Ontario

Ontario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area.(Nunavut and the Northwest Territories are larger but are not provinces.)

Ontario is bordered by the provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and five US states (from west to east).

The population of Ontario is 13.1 million.

The capital of Ontario is Toronto, Canada's most populous city and metropolitan area. Ottawa, the capital of Canada, is located in Ontario as well.

The province takes its name from Lake Ontario, which is thought to be derived from Ontarí:io, a Huron (Wyandot) word meaning "great lake" or possibly skanadario which means "beautiful water" in Iroquoian. (The province contains over 250,000 freshwater lakes.)

Details

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario)

Ontario is Canada's leading manufacturing province accounting for 52% of the total national manufacturing shipments in 2004. Ontario's largest trading partner is the American state of Michigan.

Most of Ontario's 2,700 km (1,677 mi) long border with the United States runs along water, in the west the Lake of the Woods and eastward of there either on lakes or rivers within the Great Lakes drainage system: Superior, St. Marys River, Huron, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Erie, Ontario and then runs along the St. Lawrence River from near Kingston to near Cornwall.

For analytical and geographical purposes Ontario is often broken into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of population and arable land in Ontario is located in the south, which contrasts with its relatively small land area in comparison to the north.

Education

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Ontario)

Education in Ontario - as in all Canadian provinces - falls under provincial jurisdiction.

Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by the Ontario's Ontario Ministry of Education, while colleges and universities are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

The current Minister of Education is the Honourable Leona Dombrowsky, and the current minister of Training, Colleges and Universities is John Milloy.

Schools

Ontario operates four publicly funded school systems: An English-language public school system a French-language public school system an English language separate school school system a French language separate school system.

The public school system was originally Protestant but is now secular and non-denominational.

The Separate School system is Roman Catholic (open to students of all faiths at secondary level, they have the option of refusing non-Catholics at the elementary level) with the exception of the Penetanguishene Protestant Separate School Board which runs a single Protestant school.

The UN has cited Ontario for discrimination against non-Catholics because Ontario publicly funds the Catholic School Board but not schools professing any other faith. A CBC poll suggested that 58.2% of Ontarians want a single publicly funded school system with no discrimination.

Virtual schools

The Independent Learning Centre was founded in 1926 to provide distance education services to elementary and secondary school students. Since 2002, the ILC has been operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority (TVOntario).

Universities and colleges

The Canadian constitution provides each province with the responsibility for higher education and there is no corresponding national federal ministry of higher education.

Higher education in Ontario includes postsecondary education and skills training regulated by the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities and provided by universities, colleges of applied arts and technology, and private career colleges.

The ministry administers laws covering:

1. 22 public universities
2. 24 colleges
3. 17 privately funded degree granting institutions
4. over 500 private career colleges.

Within Canadian federalism the division of responsibilities and taxing powers between the Ontario and Canadian governments creates the need for cooperation to fund and deliver higher education to students. Each higher education system aims to improve participation, access, and mobility for students.

A university and college admissions system manages the process of students' entry into higher education institutions. The Ontario Universities' Application Centre and Ontario College Application Service are two central organizations that assist with this admissions process.

Upon admission, students may get involved with regional student representation with the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, or through the College Student Alliance in Ontario.

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