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Town of Ajax
Motto: Ajax by the Lake
Location of Ajax in Durham Region
Location of Ajax in Durham Region
Coordinates: 43°51′N 79°01′W / 43.85, -79.017
Country Canada
Province Ontario
Regional Municipality Durham
Established 1955
Government
 - Mayor Steve Parish
 - Governing body Ajax Town Council
 - MP Mark Holland (Ajax-Pickering)
 - MPPs Joe Dickson (Ajax-Pickering)
Area
 - Total 67. A motto (from the Italian word motto, meaning witticism sentence is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group In Political geography and International politics, a country is a Political division of a geographical entity Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second largest country in total area. Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec A Regional Municipality (or Region) is a type of Canadian Municipal Government similar to and at the same municipal government level as Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning "greater" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. Mark Holland (born October 16, 1974) is the Canadian Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Ajax-Pickering For the provincial electoral district see Ajax—Pickering (provincial electoral district Ajax—Pickering is a federal electoral district A Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP is an elected member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. Joe Dickson is a Canadian politician He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2007 provincial election, representing the Ajax—Pickering is a provincial electoral district in central Ontario, Canada. Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. 09 km² (25. Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of 9 sq mi)
Elevation 90 m (295 ft)
Population (2006)Statistics Canada Community Profile
 - Total 90,167
 - Density 1,344/km² (3,480. The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. The elevation of a Geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point often the mean sea level. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit Statistics Canada (Statistique Canada is the Canadian federal government department commissioned with producing Statistics to help Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume 9/sq mi)
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
Postal Code FSA L1S, L1T, L1Z
Area code(s) 905, 289
Website: townofajax.com

Ajax (2008 population 93,104) is a medium-sized town located in the Golden Horseshoe of south central Ontario, Canada. The Eastern Time Zone ( ET) of the Western Hemisphere falls mostly along the east coast of North America and the west coast of South America UTC−5 is the Time offset used in the North American Eastern Time Zone during Standard time and in the North American Central Time Zone during Daylight saving time ( DST The Eastern Time Zone ( ET) of the Western Hemisphere falls mostly along the east coast of North America and the west coast of South America UTC−4 is the Time offset used in the Atlantic Standard Time Zone in Canada in winter and the North American Eastern Time Zone during Postal codes by province and territoryA Canadian postal code A telephone numbering plan is a plan for allocating Telephone number ranges to countries regions areas and exchanges and to non-fixed telephone networks Area code 905 (with overlay Area code 289) is a telephone dialing area for south central Ontario. The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population As far as I know the Golden Horseshoe is ancient history and this page should be renamed (or forwarded to to Greater Golden Horseshoe now that Statistics Canada is (finally using the same Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page

Ajax is a part of the Greater Toronto Area and the Regional Municipality of Durham. The Greater Toronto Area (locally abbreviated as the GTA) is the most populous Metropolitan area in Canada. It is approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario and is bordered by the City of Pickering to the west and to the north and the Town of Whitby to the east. Pickering is a City located immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region, Ontario, Canada Whitby (2006 population 111184 is a Town in Ontario, Canada. Whitby is located east of Toronto

Contents

History

Before the Second World War, the territory in which Ajax is situated was a rural part of the Township of Pickering. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Pickering is a City located immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region, Ontario, Canada The town itself was first established in 1941 when a Defence Industries Limited shell plant was constructed and a townsite grew around the plant. By 1945 the plant had filled 40 million shells; employed over 9000 people at peak production; boasted of its own water and sewage treatment plants; a school population of over 600; 50 km (31 mi) of railroad and 50 km (31 mi) of roads. The entire D. I. L. plant site included some 12 km² (5 sq mi). People came from all over Canada to work at D. I. L.

This enormous burgeoning war plant community needed a name. The name was supplied by the first significant British naval victory of World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including From December 13 to December 19, 1939, a flotilla of British warships - HMS Ajax, HMS Exeter and HMS Achilles — commanded by Commodore Henry Harwood — engaged and routed the powerful German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee at the Battle of the River Plate, near the Uruguayan port of Montevideo in South America. Events 1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months Celestine hoped to return to his previous life Events 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor. Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Before the War Built at Vickers shipyard Barrow-in-Furness, England, she was laid down on 7 February 1933 launched on 1 March 1934 and completed on 12 April Design Exeter was ordered two years after her sister ''York'' and therefore her design incorporated improvements in the light of experience with the latter Service Achilles was originally built for the Royal Navy, and was commissioned as HMS Achilles on October 10 1933 Sir Henry Harwood Harwood, KCB, OBE ( January 19, 1888 &ndash June 9, 1950) was a British naval officer who Description Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland class cruiser. The Battle of the River Plate ( December 13, 1939) was the first major naval battle in World War II. Montevideo (monteβi'ðeo is the largest city the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Ajax was chosen as the name of this war-born community.

After the War ended, the University of Toronto leased much of the D. This article is about the University of Toronto's St George Campus I. L. plant to house the flood of newly discharged men from the Armed Forces who had enrolled as engineering students. War machines were moved out and the buildings were converted to classrooms and laboratories. By 1949, the last year of the University of Toronto, Ajax Division, some 7000 engineering students had received their basic training here.

After the University of Toronto left, the town's growth was largely due to the vision of George W. This article is about the University of Toronto's St George Campus Finley of Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and Ajax became a planned modern community using the war time base for its post-war foundation.

From 1941 to 1950, Ajax had no local municipal government of its own, and was part of the Township of Pickering. Then in 1950, as a result of a petition of its citizens, Ajax, by order of the Ontario Municipal Board, became the Corporation of the Improvement District of Ajax with three trustees appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council. The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB is an independent administrative tribunal that hears applications and appeals on municipal and planning matters such as zoning bylaws subdivision plans A Lieutenant Governor is a high officer of state whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction The first trustees were: Benjamin de Forest Bayly, Chairman; John Mills, Vice-Chairman; and W. W. Rideout. These trustees acted as Council, School Board, Library Board and every other board that a municipality required. The Chairman performed all the duties of a mayor. It fell to these men to enact the first by-laws of Ajax and to set up its first municipal administration. Two key men employed by the trustees were Bolton C. Falby, Clerk-Treasurer and Charles H. Reed, Works Superintendent.

By 1953, the desire for full and active participation by its citizens in an elected council and school board was strong. The Ajax Citizens' Association, formed by many civic-minded persons, presented a brief to the Ontario Municipal Board urging that the Improvement District of Ajax become the Corporation of the Town of Ajax. The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB is an independent administrative tribunal that hears applications and appeals on municipal and planning matters such as zoning bylaws subdivision plans The Municipal Board approved this step, and on December 13, 1954, the people elected the first Town Council and the first Public School Board. Events 1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months Celestine hoped to return to his previous life Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar)

On June 22, 1973, the Ontario Legislature enacted Bill 162 to amalgamate the Town of Ajax and the Village of Pickering and annex certain portions of the Township of Pickering to the Town of Ajax, as part of the creation of the new Durham Region. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. The Region and Town both officially came into being on January 1, 1974. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar.

Modern status

Today, Ajax is commonly considered part of the Greater Toronto Area, in the eastern part of the Golden Horseshoe region. The Greater Toronto Area (locally abbreviated as the GTA) is the most populous Metropolitan area in Canada. As far as I know the Golden Horseshoe is ancient history and this page should be renamed (or forwarded to to Greater Golden Horseshoe now that Statistics Canada is (finally using the same

As is true for most suburban areas in the Greater Toronto Area, Ajax has grown considerably since the 1980s. South San Jose (cropjpg||thumb|A suburban development in San Jose California. The Greater Toronto Area (locally abbreviated as the GTA) is the most populous Metropolitan area in Canada. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. What was once a small town mostly surrounded by agricultural areas has increasingly become a bedroom community to Toronto, Ontario and its environs. Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario Many residents commute to work in Toronto or other municipalities in Durham Region.

The following is a summary of major changes in the past several decades:

Local government

Ajax is governed by an elected town Council consisting of a Mayor, and local Councillors representing each of the town's four wards. A city council is a form of Local government, usually covering a City or other Urban area, such as a Town. A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning "greater" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government A councillor or councilor ( Cllr, Coun, Clr or Cr for short is a member of a Local government council such as a In Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, a ward is an Electoral district In addition, two Regional Councillors each represent a pair of wards. The Mayor and the Regional councillors sit on both Ajax Town Council and Durham Region Council.

The current council was elected in November 2006. The members of the council are:

Mayor: Steve Parish

Members of Council:

In the past, Council has sat for a three year term, but the Ontario Legislature has recently introduced legislation increasing the length of municipal council terms in Ontario to four years. See also Politics of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (also known as Ontario Legislative Assembly or OntLA) is the Legislature The next municipal election will therefore be in November 2010. A by-election was held on March 1, 2008 to fill the Ward 2 council seat left vacant after councillor Joe Dickson was elected to the Legislature for Ajax-Pickering in the October 2007 provincial election. Ajax—Pickering is a provincial electoral district in central Ontario, Canada. The Ontario general election of 2007 was held on October 10 2007 to elect members ( MPPs) of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province

Demographics

According to the 2006 Canadian Census, Ajax has a population of 89 835. The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population Of those people, 36% are a visible minority. Visible minority is a term used primarily in Canada to describe persons who are not of the majority race in a given population The largest visible minority groups are Blacks (13%), South Asians (11%), Filipinos (3%), and Chinese (2%).

Economy

In 1945 with the closing of D. I. L. , there was no industry within the Town; but in 1949 Dowty Aerospace started operations in Ajax. By 1991 major employers included Volkswagen Canada, DuPont, Paintplas, Ajax Textile, AEG Bayly Engineering and many others. E I du Pont de Nemours and Company (,) is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a Gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée

Shopping was virtually non-existent in the mid 1940s, but by 1970 major shopping centres such as Ajax Plaza, Harwood Place Mall and Clover Ridge Plaza were constructed. The 80's saw an expansion of retail shopping malls to include Discovery Bay Plaza, Transit Square, Baywood Plaza, Westney Heights Plaza and most recently the Durham Centre at Harwood Avneue and Kingston Road.

The 1970s saw the beginning of many physical changes to the face of Ajax. New subdivisions spread over vacant land in central Ajax. The early 1980s brought extensive development to the southern part of Ajax with large, upscale housing units constructed along Lake Driveway. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw extensive high rise development alter the skyline of Ajax.

The recession of the early 1980s did not stop residential development in Ajax. Westney Heights started north of Highway 2 and offered home buyers low interest rate mortgages while current interest rates were at an all time high of 18% to 20%. Development north of Highway 2 stretched from Church Street in Pickering Village to Harwood Avenue, with the Millers Creek development south of the highway down to the edge of Highway 401.

Health care

The Ajax and Pickering General Hospital first opened in 1954 with 38 adult and children's beds. It was expanded to 50 beds in 1958 and a major expansion to 127 beds took place in 1964. The emergency and outpatient services were expanded in 1975. The large growth of population in the Town has prompted a further expansion. Approval was granted in the fall of 1990 to further expand. In 1999 the Hospital merged with Centenary Health Centre in Scarborough to become part of the Rouge Valley Health System. Construction on a $60 million expansion began in 2007.

Emergency services

Ajax is policed by the Durham Regional Police from a station in Pickering. The Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS is the police service operated by the Regional Municipality of Durham Ontario, Canada, commonly referred to as Durham Ambulance/emergency medical services are also provided by Durham Region. Ajax Fire & Emergency Services provides firefighting services from two fire stations, with a third under construction.

Transportation

In 1973, the Town of Ajax conducted a survey of potential transit ridership in Ajax. This led to the creation of Ajax Transit with bus service beginning in 1973 under a contract with Charterways Transportation Limited, which operated service using a fleet of school buses, with heaviest ridership between the Pickering Beach area and downtown Ajax. Ajax Transit was the former public transit operator in the Town of Ajax Ontario. Charterways Transportation Limited was a bus operator in Ontario, Canada.

In the late 1970s, the Town brought the operations inhouse and began operations on the Elm, Duffins, and Beach routes, which exist to this day. In the early 1980s, the Harwood, Westney Heights, and Village routes began service. Service on the Puckrin route began in the late 1980s.

In 2001, Ajax Transit and the neighbouring Pickering Transit were amalgamated into the Ajax Pickering Transit Authority (APTA), which operated under the joint ownership and oversight of Ajax and Pickering. Pickering Transit was a former Canadian public transit operator in the City of Pickering Ontario. The Ajax Pickering Transit Authority (APTA was the former Public transit operator in the Town of Ajax Ontario and the City of Pickering Ontario.

In 2006, APTA was amalgamated into Durham Region Transit along with the other municipal transit services in Durham Region. Durham Region Transit (DRT is the regional Public transit operator in Durham Region, east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Road transportation in Ajax is dominated by Highway 401, which runs east-west through the town dividing it in half. Access to Highway 401 both east and west is available via Westney Road and Salem Road. Only four streets allow transportation from the north end of town to the south end of town by crossing over or under Highway 401. These streets are (from west to east) Church Street, Westney Road, Harwood Avenue and Salem Road. Lakeridge Road also crosses the highway, but it is traditionally held to be the border between the towns of Ajax and Whitby. Also, notable streets that run parallel to the highway are (from north to south) Taunton Road, Rossland Road, Kingston Road (Highway 2) and Bayly Street.

Education

Ajax is served by the Durham District School Board and the Durham Catholic District School Board. Secondary Schools Ajax High School Anderson Collegiate Vocational Institute Brock High School The Durham Catholic District School Board is a publicly-funded Catholic school board located in Durham Region, east of Toronto, Ontario. There are 5 High Schools and several elementary schools. Two of the high schools are Catholic schools, Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School and Archbishop Denis O'Connor Catholic High School (or DOC for short), and the other three are Public schools: Ajax High School, J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate and Pickering High School. Archbishop Denis O'Connor Catholic High School is located in Ajax Ontario, Canada, within the Durham Catholic District School Board and is named for Archbishop Ajax High School (AHS is located in Ajax Ontario within the Durham District School Board. Sports Pickering High's senior football team won the 2005 Metro Bowl making them the best high school football team in Ontario

Sports

The town is the home of two minor leagues, the Ajax Spartans Minor Baseball Association and the Ajax Knights Minor Hockey Association.

Ajax is also home to three soccer clubs: Ajax Soccer Club, Ajax United, and Ajax Azzuri. The Ajax ringette association is also popular. Ajax also has a football team, the Ajax-Pickering Dolphins.

Famous people and groups


External links

References

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