Southwestern Ontario

[1] A more traditional definition of the region's boundary can be traced back to early colonial districts in the British Province of Quebec and Upper Canada.

The Western District, originally known as the Hesse District from 1788 to 1792,[2] was originally designated as everything west of a north-south line intersecting the extreme projection of Long Point into Lake Erie,[3] which roughly follows the eastern boundaries of modern Brant, Grey, Dufferin, Norfolk, and Wellington Counties.

Initial European settlement and colonization of the region occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries by the French as part of the colony of Canada within New France.

Kitchener, originally known as Ebytown and later Berlin, was established by German Mennonite and Pennsylvania Dutch settlers in 1807, after sections of the Haldimand Tract were purchased from the Six Nations in 1798.

During the early-to-mid 19th century, the region was the northern terminus of the Underground Railroad for enslaved African Americans seeking escape from the United States.

Thousands of slaves escaped to the region, settling and owning farms in areas such as Essex County, Chatham-Kent, and Queen's Bush.

The effects of the 2008–2010 automotive industry crisis on Canada included a large number of plants shutting down across the region in the following years.

[13] (2021)[14] (2016)[14] (2011)[14] (2006)[14] (2001)[14] (km2)[14] (km2)[15] Density (/km2) Southwestern Ontario is located within the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone (as classified by Environment and Climate Change Canada, further subclassified into the Lake Erie Lowland and Manitoulin-Lake Simcoe regions),[17] which largely consists of glacial till and glaciolacustrine sand/silt/clay plains underlain by sedimentary limestone, dolostone, siltstone, sandstone, and shale bedrock, with pockets of evaporite gypsum and salt beds.

The vast majority of Southwestern Ontario maintains a relatively flat geography with rolling hills, with the exception of areas near the Niagara Escarpment in Bruce and Grey Counties, where exposed limestone cliff faces can be seen along the shores of Georgian Bay.

In 2021, the federal government announced plans to designate a new National Urban Park in Windsor's Ojibway Prairie Complex.

Winters in the region are typically milder than the rest of Ontario due to the gradual release of stored heat in the lakes.

[23] In a sharp contrast, Essex County and Chatham-Kent receive less snow than average due to their location further south.

Southwestern Ontario also experiences the highest annual frequency of thunderstorms in Canada, with Windsor, Chatham-Kent, and London experiencing the most days on average with lightning per year.

Southwestern Ontario has historically been a strong centre for Canadian agricultural production, given the abundance of arable land and warmer climate that provides for a longer growing season than the rest of the country.

[28] A strong commercial greenhouse sector has also emerged in the region, centred predominantly on the towns of Leamington and Kingsville in Essex County, which boast the largest concentration of commercial greenhouses in North America,[29] made viable due to the presence of sandy soils, low energy costs, and mild winters.

The plant began operation in 1971 and currently has a generating capacity of 6,550 MW spread across 8 CANDU PHWR reactors.

It is anticipated to eventually reach a generating capacity of 7,000 MW through uprates achieved as a result of an ongoing reactor refurbishment program.

[31] In 2023, the Ontario government announced plans to expand the plant's generating capacity by an additional 4,800 MW to meet growing energy demands in the province.

Oil was originally shipped by tankers through the Great Lakes from Superior, Wisconsin until the 1953 expansion of the Enbridge pipeline system into Sarnia.

The federal government designated Sarnia as the area where synthetic petroleum-based rubbers would be developed for use in the allied war effort.

Proximity to heavy industry in the United States Rust Belt, predominantly Detroit, and the nearby location of hydroelectric power sources in Niagara Falls provided a foundation for allowing the region to emerge as Canada's manufacturing heartland.

[40] The Canadian and United States automotive industries were eventually integrated with the signing of the APTA in 1965, which reduced cross-border tariffs and production inefficiencies in Canada, resulting an increase in motor vehicle exports to the United States and domestic parts production, but came at the cost of the decline of domestic automotive brands and consolidation of plants.

Windsor was an important location for production during Prohibition in the United States, where alcohol was smuggled across the Detroit River.

The following are located in the region (as of 2024): The vast majority of the primary vehicular traffic network in Southwestern Ontario is served mainly by the controlled-access 400-series highways.

[50] Southwestern Ontario has two major ports, located in Goderich and Windsor, that service cargo ships as part of the Great Lakes/St.

The port of Windsor moves a wider variety of cargo including aggregates, salt, grain, fertilizer, lumber, steel, petroleum, vehicles and machinery.

The three major airports predominantly offer limited international flights (mainly to vacation destinations such as the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean) on a seasonal basis, in addition to some select all-season routes to other Canadian cities.

Local identity is heavily rooted in historical industries like agriculture and automotive manufacturing, as well as proximity to the Great Lakes.

The region has also historically hosted multiple Canadian football teams that competed for the Grey Cup prior to the formation of the CFL in 1958, including the Brantford Redskins, Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen, London Lords, Sarnia Imperials (2-time Grey Cup champions in 1934 and 1936), and Windsor Royals of the Ontario Rugby Football Union.

[66] In the late 2000s, former BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie made three unsuccessful attempts to purchase and move an NHL franchise to Southern Ontario, with planned destinations being either Kitchener or Hamilton; in 2006 with the Pittsburgh Penguins,[67] in 2007 with the Nashville Predators,[68] and in 2009 with the Arizona Coyotes.

Köppen Climate Map of Southwestern Ontario