The slogan on Ontario's license plates is Yours
to Discover, and they weren't kidding. At 1,076,395
square kilometers (415,606 square miles), Ontario is
a huge place. The province borders on all the Great
Lakes (except for Lake Michigan) to the south, Hudson
and James Bay to the north, Manitoba
to the west, and Quebec
to the east. In all that space, you'll find countless
lakes, mountains, evergreen forests, tundra, rich farmland,
river valleys, and urban sprawl.
Canada's largest city,
Toronto, and the Golden Horseshoe have the largest
population concentration. The 2.5 million people in
the city (and more in the surrounding area –
one-quarter of Canada's population lives within 160
kilometers or 100 miles of Toronto) are a great example
of Canada's cultural mosaic. Every culture lives in
harmony with each other (for the most part) while retaining
and celebrating their cultural identities. Toronto
has got it all: great theatre, great music, great art
galleries, a great symphony orchestra, world-renowned
hospitals and universities, and arguably one of the
of the greatest hockey legacies in North America –
The
Toronto Maple Leafs. Just south, around Lake
Ontario, in the Niagara region, you will find award-winning
wine country and a short drive from the US border you'll
find the more impressive side of the famous
Niagara Falls.
Take a short drive north of the Toronto area and you
see small towns, bedroom communities, and unspoiled
nature.
Algonquin Park, the
Bruce Peninsula, and the Muskokas and Georgian
Bay are renowned for cottages and camping. Cottage
country is so close that you can leave on Friday, enjoy
a weekend "roughing it," and be back, showered, and
at work on Monday.
Go farther north and you get to my favorite part (and
birthplace): Northern Ontario. The air is fresh, the
water is clean, and the autumns are unbelievable. A
drive along the north shore of Lake Superior or around
Kenora
and Lake of the Woods in late September and October
is like entering into an Impressionist landscape. Due
to the concentration of birch and maple trees, the
hills are covered in shades of gold and red –
all underneath clear blue skies. But all that nature
doesn't mean it's uncivilized. There are plenty of
small communities with warm, friendly people, and cities
like
Thunder Bay,
Sault Ste. Marie, and
Sudbury have all the modern conveniences of a
major city. All this, and you're only a 20-minute drive
to total wilderness, if you want it. If you do end
up in Northern Ontario make sure you take a long sauna
and jump in a lake in the summer – or for the
truly macho, jump into a snow bank in the winter!
See our 263 Jobs
in Ontario
