] and is estimated to contain around 25% of Canada's species at risk, including the American badger, Midland painted turtle, Jefferson salamander, monarch butterfly, and southern flying squirrel.^[23]

Climate

Southwestern Ontario's climate is heavily influenced by the proximity of the Great Lakes. Winters in the region are typically milder than the rest of Ontario due to the gradual release of stored heat in the lakes. Despite this, however, portions of the region experience significantly more snow than others due to lake-effect snow caused by eastward winds. A portion of the regional Snowbelt is located in Bruce, Grey, Huron, and Middlesex Counties.^[24] In a sharp contrast, Essex County and Chatham-Kent receive less snow than average due to their location further south.^[25] Summers are typically hot and humid, with Windsor experiencing the warmest weather in Ontario. Summers are often cooler and less humid on the peninsulas in Lake Erie and Lake Huron. Southwestern Ontario also experiences the highest annual frequency of thunderstorms in Canada, with Windsor, Chatham-Kent, and London experiencing the most days on average with lightning per year.^[26] Southwestern Ontario also regularly experiences severe weather events, including tornadoes, due to its proximity to the Great Lakes and warmer-than-average weather during the summer.

Under the Köppen climate classification, the vast majority of Southwestern Ontario has a humid continental climate, with the vast majority of the area experiencing a warm-summer Dfb climate, with the exception of Windsor and Chatham-Kent, which experiences a hot-summer Dfa climate. Additionally, a very small area near Long Point experiences a temperate oceanic Cfb climate, due to its location in Lake Erie creating slightly cooler summers and slightly warmer winters than the remainder of the province.

Infrastructure

The southern portion of Southewestern Ontario is the most populated and industrialized section of the region. The southern portion is bisected by King's Highway 401 which runs through Windsor and past London to Woodstock and Waterloo-Wellington region. King's Highway 402 runs from London to Sarnia.

The region is also serviced by major ports in Goderich on Lake Huron, Windsor on Lake Erie and just to the east Hamilton on Lake Ontario which is major destination for regionally produced grain.

Windsor, London and Kitchener-Waterloo also have significant regional airports with some international flights.

Dialect

The accent in the region, Southwestern Ontario English, is distinct from the rest of Ontario.

Administrative divisions

GovernmentGeographyCultureEconomyTransportationHistory