Ontario

===Canadian province (1867–present)===
[[File:Canada provinces evolution 2.gif|thumb|An animated map of the changes to the borders of Canada. The borders of Ontario were last changed in 1912.]]
The borders of Ontario, its new name in 1867, were provisionally expanded north and west. When the Province of Canada was formed, its borders were not entirely clear, and Ontario claimed eventually to reach all the way to the [[Rocky Mountains]] and [[Arctic Ocean]]. With Canada's acquisition of Rupert's Land, Ontario was interested in clearly defining its borders, especially since some of the new areas in which it was interested were rapidly growing. After the federal government asked Ontario to pay for construction in the new disputed area, the province asked for an elaboration on its limits, and its boundary was moved north to the [[51st parallel north]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Report on the Boundaries of the Province of Ontario |author=Mills, David |publisher=Hunter, Rose & Co. |location=Toronto |page=347 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BlYCAAAAMAAJ |year=1877 |access-date=September 14, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107091048/http://books.google.com/books?id=BlYCAAAAMAAJ |archive-date=November 7, 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:Oliver Mowat.jpg|thumb|[[Oliver Mowat]], [[Premier of Ontario]] from 1872 to 1896]]
Once constituted as a province, Ontario proceeded to assert its economic and legislative power. In 1872, the lawyer [[Oliver Mowat]] became [[Premier of Ontario]] and remained as premier until 1896. He fought for provincial rights, weakening the power of the [[Government of Canada|federal government]] in provincial matters, usually through well-argued appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. His battles with the federal government greatly [[Decentralization|decentralized]] Canada, giving the provinces far more power than [[John A. Macdonald]] had intended. He consolidated and expanded Ontario's educational and provincial institutions, created districts in Northern Ontario, and fought to ensure that those parts of Northwestern Ontario not historically part of Upper Canada (the vast areas north and west of the Lake Superior-Hudson Bay watershed, known as the [[District of Keewatin]]) would become part of Ontario, a victory embodied in the ''Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889''. He also presided over the emergence of the province into the economic powerhouse of Canada. Mowat was the creator of what is often called ''Empire Ontario''.

Beginning with Macdonald's [[National Policy]] (1879) and the construction of the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] (1875–1885) through Northern Ontario and the [[Canadian Prairies]] to [[British Columbia]], Ontario manufacturing and industry flourished. However, population increases slowed after a large recession hit the province in 1893, thus slowing growth drastically but for only a few years. Many newly arrived immigrants and others moved west along the railway to the Prairie Provinces and British Columbia, sparsely settling Northern Ontario.

The northern and western boundaries of Ontario were in dispute after [[Canadian Confederation]]. Ontario's right to Northwestern Ontario was determined by the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] in 1884 and confirmed by the ''Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889'' of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]]. By 1899, there were seven northern districts: Algoma, Manitoulin, Muskoka, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, and Thunder Bay. Four more northern districts were created between 1907 and 1912: Cochrane, Kenora, Sudbury and Timiskaming.<ref>{{cite web|title=Early Districts and Counties 1788–1899 |publisher=Archives of Ontario |date=September 5, 2006 |access-date=November 29, 2006 |url=https://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/on-line-exhibits/maps/ontario-districts.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100130162533/http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/on-line-exhibits/maps/ontario-districts.aspx |archive-date=January 30, 2010}}</ref>

[[Mineral]] exploitation accelerated in the late 19th century, leading to the rise of important mining centres in the northeast, such as [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]], [[Cobalt, Ontario|Cobalt]] and [[Timmins]]. The province harnessed its water power to generate hydro-electric power and created the state-controlled Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, later [[Ontario Hydro]]. The availability of cheap electric power further facilitated the development of industry. The [[Ford Motor Company of Canada]] was established in 1904 and the [[McLaughlin Motor Car Company]] (later [[General Motors Canada]]) was founded in 1907. The motor vehicle industry became the most lucrative industry for the Ontario economy during the 20th century.

In July 1912, the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Conservative]] government of [[James Whitney (politician)|James Whitney]] issued [[Regulation 17]] which severely limited the availability of French-language schooling to the province's French-speaking minority. French Canadians reacted with outrage, journalist [[Henri Bourassa]] denouncing the "Prussians of Ontario". The regulation was eventually repealed in 1927.
[[File:Raid at elk lake.jpg|thumb|left|Law enforcement confiscate stores of alcohol in [[James, Ontario|Elk Lake]] in an effort to enforce [[prohibition]]. The prohibition measures were introduced in 1916 and were not repealed until 1927.]]
Influenced by events in the United States, the government of [[William Howard Hearst|William Hearst]] introduced [[Prohibition in Canada|prohibition]] of alcoholic drinks in 1916 with the passing of the ''[[Ontario Temperance Act]]''. However, residents could distil and retain their own personal supply, and liquor producers could continue distillation and export for sale, allowing this already sizeable industry to strengthen further. Ontario became a hotbed for the illegal smuggling of liquor and the biggest supplier into the United States, which was under complete [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]]. Prohibition in Ontario came to an end in 1927 with the establishment of the [[Liquor Control Board of Ontario]] under the government of [[Howard Ferguson]]. The sale and consumption of liquor, wine, and beer are still controlled by some of the most extreme laws in North America to ensure strict community standards and revenue generation from the alcohol retail monopoly are upheld.

The post-[[World War II]] period was one of exceptional prosperity and growth. Ontario has been the recipients of most immigration to Canada, largely immigrants from war-torn Europe in the 1950s and 1960s and following changes in federal [[immigration law]], a massive influx of non-Europeans since the 1970s. From a largely [[ethnic group|ethnically]] British province, Ontario has rapidly become culturally very diverse.

The nationalist movement in Quebec, particularly after the election of the ''[[Parti Québécois]]'' in 1976, contributed to driving many businesses and English-speaking people out of Quebec to Ontario, and as a result, Toronto surpassed [[Montreal]] as the largest city and economic centre of Canada.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mayda|first=Chris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzK0dFXtS9oC&q=1976+Toronto+surpassed+Montreal+as+the+largest+city+and+economic+centre+of+Canada&pg=PA109|title=A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada: Toward a Sustainable Future|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2013|isbn=9780742556904|location=Lanham, Md.|page=109|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-date=August 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817055041/https://books.google.com/books?id=BzK0dFXtS9oC&q=1976+Toronto+surpassed+Montreal+as+the+largest+city+and+economic+centre+of+Canada&pg=PA109|url-status=live}}</ref> Depressed economic conditions in the [[Atlantic Canada|Maritime Provinces]] have also resulted in de-population of those provinces in the 20th century, with heavy migration into Ontario.<ref>Neill, R. (2005). Atlantica: partial recovery and partial decline: the context of Maritime emigration, 1870–1970. in Atlantic Canada Economics Association Conference 2005 Working Papers Series (Vol. 2005). Retrieved from http://economics.acadiau.ca/id-2005.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019095625/https://economics.acadiau.ca/id-2005.html |date=October 19, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=View of Confederation's Casualties: The "Maritimer" as a Problem in 1960s Toronto {{!}} Acadiensis|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/acadiensis/article/view/15385/16525|access-date=January 28, 2021|journal=Acadiensis|date=January 2010|last1=Marquis|first1=Greg|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201130850/https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/acadiensis/article/view/15385/16525|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ontario's official language is English, although there exists a number of [[List of francophone communities in Ontario|French-speaking communities across Ontario]].<ref name=aboot>{{cite web|title=About Ontario|url=https://www.ontario.ca/page/about-ontario|date=February 28, 2016|publisher=Queen's Printer for Ontario|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305060711/https://www.ontario.ca/page/about-ontario|archive-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref> French-language services are made available for communities with a sizeable French-speaking population; a service that is ensured under the ''[[French Language Services Act]]'' of 1989.