Greater Toronto Area

Greater Toronto Area ( abbreviated as GTA) is the increasingly arisen in the late 1990s, designation of the metropolitan area around the Canadian metropolis of Toronto and geographically and administratively as bündigere alternative to the much broader Golden Horseshoe region of use. The GTA in the strict sense, therefore, is limited to the city of Toronto, as well as parts of four neighboring regions Regional Municipality of Peel, Regional Municipality of Halton, Regional Municipality of York, Regional Municipality of Durham. Thus covers an area of about 7,125 square kilometers. In 2011 6.054.191 inhabitants were determined for the GTA at a census, making it the largest metropolitan area in Canada. The Greater Toronto Area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in North America. One long-term estimate is for the GTA in 2025 counted with a population of approximately 7.7 million inhabitants.

In the Greater Toronto Area around 2.9 million workers are employed and more than 100,000 companies resident. Thus, the area achieved a gross domestic product of 109 billion Canadian dollars, representing approximately 10% of the gross domestic product of Canada.

• 3.1 Public Transportation
• 3.2 motorway network
• 3.3 airports in the region

History

The territory of the Greater Toronto Area was originally home to various First Nations (especially Neutral, Seneca and Mohawk, Iroquois and Mississaugas later ), who settled on Lake Ontario, long before the first Europeans appeared in the 17th century. The area above the Great Lakes proved first for the most part French fur traders as attractive, which depended on the connection to the waterways and here also built the first fort. The actual settlement finally took place after the American Revolution by Loyalists and culminated in 1793 in Governor Simcoes founding of York - later Toronto.

→ History of Toronto → History of Ontario

Economy

Production and services

The Greater Toronto Area is the third largest manufacturing, services and financial center of North America. 51% of employees are in the service sector, 19 % in the production sector, 17% in retail, 8 % in transportation, communication and commerce and 5 % in the construction industry busy. For the largest service sector with 25 % share of the gross domestic product is one of the accounting and auditing. This is because that the five largest banks in Canada are headquartered in the nearby Financial District in Toronto. Furthermore, the largest stock exchange in Canada, the Toronto Stock Exchange is located in Toronto, in which also the important S & P / TSX Composite Index is out. TMX Group, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Montreal Exchange, also has its headquarters in the Financial District. The TSX and the TSX Venture Exchange represents 3,369 companies, of which more than half of global resources company listed on the stock exchange.

In Markham itself, however, several companies in the high tech industry have settled, which developed the area around the city into a major high-tech location of the region. In addition to companies such as IBM Canada, Microsoft and AMD Canada from the IT industry, the Greater Toronto Area to Detroit in the United States is the second largest settlement area of ​​the auto industry. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler Canada together have six production plants in the metropolitan area. Honda and Toyota have their production facilities outside the GTA, but in the vicinity. Many other car manufacturers, such as General Motors, Ford, Honda, Kia, Mazda, Suzuki, Nissan, Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Subaru, Volvo, BMW and Mitsubishi have their Canadian headquarters in the Greater Toronto Area. The automotive supplier Magna International, in turn, is headquartered in Aurora. Automobile production in the area generates around 10% of gross domestic product in the region.

Agriculture

Agriculture has long been a fundamental economic factor in the Greater Toronto Area. She plays today but no such supporting role more like a few decades ago. In today's agriculture, very few people are busy and in almost every suburb one can notice a slight decrease of farmland. Growth in a few cities, however, can be observed, such as in Aurora, Georgina, Newmarket, Oshawa, Richmond Hill and Scugog. The most arable land are located in The eastern Durham region alone is home to 55% of the land area. According to the Durham Region York, where 41% of the land area for agriculture are used follows. This is followed by the Peel region with 34 % and then the Halton region with 41%.

Infrastructure

Public transport

There are a variety of bus companies that offer public transport. These independent bus operators are coordinated by the composite system Metrolinx. Links to the public transport operators include the Brampton Transit, Burlington Transit, Durham Region Transit, GO Transit, Milton Transit, MiWay ( operated routes in Mississauga ), Oakville Transit, Toronto Transit Commission and York Region Transit.

Motorway network

The Greater Toronto Area has the largest, densest and most frequented highway network in Canada, where the Highway 401 also the longest highway Ontario and is listed on certain sections of the highest traffic volume in the world.

• Highway 400 - York Region, Toronto
• Highway 401 - Durham Region, Toronto, Peel Region, Halton Region
• Highway 403 - Peel Region, Halton Region
• Highway 404 - York Region, Toronto
• 407 ETR - Durham Region, Peel Region, York Region, Halton Region
• Highway 409 - Toronto, Peel Region
• Highway 410 - Peel Region
• Highway 427 - York Region, Toronto, Peel Region
• Queen Elizabeth Way - Peel Region, Halton Region, Toronto
• Gardiner Expressway - Toronto
• Don Valley Parkway - Toronto
• William R. Allen Road - Toronto

Airports in the region

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority of the ( GTAA ) operated Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga is Canada's most important, the largest and busiest airport and central aviation hub of the metropolitan area and the adjoining regions. Another airport is the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport, which is located in Hamilton. Be on this both international flights and charter flights carried out and it is primarily used as a relief for the Toronto Pearson International Airport. Another airport in the area is the location on the Toronto Islands Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, from which emanate mainly domestic flights, but now more and more destinations in the U.S. are served.