Central Ontario

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Image:Centront.PNG Central Ontario is the portion of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies between Georgian Bay and a portion of the north shore of Lake Ontario. The population estimate was 879,514 in 2003, this number does not include large numbers of seasonal residents, which at peak times of the year swell its population to well over 1 million. Although it contains small urban centres, much of Central Ontario is covered by farms, lakes, rivers or sparsely populated forested land.

It is located entirely within Southern Ontario. Central Ontario is not geographically close to the actual 'centre' of Ontario as its name would indicate, but in the transitional area between Northern and Southern Ontario, although it is considered a sub-region of the south. The defintion of what its Central Ontario keeps changing, some of the previous and current definitions are explained below;

Simcoe, Dufferin, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County and Peterborough County are within Central Ontario, but also overlap into the northern fringes of the recently defined (in 2004) Greater Golden Horseshoe region.

Parry Sound District and Muskoka are within Central Ontario, but are treated as part of Northern Ontario by federal economic development programs because of these districts' special economic circumstances; Parry Sound, but not Muskoka, is now classed with Northern Ontario by the provincial government.

All or part of Grey County and Bruce County may on occasion get included with Central or more often with Western Ontario. More rarely, Hastings and Prince Edward County may be considered part of Central Ontario by different sources; they are more often included as being in Eastern Ontario and share the same telephone area code 613.

To the south of Central Ontario, the term 'Golden Horseshoe' has been used for decades to refer more or less to the heavily concentrated industrial urban area at the west end of Lake Ontario, but up unitl the 1990s this area was considered part of Central or South-Central Ontario. These deifintions have been dropped in favour of 'Golden Horsehoe' or more recently the broadened area of the 'Greater Golden Horseshoe', which now includes the southern parts of Central Ontario. However, some businesses in the Greater Toronto Area may still include it as part of the Central Ontario region, owing to this past usage.

Haliburton County, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County and Peterborough County are the only four census divisions which were always grouped as part of Central Ontario.

The Canadian Shield runs over the northern part of Central Ontario, a recreational area with a much increased summer-time population, including the wilderness of Algonquin Provincial Park. Often referred to as 'Cottage Country', this area's lakes and rivers are dotted with numerous cottages, some of them seasonal, but in recent years there is a growing trend for some of these 'summer cottages' to be used as year-round residences due to a number of factors, including an ageing retiree population, increased local services and improved wireless communication. The Trent-Severn Waterway connects Georgian Bay with Lake Ontario and its lock system is used by pleasure boaters and anglers during the summer months.

The southern portion of the region is mostly agricultural land mixed with wooded areas with growing urban cities Barrie and Peterborough. Both serve as regional centres with strong economic ties to the Greater Toronto Area due to their close proximity to its outer fringes. Barrie in particular, has a fast growing population as a result of the GTA's northern encroachment and has benefited economically from its key position as a gateway to the north. Both cities also overlap into the Greater Golden Horseshoe region.Template:Ontario-geo-stub