Waterloo (Ontario)

Waterloo [ ˌ wɑɾəɹlu ː ] is a Canadian city which lies south-west of Toronto, in the Province of Ontario. It is the smallest of the three cities, which together form the Regional Municipality Waterloo (Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo ), and is located near the larger city of Kitchener. Waterloo has 124,600 inhabitants ( 2011).

Waterloo is a university town, in which there are two prestigious universities: one is the University of Waterloo with about 27,000 students, and the Wilfrid Laurier University with about 12,000 students.

Waterloo is the headquarters of BlackBerry. Its founder and former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis put $ 2000 $ 100 million in private funds available in order to establish which is also based in Waterloo, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

  • 5.1 Roads and highways
  • 5.2 Public Transport
  • 5.3 flight connections

History

Waterloo was founded in 1804 by Mennonites from Pennsylvania. An important settler was Abraham Erb, who is regarded as the founder of Waterloo, as the two lots of land that he owned, and later formed the core of Waterloo. 1816, a year after the Battle of Waterloo, the town received its present name. To the 40s of the 19th century, many German immigrants settled in the vicinity of a village in the south-east of Waterloo that in 1833 called Berlin. As a result of anti-German sentiments driven by referendum during the First World War, the city was later renamed Kitchener.

Location and climate

Waterloo is in the province of Ontario. The city is located about 100 km from Toronto, 80 miles from London and Mississauga. In the immediate vicinity are the larger cities of Guelph, about 25 km away and Kitchener, which is adjacent to Waterloo.

The climate is comparable with the European, with warm to hot summers and cool to very cold winters. The average temperatures are in January and March -7 to -1 degrees Celsius. During the months of April and June this increase to 5.8 degrees and 17.3 degrees Celsius. In July and September, 19.8 and 14.3 ° Celsius. During the summer months, however, several days the temperatures rise above 30 ° Celsius, which can also occur sporadically in October. The end of September and October the temperatures drop gradually and reach average daily temperatures between 14 ° and -3 ° Celsius.

Economy and infrastructure

Overview

Waterloo has a strong research and service -oriented economy. Several major insurance and high- tech companies and two universities located in the city. The largest companies are headquartered in Waterloo are Sun Life Financial, the University of Waterloo, Manulife Financial, Blackberry and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Other companies that are headquartered in the city: Dalsa, Descartes Systems Group, Maplesoft, MKS Inc., Open Text Corporation and Sandvine. In addition, operate the following company's research and development laboratories in the city: Sybase, Google, Oracle, Intel, McAfee, NCR Corporation, Electronic Arts and Agfa.

The German family Handtmann in Waterloo has a sales and service office for the area Filling and portioning.

The city is a member of Canada's Technology Triangle (CTT ), a composite of other cities in the Waterloo Region, as Kitchener and Cambridge, which make the region more international.

Education and Research

In addition to several primary and secondary schools and two universities in the city, there is also the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo. The independent research institute concerned with the fundamentals of theoretical physics and will run in the summer months, summer camps for students.

At the University of Waterloo studying approximately 26,000 students in six faculties and able to obtain their bachelor's or master's degrees there. The Wilfrid Laurier University is a small university with about 12,000 students in four subject areas.

Culture and sights

In Waterloo In total there are five recreation parks with lots of green space and sports facilities. The RIM Park is two square kilometers in size and next, including an 18 hole golf course. Waterloo Park is located in the city center and has an area of ​​45 hectares. The park is known for its annual winter decoration during the Christmas period, also known as " Wonders of Winter". The Bechtel Park has 44 acres and has several outdoor sports facilities. Furthermore, this is home to a dog park.

The Grand River flows south past the city limits. The river is fed by Lake Erie and is 266 km long. It runs past several towns and ends at Grand Valley.

Additional points of interest there is in Waterloo include:

  • Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery
  • Centre for International Governance Innovation
  • Conestoga Mall, Shopping Mall with 120 shops and restaurants.
  • Elliott Avedon Museum and Archive of Games
  • Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
  • RIM Park
  • Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex
  • Waterloo -St. Jacobs Railway

In Kitchener and Waterloo every year hosts the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany.

Traffic

Roads and Highways

The Conestoga Parkway and Highway 8 connect Waterloo Ontario with Kitchener, Cambridge and with the Highways 7/8 and Highway 401

Waterloo shares several of its north-south streets with Kitchener. These include ( from east to west ) Bridge Street, Weber Street, King Street, Westmount Road and Fischer- Hallman Road. The Regina Street (located between Weber and King Street ) and Albert Street (located between King Street and Westmount Road) are the north-south streets that lead to the city limits.

Public transportation

Waterloo has no train. Next stop for trains Via Rail Canada is the neighboring city of Kitchener. The station is accessible by public transportation through downtown Kitchener.

The city is planning to build a tram line. The construction work is scheduled to begin in 2014, the operation could take the tram in 2017.

Flights

The nearest airport in Waterloo Region, the Waterloo International Airport. The airport is located about 10 km outside of Waterloo. The airport was expanded and renovated in recent years, so that it can be also served by larger machines. The airport has two start / runways.

The airport was previously served only by smaller machines, since recently, however, by rising passenger numbers, also regular services are offered. Westjet Airlines has several daily connections from Waterloo to Calgary with a Boeing 737-700 furnished. Since June 2010, WestJet Airlines also offers a connection to Vancouver. Bearskin Airlines offers since October 2007 scheduled flights between Waterloo and Ottawa. During the winter months Sunwing Airlines offers connections to the Dominican Republic.

Famous people

  • Paul Ballantyne, hockey player
  • Walter Bowman, football player
  • Andrew Poje, figure skaters
  • Christina Schmidt, actress and model
  • John Sullivan, football player
  • Rachel Thevenard, Actress
  • David Wharnsby, Cutter
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