Regional Municipality of Durham

Durham Region
Regional municipality (upper-tier)
Regional Municipality of Durham

Seal
Motto: "A Great Place to Grow"

Map showing Durham Region's location in Ontario
Coordinates: 43°55′N 78°56′W / 43.917°N 78.933°W / 43.917; -78.933Coordinates: 43°55′N 78°56′W / 43.917°N 78.933°W / 43.917; -78.933
Country  Canada
Province  Ontario
Established 1792 (County)
Established January 1,1974 (Regional Municipality)
Seat Whitby
Government
 • Chair
Governing Body		 Roger Anderson
Durham Regional Council
Area[1]
 • Land 2,523.62 km2 (974.38 sq mi)
Elevation 91.3 m (299.5 ft)
Population (2011)[1]
 • Total 608,124
 • Density 241.0/km2 (624/sq mi)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) Eastern (EDT) (UTC-4)
Website www.durham.ca

The Regional Municipality of Durham, informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto, Ontario. It has an area of approximately 2,500 square kilometres. The towns of Pickering and Ajax, and the township of Uxbridge, make up part of the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area, with the communities of Oshawa, Whitby, and Clarington make up the Oshawa Census Metropolitan Area. The regional government is headquartered in Whitby.

The southern portion of the region, on Lake Ontario is primarily suburban in nature, forming the eastern end of the 905 belt of suburbs around Toronto. The northern area comprises rural areas and small towns.

Subdivisions

Durham Region consists of the following municipalities:

It also contains one First Nation reserve: Mississaugas of Scugog Island.

Local government

See Durham Regional Council

History

The Region of Durham was established in 1974 as one of several new regional governments in the Province of Ontario, primarily in fast-growing urban and suburban areas. It encompasses areas that had been part of Ontario County and the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, and was the culmination of a series of studies into municipal governance in the "Oshawa-Centred Region" that had begun in the late 1960s. The boundaries of the region were different than had been anticipated and from those announced in late 1972; for example, it was widely expected that Pickering would be annexed to Metropolitan Toronto, which residents had expressed preference for in a ballot question. In addition, the region was proposed to extend further east to include Hope Township and the town of Port Hope, and did not include the northern townships of Scott, Brock and Thorah.

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, the Durham Region is located in the humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) bordering a temperate Oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) with warm summers and cold winters.

Climate data for Oshawa (1981−2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 14.0
(57.2)		 11.5
(52.7)		 23.5
(74.3)		 29.5
(85.1)		 32.0
(89.6)		 34.5
(94.1)		 36.5
(97.7)		 36.0
(96.8)		 31.5
(88.7)		 24.4
(75.9)		 21.1
(70)		 16.0
(60.8)		 36.5
(97.7)
Average high °C (°F) −1.1
(30)		 0.1
(32.2)		 4.2
(39.6)		 10.8
(51.4)		 16.9
(62.4)		 22.3
(72.1)		 25.1
(77.2)		 24.3
(75.7)		 20.2
(68.4)		 13.3
(55.9)		 7.4
(45.3)		 2.1
(35.8)		 12.1
(53.8)
Daily mean °C (°F) −4.8
(23.4)		 −3.6
(25.5)		 0.4
(32.7)		 6.6
(43.9)		 12.3
(54.1)		 17.6
(63.7)		 20.6
(69.1)		 20.0
(68)		 15.9
(60.6)		 9.5
(49.1)		 4.2
(39.6)		 −1.2
(29.8)		 8.1
(46.6)
Average low °C (°F) −8.5
(16.7)		 −7.3
(18.9)		 −3.5
(25.7)		 2.5
(36.5)		 7.7
(45.9)		 12.9
(55.2)		 15.9
(60.6)		 15.6
(60.1)		 11.7
(53.1)		 5.6
(42.1)		 1.0
(33.8)		 −4.4
(24.1)		 4.1
(39.4)
Record low °C (°F) −30.5
(−22.9)		 −27
(−17)		 −24
(−11)		 −13.3
(8.1)		 −2.8
(27)		 1.1
(34)		 6.0
(42.8)		 3.0
(37.4)		 −0.6
(30.9)		 −7.8
(18)		 −13
(9)		 −29
(−20)		 −30.5
(−22.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 65.6
(2.583)		 56.6
(2.228)		 54.2
(2.134)		 72.7
(2.862)		 78.9
(3.106)		 73.9
(2.909)		 73.1
(2.878)		 77.4
(3.047)		 94.0
(3.701)		 70.1
(2.76)		 84.8
(3.339)		 70.7
(2.783)		 871.9
(34.327)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 30.0
(1.181)		 31.7
(1.248)		 40.7
(1.602)		 70.6
(2.78)		 78.9
(3.106)		 73.9
(2.909)		 73.1
(2.878)		 77.4
(3.047)		 94.0
(3.701)		 70.0
(2.756)		 80.0
(3.15)		 45.8
(1.803)		 766.1
(30.161)
Average snowfall cm (inches) 35.6
(14.02)		 24.9
(9.8)		 13.5
(5.31)		 2.0
(0.79)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.0
(0)		 0.1
(0.04)		 4.7
(1.85)		 24.9
(9.8)		 105.8
(41.65)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) 13.6 10.4 11.0 12.8 12.8 10.8 10.6 11.2 12.1 13.5 14.4 12.6 145.7
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) 5.7 5.0 7.9 12.4 12.8 10.8 10.6 11.2 12.1 13.4 13.3 7.5 122.7
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) 8.7 6.3 3.8 0.85 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.08 1.8 5.9 27.5
Source: Environment Canada[2]
Climate data for Ajax, ON (2000–2012)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 0
(32)		 1
(34)		 5
(41)		 11
(52)		 17
(63)		 23
(73)		 26
(79)		 26
(79)		 23
(73)		 16
(61)		 9
(48)		 3
(37)		 16
(61)
Average low °C (°F) −7
(19)		 −6
(21)		 −2
(28)		 3
(37)		 8
(46)		 14
(57)		 16
(61)		 16
(61)		 15
(59)		 8
(46)		 3
(37)		 −3
(27)		 5
(41)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 19
(0.75)		 12
(0.47)		 17
(0.67)		 26
(1.02)		 46
(1.81)		 76
(2.99)		 63
(2.48)		 45
(1.77)		 52
(2.05)		 48
(1.89)		 41
(1.61)		 26
(1.02)		 471
(18.53)
Source: World Weather Online[3]

Demographics

Historical populations
YearPop.±%
1991409,070—    
1996458,616+12.1%
2001506,901+10.5%
2006561,258+10.7%
2011608,124+8.4%
[5]
Racial makeup
Canada 2006 Census Population % of Total Population
Visible minority group
Source:[6] 		South Asian 24,110 4.3
Chinese 7,560 1.4
Black 33,300 6
Filipino 7,650 1.4
Latin American 3,100 0.6
Southeast Asian 1,410 0.3
Arab 3,050 0.5
West Asian 2,605 0.5
Korean 1,165 0.2
Japanese 1,535 0.3
Mixed visible minority 4,505 0.8
Other visible minority 3,420 0.6
Total visible minority population 93,420 16.8
Aboriginal group
Source:[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] 		First Nations 3,960 0.7
Métis 2,160 0.4
Inuit 145 0
Total Aboriginal population 6,565 1.2
White 457,340 82.1
Total population 557,330 100

Services

The regional government, within its geographic area, has sole responsibility for the following:

The region also provides services in:

Local municipalities have responsibility for:

Economy

Youth unemployment is a major issue in the region: at 23% by the Durham Workforce Authority in 2013, it is 17% higher than the provincial average.

Major employers include General Motors of Canada, Ontario Power Generation, Lakeridge Health, Durham District School Board, Durham College, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and many smaller component and transportation firms supplying the automotive industry.

Automobile and other industries

Durham Region is a major centre of the Canadian automobile industry. Oshawa is the Canadian headquarters of General Motors and home of GM's largest plant in North America. In addition, the Canadian headquarters of Volkswagen is located in the region, BMW was located in the region until moving to Richmond Hill in 2010. The worldwide recession and spike in oil prices resulted in large-scale layoffs at GM beginning in 2008, along with the closure of the Oshawa Truck plant in 2009. This dramatically reduced employment levels at GM, and also resulted in significant employment losses and closures in the auto parts industry. While a number of models are currently produced in Oshawa, concerns remain about GM's long-term future as a manufacturer in Canada as no production is currently slated for Oshawa beyond 2016.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is also a major employer in the region. OPG is Canada's largest owner of nuclear power plants with responsibility for operating the Pickering A, Pickering B, and Darlington nuclear generating stations, all of which are located in Durham Region.

Shopping

Major shopping centres located in Durham Region include:

Transportation

400-series freeways

Other highways

Note: This is the only region of the Greater Toronto Area where the Trans Canada Highway passes through. The TC's Central Ontario Route enters from the northeast at Manilla along Highway 7, makes an abrupt turn near Sunderland onto Highway 12 heading north towards Beaverton and the northern regional boundary.

Public transportation

Public transit in the Region is operated by Durham Region Transit, which was formed in January 2006 when the five preexisting municipal public transit systems in the region were merged under the Region's administration.

In addition, GO Transit provides the following services within the Region:

Air Travel

Although small airports such as Oshawa Airport exist in Durham Region, the main airport serving the region is Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Education

The Durham District School Board operates all English-language secular public schools within Durham Region, except for those schools within Clarington, which are part of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. This is a holdover from the pre-1974 structure in which the area now forming Clarington was part of Durham County, while the other municipalities were part of Ontario County.

The Durham Catholic District School Board operates the separate English-language public Catholic school system within Durham Region, again with the exception of schools in Clarington, which are part of the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board.

Neither school board is an operating division of the regional government. Instead, as is true of all school boards in Ontario, they are separate entities with distinct but overlapped service areas. Elected public trustees responsible for their operation.

French-language school boards serving the municipality include the Conseil scolaire Viamonde and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud.

Durham Secondary Academy and Middle School offers private elementary and secondary education for students in the Region of Durham.

The region also is home to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Ontario's fastest growing university, Durham College, and Trent University Durham (Trent University's main campus is in Peterborough). The UOIT and Durham College main campuses are located in North Oshawa. Durham College also has a satellite campus in Whitby, and UOIT has one in Downtown Oshawa.

Travel region

Durham Region lies within the Central Counties of Ontario, a tourism-related association.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "(Code 3518) Census Profile". 2011 census. Statistics Canada. 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
  2. ↑ "Oshawa WPCP". Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010. Environment Canada. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  3. ↑ {{http://www.worldweatheronline.com/ajax-weather-averages/ontario/ca.aspx}}
  4. ↑ "2006 Community Profiles". Canada 2006 Census. Statistics Canada. March 30, 2011. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  5. 1 2 "2001 Community Profiles". Canada 2001 Census. Statistics Canada. February 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  6. ↑ , Community Profiles from the 2006 Census, Statistics Canada - Census Division
  7. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  8. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  9. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  10. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  11. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  12. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  13. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  14. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  15. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table
  16. ↑ , Aboriginal Peoples - Data table

External links

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