The Golden Horseshoe is a secondary region of Southern Ontario which lies at the western end of Lake Ontario. The region is the most densely populated and industrialized in Canada. With a population of over 7 million people in its core and 9 million in its greater area, the Golden Horseshoe accounts for over 21% of the population of Canada and more than 55% of Ontario's population.
The core of the Golden Horseshoe starts from Niagara Falls at the eastern end of the Niagara Peninsula and extends west, wrapping around the western end of Lake Ontario at Hamilton and then turning northeast to Toronto (on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario), before finally terminating at Oshawa. The Greater Golden Horseshoe is also used today to describe a broader region that stretches inland from the core to the area of the Trent–Severn Waterway and at least the Grand River watershed, including centres such as Brantford, Waterloo Region, Guelph, Barrie, and Peterborough.
The "horseshoe" part of the region's name is derived from the shape of the west end of Lake Ontario with Cootes Paradise between Burlington and Hamilton roughly positioned in the centre. The "golden" part is attributed to the region's wealth and prosperity, according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.
The phrase "Golden Horseshoe" was first used by Westinghouse Electric Corporation president Herbert H. Rogge in a speech to the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce on January 12, 1954:
Hamilton in 50 years will be the forward cleat in a 'golden horseshoe' of industrial development from Oshawa to the Niagara River ... 150 miles [240 km] long and 50 miles [80 km] wide ... It will run from Niagara Falls on the south to about Oshawa on the north and take in numerous cities and towns already there, including Hamilton and Toronto.
The speech writer who actually penned the phrase was Charles Hunter MacBain, executive assistant to five Westinghouse presidents including Rogge.
This geoart is placed to coincide with the GHAGAFAP 17 event. Please see GC7VH9A for more details on the series.