List of Cities in Canada - Ontario

Ontario

In Ontario, city status is conferred by the provincial government, generally upon the request of the incorporated municipality. A municipality may apply for city status anytime after its population surpasses 10,000. This status is not automatically conferred on a community that reaches this population target, but must be requested by the municipality and granted by the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Not all municipalities which reach this population target have pursued city designation (as, for example, Ajax and Oakville, which in 2006 had census populations of ca. 93,000, and 166,000 respectively, but are still designated as towns.) Once designated a city, however, a municipality does not lose this status even if its population later falls back below 10,000 (as, for example, Dryden.) Ontario's newest city is Markham, which changed from town to city status on July 1, 2012.

City status may also be conferred on some rural counties which have been amalgamated such that all municipal governance takes place at the county level with no further municipal subdivisions. Thus, city status in Ontario does not always connote a primarily urbanized community.