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Region | |
 | |
| Country |  Canada |
| Province(s) |  Ontario, Quebec |
| Area | |
• Total | 230,000 km2 (89,000 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Total | 18,898,000 |
| • Density | 82.2/km2 (213/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC–4 (EDT) |
| Postal code prefixes | |
| Area codes | 226,249,289,343,365,382,416,418,437,438,450,468,514,519,548,579,581,613,647,683,705,742,753,819,873,905 |
TheQuebec City–Windsor Corridor (French:Corridor Québec-Windsor) is the most densely populated and heavily industrialized region ofCanada. As its name suggests, the 1,150 km-long (710 mi) region extends fromQuebec City in the northeast toWindsor, Ontario in the southwest. With more than 18 million people, it contains about half of the country's population and seven of Canada's 12largest metropolitan areas, 3 of which are in the top 4 (based on the2021 census). Its relative importance to Canada's economic and political infrastructure renders it akin to theNortheast megalopolis in the United States. The name was first popularized byVia Rail, which runs frequent passenger rail service in the region in its service area known as "The Corridor".
The corridor extends fromQuebec City, Quebec, in the northeast toWindsor, Ontario, in the southwest, running north of theSaint Lawrence River,Lake Ontario andLake Erie. For most of its length, the corridor runs through a narrow strip offarmland with theCanadian Shield to the north and theAppalachian Mountains or theGreat Lakes to the south. A drive of only a few minutes north from cities or towns along the eastern two-thirds of the corridor will show an abrupt change from flat farmland andlimestone bedrock to thegranite hills of the shield. The highways in this part of the corridor often run right on the boundary of the shield, and it is possible to observe the frequent change from limestone to granite in rockcuts along the way. There are, however, several wider areas of flat farmland, including the southwesternOntario Peninsula betweenLake Huron andLake Erie (which makes up the western third of the corridor), the eastern Ontario delta from Ottawa to the junction of theOttawa andSt. Lawrence Rivers atMontreal, and theEastern Townships southeast of Montreal. There is also a minor Great Lakes corridor of stratified limestone called theNiagara Escarpment.
Because of the moderating influence of the Great Lakes and the frequent influx of warm, moist air from theGulf of Mexico, the corridor—particularly the western half—has a markedly warmer climate than the rest of Quebec and Ontario. The rich soil and the warm climate mean that the flora and fauna in the corridor are similar to those in thedeciduous forests of the eastern United States as far south asVirginia, rather than theevergreenboreal forest that covers most of central Canada up to theArctic. The forest insouthwestern Ontario is often referred to asCarolinian forest.
According to the2006 Canadian Census, more than 94% of Ontario's population lives in its portion of the corridor. Similarly, more than 65% of Quebec's population lives in or close to Montreal and Quebec City. About half of Canada's total population live between Quebec City and Windsor.[2]
The three majorcensus metropolitan areas (CMAs) in the Corridor are (populations as of2021):
The remaining census metropolitan areas along the corridor are:
Other significant urban areas along the corridor includeChatham-Kent,Sarnia,Granby,Kawartha Lakes, andCornwall. As the population sprawls eastward, the future additions may includeMontmagny,Saint-Jean-Port-Joli,Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies,La Pocatière,Trois-Pistoles and eventually ending inRimouski.
During theFrench colonization, this area ofNew France was namedCanada and was a single administrative unit under the governor-general (with regional deputy governors in some cities). However, only the eastern third of the corridor, from Quebec City to Montreal, was heavily settled. The major cross-country route used byvoyageurs in thefur trade continued west from Montreal through the Canadian Shield along theOttawa Valley toLake Nipissing andGeorgian Bay, passing far to the north of what would later become the Ontario part of the corridor. The lack of good farmland made that route unsuitable for settlement, however, and the frequentportages made transportation in boats larger than canoes difficult.
During the North American part of theSeven Years' War betweenGreat Britain and France, the settlements along the corridor were at the centre of the conflicts.New France, including the areas that make up the Corridor, were ceded toGreat Britain at the end of the conflict; formalized with the signing of theTreaty of Paris.
When the English-speakingUnited Empire Loyalists arrived in theProvince of Quebec as a result of theAmerican Revolution, they settled along the narrow strip north of the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes, where good farm land was available and larger boats could be used for transportation. These people formed theEnglish-speaking nucleus of what later became Ontario. By contrast, many of the Ontario towns along the old fur-trading and logging route to the north, through the Ottawa Valley and westward, still have significantFrench-speaking populations. Initially, Kingston was the principal city of the English half of the corridor, but eventually Toronto outgrew it. As a result of the influx of migrants, the Province of Quebec was split into two new colonies,Lower andUpper Canada; with administration over the Corridor split between the twoCanadas.
During theWar of 1812, the settlements along the corridor were at the centre of the conflicts. TheRideau Canal was constructed to provide a way to bypass the most vulnerable part of the corridor, from Cornwall to Kingston, situated close to theCanada-U.S. border. After theRebellions of 1837–1838, the two Canadas were united to form theProvince of Canada. Ottawa was eventually chosen as Canada's capital byQueen Victoria precisely because it was further inland and thus less vulnerable to attack, though it is now also considered part of the corridor.
The construction of theSaint Lawrence Seaway during the late 1950s made it possible for some ocean-going vessels to travel the full length of the corridor and beyond to the upper Great Lakes, but resulted in thedestruction of several villages in theEastern Ontario portion of the corridor.
The corridor is held together by a series of major transportation routes – water, road, rail, and air — all running close together and sometimes overlapping each other. These routes are anchored byOntario Highway 401, the busiest highway in North America[8] from Windsor leading intoQuebec Autoroute 20 to Montreal and Quebec City.
The major passenger airports along the corridor areToronto Pearson International Airport,Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport,Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport,Québec/Jean Lesage International Airport,Hamilton/John C. Munro International Airport, and the military airbase atCFB Trenton.
Other civilian corridor airports with scheduled airline service includeWindsor Airport,Sarnia (Chris Hadfield) Airport,London International Airport,Region of Waterloo International Airport,Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport,Kingston/Norman Rogers Airport,Lake Simcoe Regional Airport andGatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport.Montréal-Mirabel International Airport is a large facility near Montreal that is mainly used for cargo flights but is also home tomedical evacuation[9] andgeneral aviation[10][11] flights.
Inside the corridor, the busiest area of travel is the Toronto–Ottawa–Montreal triangle. There are roughly 108 flights within the Toronto–Ottawa–Montreal triangle every work day, making it the busiest air route in Canada and 15th busiest air route in the world.Air Canada serves the three cities with itsRapidair service, offering hourly flights, and its principal competitorWestJet offers similar service. Air Canada andPorter Airlines fly from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to Ottawa and Montreal, whileAir Canada Jazz offers commuter flights connecting many of the smaller airports to Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. In addition to scheduled air service, some of the airports along the corridor also have frequent charter flights likeAir Transat andSunwing to popular tourist destinations.
Both theCanadian National Railway (CN) and theCanadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) have extensive freight railway lines along the length of the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor.Intercitypassenger railway service is provided byVia Rail throughout the region, mostly using CN freight lines. Referred to in Via Rail's published timetables as simply theCorridor, the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor is the busiest portion of the Via system, accounting for the majority of Canada's intercity passenger trains and ridership. About 67% of Via Rail's total revenue is earned on the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. Prior to Via's formation in 1978, both CN and CP operated Corridor services.
Other inter-city trains from outside the region originate and terminate at cities in the Corridor, such as Via'sCanadian andOcean.Amtrak offers two international inter-city passenger railway lines that starts in New York City with one that ends inToronto and the other inMontreal, serving cities along the Corridor as well as inUpstate New York.
On February 19, 2025, then-Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau announced that the Cadence project was being changed to a fully electric high-speed rail line from Toronto to Quebec City.[12] The approximately 1,000 km corridor project will be namedAlto, which is also the new name of Via Rail's Crown Corporation, formerly known as High Frequency Rail.[12] The Cadence consortium along with the Crown corporation will collaborate to design, finance, operate, and maintain the project.[13]
Most of the cities of the Ontario portion of the corridor were originally joined byHighway 2 (often known locally by names such as "Montreal Road," "Toronto Road," or "Kingston Road") following the routes of older stagecoach roads and the paths and trails that predated them. Highway 2 still forms the main street of many of the corridor's Ontario towns and cities (which were built around it), but large parts of the highway are now maintained by counties or municipalities rather than the province. From 1938 to 1968 the province of Ontario builtHighway 401, a freeway that, aside from running more northerly nearby Kitchener instead of through Hamilton, mostly follows a similar route to Highway 2 but bypasses most of the town and city centres. The 401 is now the main transportation route of the corridor up to the Quebec border, where it becomes Autoroute 20 and continues east through the Quebec part of the corridor to Quebec City.Highway 403, which connects to the 401 at both of its ends, largely follows the route of Highway 2 between Woodstock and Toronto including through Hamilton and acts as another important main transportation artery. Highways 416 and 417 link Ottawa to Brockville on the 401 and Montreal on Autoroute 20.
The oldest transportation route is the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes, where the series of channels and locks that make up theSt. Lawrence Seaway allow ocean-going vessels andlake freighters to travel the entire length of the corridor.
