Greater Toronto Area

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The Greater Toronto Area (called the GTA by local residents) is the largest metropolitan area in Canada and is centred around the fifth largest city in North America, Toronto, after Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The GTA has a population of over 5.6 million people (2005). In addition to the City of Toronto, it includes four distinct Regional Municipalities, namely the regions of York, Halton, Peel and Durham. The GTA contains 15.9% of Canada's population and 41.8% of Ontario's population.

The Greater Toronto Area is one of North America's fastest-growing regions. As an economic area, the GTA consists of 25 municipalities and four regions in a total area of over 7,000 square kilometers with a population of 5.6 million. With a work force of approximately 2.9 million people, more than 100,000 companies and a US $305 billion gross domestic product, the GTA is Canada's undisputed business and manufacturing capital. The GTA is home to a number of postsecondary educational institutions, including 4 universities and 7 colleges.

Some municipalities that are considered part of the GTA are not within the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). These places are not considered part of the official CMA by the Census and form part of an another CMA such as Oshawa. However, some nearby municipalities, such as Hamilton, Barrie or Kitchener-Waterloo, have their own CMA and are not considered part of the GTA. Ultimately, all the mentioned municipalities are part of the Greater Golden Horsehoe.

The following regional governments are often included in describing the Greater Toronto Area:

The City of Hamilton, Regional Municipality of Niagara and City of Guelph all have significant ties to Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. Nonetheless, these ties aren't strong enough for them be considered part of the GTA, officially or otherwise. It is expected that with current rate of regional growth these areas will one day in the future become part of the Greater Toronto Area. In some cases the provincial government already includes Hamilton in Niagara as part of the GTA for record keeping purposes as well as for transportation planning. In 2001, Statistics Canada included a new level of census management called Census Regions, roughly equivalent to an American Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA). The Extended Golden Horseshoe Census Region includes all of the Greater Toronto Area listed above, as well as Niagara, Hamilton, Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo. Combined, the Extended Golden Horseshoe has a population of more than 6.7 million people [1] and contains roughly one quarter of Canada's population.

The Toronto Region / GTA are served by six distinct area codes. Prior to 1993, the provincial telephone codes were only 416 and 519, with the former being used for all of the GTA. Since 1993, it is often thought that Toronto itself is area code 416 while the rest of the Greater Toronto Area is area code 905. This division by area code has become part of the local culture to the point where local media would refer to something inside Toronto as "The 416ers" and outside of Toronto as "The 905ers." Though for the most part this was correct, it isn't entirely true as some portions of Durham Region are area code 705, and some portions of Peel Region are area code 519. As well, there are areas, such as Port Hope that are in the 905 area code, but not part of the GTA, or even the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Things became even more complicated by the addition of two overlay area codes in the area with 647 being overlaid on 416 in March, 2001 and 289 on 905 in July, 2001. 10-digit telephone dialing, including the area code for local calls, is required throughout all of the GTA as well as Hamilton and Niagara.

Most of the GTA is served by GO Transit, a regional transportation authority that connects Toronto's suburban areas to its downtown. The GTA also has the largest and busiest freeway network in all of Canada, consisting mainly of 400-Series Highways and supplemented by municipal expressways.

There has been a growing tension between Toronto and the surrounding GTA area since the mid 1990s, with Toronto complaining that it has been economically exploited by its neighbors. The election of the Harris government was attributed to his support base in the suburban "905" region. During his time in office, many provincial services were downloaded to the Toronto which caused great financial strain on an already indebted city, while major investments were made in the surrounding municipalities, some of which were debt free. Although the succeeding McGuinty government has attempted to address this imbalance, Torontonians feel that his attempts are half-hearted because McGuinty also had significant "905" support during his 2003 election victory.

For their part, although the surrounding GTA cities are free of the financial problems that Toronto often faces, they resent their dependency on Toronto for both economic support and recognition. The "905" municipalities are all of befret of cultural institutions due to their proximety to Toronto, despite their significant size. Mississauga for instance is the largest city in Canada by far with no daily newspaper, no television stations, and no commercial radio stations. Despite having attracted significant investment over the last few decades, the surrounding cities are still considered bedroom suburbs to Toronto rather than independent municipalities and as a result they are virtually unknown outside of Ontario.