ABSTRACT
In the decades since the Second World War Toronto has become the largest and financially most important metropolitan area in Canada. It is also one of the most culturally diverse urban centres in the country. Population in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (Figure 5.1) more than doubled between 1961 and 1991, from 1,824,500 to 3,893,000. 1 Toronto’s rapid growth during the last few decades can be attributed to several factors. Among these are (1) the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway in 1959, making Toronto accessible to ocean-going ships, (2) the signing of the Automotive Trades Agreement with the United States in 1965, which led to the expansion and development of automobile assembly and parts plants in the Toronto area, (3) the migration, beginning in the 1970s, of English-language business and population from Montreal to Toronto as a result of the implementation of French language laws in Quebec and the possibility of Quebec’s separation from Canada, and (4) the relative attractiveness of Toronto (and Vancouver) rather than Montreal as a reception area for Canada’s immigrant population (Yeates 1991, Marshall 1994). The Toronto Census Metropolitan Area https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203448533/2ffa2a98-3bda-4b5d-88d6-af6a4a4064b5/content/fig5_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Source: Murdie (1996: 209), Figure 9.1
