York Region
Regional municipality (upper-tier)
Regional Municipality of York
Clockwise from top left:Vaughan Metropolitan Centre,Sibbald Point Provincial Park,Canada's Wonderland, HistoricAurora Cultural Centre,Markham Civic Centre, ruralNobleton
Coat of arms Logo
Motto:  "Deeds Speak"
Vaughan Markham Aurora East Gwillimbury Georgina King Newmarket Richmond Hill Whitchurch-Stouffville Holland Ldg King City Stouffville Keswick Sutton
Map showing York Region's location in Ontario
Coordinates:44°00′N79°26′W / 44.000°N 79.433°W /44.000; -79.433
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Established	1792 (asYork County)
Incorporated	1971 (as aRegional municipality)
Seat	Newmarket
Government
• Type	Council-CEO
• Chair & CEO	Eric Jolliffe
• Governing Body	York Regional Council
Area [1]
• Total	1,758.27 km2 (678.87 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[1]
• Total	1,173,334
• Density	667.3/km2 (1,728/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern (EDT))
Website	www.york.ca

TheRegional Municipality of York, also calledYork Region, is aregional municipality inSouthern Ontario, Canada, betweenLake Simcoe andToronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional Municipality of York, in 1970. It replaced the formerYork County in 1971, and is part of theGreater Toronto Area and the inner ring of theGolden Horseshoe. The regional government is headquartered inNewmarket.

As of the2021 census, York Region's population was 1,173,334, with a growth rate of 5.7% from 2016.^[1] TheGovernment of Ontario expects its population to surpass 1.5 million residents by 2031.^[2] The three largest cities in York Region areMarkham,Vaughan andRichmond Hill.^[3]

At a meeting inRichmond Hill on May 6, 1970, officials representing the municipalities ofYork County approved plans for the creation of a regional government entity to replace York County.^[4] The plan had been presented in 1969 byDarcy McKeough, the OntarioMinister of Municipal Affairs, taking about a year to determine municipal boundaries within the new regional government.^[4]

The Regional Municipality of York was created by Act of theLegislative Assembly of Ontario in 1970 (Bill 102 An Act to Establish The Regional Municipality of York), which took effect on January 1, 1971.^[5] The creation of the regional municipality resulted in the consolidation of the fourteen former municipalities of York County into nine new municipalities:^[6]

The township of Whitchurch merged with the town ofStouffville to create the town ofWhitchurch–Stouffville, ceding land toAurora,Newmarket, and Richmond Hill to the west of the proposedHighway 404 and annexing a northern strip of land from the township ofMarkham.^[8] The western boundary of the new town of Markham was defined to be atYonge Street, where its northern boundary was formed with Richmond Hill (to which it ceded land^[4]) and its western boundary with the new townVaughan.^[8] The new town of Vaughan would consist of all communities in the area bounded by Markham and Richmond Hill in the east, Metro Toronto in the south, the periphery of the regional municipality in the west, and the new township ofKing in the north.^[8]

The townships of Georgina, North Gwillimbury, and Sutton were merged into the township ofGeorgina, and theEast Gwillimbury neighbourhood of East Gwillimbury Heights was merged into Newmarket.^[8] King formed the northwestern part of the new region, but the eastern lot fromBathurst Street to Yonge Street was ceded to Newmarket, Aurora, andOak Ridges, the last of which became a part of Richmond Hill.^[8] The boundary between Aurora and Newmarket was defined to be St. John's Sideroad, and Newmarket's northern boundary was defined to be Green Lane.^[8]

The towns of Aurora, Newmarket, and Richmond Hill were defined to be the growth centres for the regional municipality, which was to become agreenbelt between the denser urban areas of Toronto to the south andBarrie to the north.^[6] The growth centres were each restricted to grow to a maximum population of 25,000 by 2000,^[6] and the regional municipality to 300,000.^[8]

The municipal realignment merged 40% of East Gwillimbury's population into Newmarket.^[9] The council of East Gwillimbury voted to amalgamate with Newmarket, but Newmarket council opposed the amalgamation.^[9] In the plan presented by McKeough, the councils of the towns of Newmarket and Aurora were given ten years to decide whether or not to amalgamate.^[6]

The internal municipal realignments resulted in some politicians residing in a new municipality from that which they represented at the time of realignment.^[4] The reeve of Whitchurch Township resided in the western portion of the town that was annexed by Aurora, three East Gwillimbury councillors resided in land annexed by Newmarket, including its future mayorRay Twinney, and King councillor Gordon Rowe was a resident of Oak Ridges, which became part of Richmond Hill.^[4]

Because of the mix of urban and rural areas in the Region, the provision of electricity was governed in a different manner from the rest of the regional services:^[10]

• the hydro-electric commissions and public utilities commissions that existed at the end of 1970 continued to provide electricity within their respective areas;
• the councillors of the former Township of Vaughan and the trustees of the former Police Village of King City became members of new Hydro-Electric Commissions for their respective areas;
• Ontario Hydro continued to have responsibility for providing electricity to those portions of the Region that were not served by any of the above commissions.

Electric distribution was partially rationalized in 1978,^[11] when:

• hydro-electric commissions were established for all area municipalities except East Gwillimbury^[12] (but it could establish a commission later on, subject to Ontario Hydro's consent);^[13]
• effective January 1, 1979, all assets of the former commissions in the Region were transferred to the new commissions;^[14]
• Ontario Hydro withdrew its provision of services from all areas except those in East Gwillimbury, Georgina, King and Whitchurch-Stouffville;^[14]
• Georgina, King and Whitchurch-Stouffville could take over responsibility for such areas at a later date, subject to Ontario Hydro's consent^[14]

TheYork Regional Police was also created at this time, amalgamating the fourteen town, township, and village police services.^[4] Policing on theChippewas of Georgina Island First Nation is provided by the Georgina Island Police.^[15]

York Region covers 1,762 square kilometres from Lake Simcoe in the north to the city ofToronto in the south. Its eastern border is shared withDurham Region, to the west isPeel Region, andSimcoe County is to the northwest. A detailed map of the region^[16] showing its major roads, communities and points of interest is available.

Towns and cities in York Region include:

• Town ofAurora
• Town ofEast Gwillimbury
• Town ofGeorgina
• Township ofKing
• City ofMarkham
• Town ofNewmarket
• City ofRichmond Hill
• City ofVaughan
• Town ofWhitchurch–Stouffville

There is also oneFirst Nation with anIndian reserve, where theChippewas of Georgina Island First Nation reside onGeorgina Island,Fox Island andSnake Island.

York Region's landscape includes farmlands, wetlands andkettle lakes, theOak Ridges Moraine and over 2,070 hectares of regional forest, in addition to the built-up areas of its municipalities. The highest point in the region is within the rolling hills of the moraine near Dufferin St. & Aurora Side Road at 360m ASL (1,243 feet)^[17]

York Region is situated in thehumid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) zone with warm summers and cold winters, ample snowfall, more in the northern part of York region much of it derived from the wind drivensnowbelt streamer activity.

The region is governed byYork Regional Council, which consists of 20 elected representatives from each of the constituent towns and cities in the region. These include each of the nine mayors, and 11 regional councillors who are elected from the constituent municipalities as follows:^[24]

• 1 from Georgina
• 1 from Newmarket
• 2 from Richmond Hill
• 3 from Vaughan
• 4 from Markham

The regional councilors are elected at-large for each lower-tier municipality which has them. They are also voting members of their respective city/town council.

The leader of Council is referred to as "Regional Chair andCEO". Wayne Emmerson, a former mayor of Whitchurch-Stouffville, was elected to this office in December 2014^[25] and served until retiring in 2024.^[26] Eric Jolliffe was appointed as the new Chair shortly afterwards and will take office on January 1, 2025.^[26]

In October 2008, York Regional Municipality was named one ofGreater Toronto's Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc.^[27]

Starting with the2015 federal election, York Region encompasses all or part of the federalelectoral districts ofAurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill,King—Vaughan,Markham—Stouffville,Markham—Thornhill,Markham—Unionville,Newmarket—Aurora,Richmond Hill,Thornhill,Vaughan—Woodbridge, andYork—Simcoe.

Provincially, York Region is represented in theLegislative Assembly of Ontario by Members of Provincial Parliament. As of 2018, the provincial electoral districts are the same as the federal districts in most of Ontario.

In May 2023, PremierDoug Ford announced that he would look to dissolve and restructure existing regional municipalities where deemed prudent. In response, Markham mayorFrank Scarpitti publicly proposed amalgamating York Region into a single-tier municipality, claiming it would save millions of dollars.^[28] The idea was met with immediate disapproval from all other York Region mayors, excluding Vaughan MayorSteven Del Duca, who had not publicly expressed an opinion at the time. Scarpitti was criticized for not consulting with the other mayors about his proposal before publicly announcing it, which the others mayors saw as dramatic.^[29] Ford later announced that he had no interest in Scarpitti's proposal to amalgamate, and that any future proposals which were to be seriously considered must be deliberated among all of the other mayors in a region before being made public.^[30]

Later, Vaughan mayor Steven Del Duca proposed dissolving York Region and making all of its lower-tier municipalities independent, claiming that Vaughan contributed more tax dollars than it received in regional funding.^[31][32] No other politicians endorsed Del Duca's proposal. The mayors and councilors of York Region have generally agreed with looking into potential reforms to streamline government operations.^[32][33] However, the mayors of the smaller towns, such as Newmarket and Whitchurch-Stouffville, strongly urged for dialogue and diplomacy, stressing that no municipality should be left behind as a result of a restructuring.^[32]

As of January 2025, the Ontario government has not made any indication as to whether York Region will be restructured or remain as-is.

As acensus division in the2021 Census of Population conducted byStatistics Canada, the Regional Municipality of York had a population of1,173,334 living in391,034 of its405,863 total private dwellings, a change of5.7% from its 2016 population of1,109,909. With a land area of 1,758.27 km² (678.87 sq mi), it had a population density of667.3/km² (1,728.4/sq mi) in 2021.^[1] York is the third-largest census division in Ontario, following Toronto andPeel Region, and seventh-largest in Canada.^[34]

In the2021 Canadian census, English is the mother tongue of 45.5% of the residents of York Region. Cantonese is the mother tongue for 9.7% of the population, followed by Mandarin (8.7%), Italian (4.0%), Farsi (4.4%) and Russian (3.1%).^[1]

As of 2021, the most common ethnic groups areChinese (22.6%),Italian (12.5%) andEnglish (7.4%).^[39]

According to the 2021 census, the most reported religion among the population wasChristianity (45.3%), withCatholicism (25.2%) making up the largest denomination. This was followed byIslam (7.8%),Judaism (5.2%),Hinduism (5.0%),Buddhism (2.6%) andSikhism (1.0%). 32.5% of the population did not identify with a particular religion.^[39]

The economy of York Region is diverse. In general, the economy includes a full range of businesses from industrial to high-tech to rural/agricultural. New developments tend to be focused along the Yonge Street corridor from Vaughan/Richmond Hill in the south to Newmarket/Aurora in the north. There are ongoing conflicts between conservationists and developers over land use, with the most contentious being over the use of theOak Ridges Moraine.

York Region has an assortment of points of interest, ranging from nature reserves to pioneer-era museums, to a modern amusement park.

Vaughan's major attractions include theMcMichael Canadian Art Collection, in the community of Kleinburg, that features works by Canadian artists includingInuit andFirst Nations artists.Canada's Wonderland, which features roller coasters and other rides, concerts and fireworks shows, is also in Vaughan.

Heritage sites and historical museums in the Region include:

• Hillary House National Historic Site (Aurora)
• Historic Main Street Newmarket (Newmarket)
• Georgina Military Museum (Georgina)
• Georgina Village Museum (Georgina)
• King Township Museum (King)
• Markham Museum (Markham)^[44]
• RHLS Narrow Gauge Railway (Whitchurch–Stouffville)^[45]
• Sharon Temple National Historic Site (East Gwillimbury)
• Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum (Whitchurch–Stouffville)^[46]
• York-Durham Heritage Railway (Whitchurch–Stouffville)^[47]

Following is a sample of other attractions in the area:

• Applewood Farm Winery (Whitchurch–Stouffville)^[48]
• Canadian HeritageHumber River
• Fred Varley Art Gallery (Markham)
• Canada's Wonderland (Vaughan)
• Oak Ridges Trail
• Puck's Farm (King)
• Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts
• Sutton-Zephyr Trail
• Willow Springs Winery (Whitchurch–Stouffville)^[49]
• Words Alive Literary Festival (East Gwillimbury)
• Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park (East Gwillimbury)
• York Demonstration Forest (Whitchurch–Stouffville)

There are currently four hospitals within the Municipality of York including:

• Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital
• Markham Stouffville Hospital
• Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital
• Southlake Regional Health Centre

All four hospitals are part of theLocal Health Integration Network (LHIN) Hospital Partnerships.

Boomerang Health, inVaughan, is a centre that provides multidisciplinary rehabilitation and medical services geared specifically for children and adolescents, in collaboration withThe Hospital for Sick Children.^[50]

Counselling Services for York Region, is a center located inVaughan that provides mental health services to individuals who are in need of psychological treatment and assessment. Counselling Services for York Region helped lobby for the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program which was successfully implemented by Ontario Health. The program was advocated throughAdvocacy York Region.^[51]

The arterial road network in York Region is a grid, with most roads running north–south or east–west. This was done under the leadership of British surveyor Augustus Jones during the 1790s. York Region assigned approximately 50 roads asYork Regional Roads, meaning that maintenance of these roads is done by York Region. They are signposted with numbers.

The major highways in the Region are:

• Highway 7 (east-west)
• Highway 9 (east-west)
• Highway 48 (north-south)
• Highway 400 (north-south)
• Highway 404 (north-south)
• Highway 407 (east-west)
• Highway 427 (north-south)

Former highways include:

• Highway 11 (north-south)
• Highway 27 (north-south)
• Highway 47 (east-west)
• Highway 49 (east-west)
• Highway 50 (north-south)
  • Note: Highway 27 and Highway 50 are still referred to as such on municipal road signs, but are no longer provincial highways.

Most air travel is served byToronto Pearson International Airport, which is outside of York Region and is Canada's largest airport.Markham Airport is a private aerodrome in Markham. There are also a few small airports with unpaved runways serving the region: Hare Field in Holland Landing (East Gwillimbury), Belhaven Airport in Georgina, andStouffville Aerodrome north of Stouffville.

Buttonville Municipal Airport was a larger regional airport in Markham that was used for general aviation and business aircraft. It closed in November 2023.^[52]

York Region is served by:

• York Region Transit (YRT), which includes theVivabus rapid transit network, is the Region's local transit service
• GO Transit, which provides commuter bus and rail service
• Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), which has several bus routes which cross York's southern border, and which provide service along many north–south arterial streets in Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham. The western arm of the TTC'sLine 1 Yonge-University extends into Vaughan to serveVaughan Metropolitan Centre, and a future extension of the Yonge Street (eastern) portion of the line will serve the boundary areas of Vaughan, Richmond Hill, and Markham by the mid-2030's.^[53]

Until 2001, the towns of York Region operated separate public transit services, which did not connect very well with each other. YRT was created by the Regional Government to combine five of these services:

• Vaughan Transit
• Markham Transit
• Richmond Hill Transit
• Aurora Transit - merged in 1999 withNewmarket Transit
• Newmarket Transit

Since 2001, bus routes have been extensively enhanced in the five communities which had pre-existing services, but YRT's services to East Gwillimbury is limited to two routes, and service to King, Georgina and Whitchurch-Stouffville are even more limited due to the relatively small populations in each of those towns.

Water in southern York is provided byToronto Water andPeel Region by way of 3 pumping stations and reservoirs (Bayview, Dufferin and Milliken (tank and underground reservoir)) using water fromLake Ontario.^[54] Keswick and Sutton obtain water fromLake Simcoe by way of water treatment plants. The remainder of York obtains water from a combination of water fromLake Ontario and underground wells. Some wells are maintained by the Region and the rest privately.

• Georgina -water from Lake Simcoe and private wells
• East Gwillimbury - region and private wells
• Newmarket - region wells and water from Lake Ontario^[55]
• Whitchurch-Stouffville - Region wells, water from Lake Ontario, private wells
• Markham - water from Lake Ontario and private wells
• Richmond Hill - water from Lake Ontario and private wells
• Aurora - water from Lake Ontario and private wells
• Vaughan - water from Lake Ontario and private wells
• King - water from Lake Ontario, Region and private wells

Water is distributed from 14 water pumping stations and stored at 37 elevated tanks and reservoirs:^{[citation needed]}

• Reesor Park water tank - built 1971, now out of service and dismantled
• Newmarket - 211 Harry Walker Parkway South
• Richmond Hill - 81 Coons Road
• Schomberg - 186 Church Street, built 1997
• King - 60 Fisher Street, built 1982
• Stouffville - 12519 Tenth Line, built 1984
• Stouffville - Bethesda Rd, built 2005
• Aurora - 126 Allenvale Drive, 240 Orchard Heights Boulevard, built 1984
• Aurora - 180 Bloomington Road, built 2008
• Markham - 4355 14th Avenue

• Sutton Water Treatment Plant - closed
• Georgina Water Treatment Plant - replaces Sutton plant
• Keswick Water Treatment Plant
• Schomberg Water Treatment Plant

Fourpublicschool boards operateprimary andsecondary institutions in York Region,Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (CSCM),Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV), theYork Catholic District School Board (YCDSB), and theYork Region District School Board (YRDSB). CSV and YRDSB operate assecular public school boards, the former operatingFrenchfirst language institution, whereas the latter operatedEnglish first language institutions. The other two school boards, MonAvenir and YCDSB, operate as publicseparate school boards, the former operating French first language separate schools, the latter operating English first language separate schools.

YRDSB is the largest public school board in the region, operating 175 elementary schools, and 33 secondary schools. YCDSB operates 83 elementary schools, and 15 secondary schools, while MonAvenir operates five elementary schools, and two secondary schools. CSV is the smallest public school board in the York Region, operating three elementary schools, and one secondary school in the region.

Along with public schools, the region also holds a number of religious and private schools including:

In addition to primary and secondary levels of education, the region is also home topost-secondary institutions such asSeneca Polytechnic. Thecollege operates two campuses spread throughout York Region, in King and Markham, as well as additional campuses in Toronto. The region presently does not host auniversity, but a Markham campus ofYork University is under construction as of August 2022.^[56]

• York Region Media Group
• CKVR -CTV Two (based inBarrie)
• CFU758 - 90.7 RAV FM (Vaughan)
• CKDX 88.5FM -Foxy 88-5 (Newmarket)
• CFMS-FM - 105.9 The Region (Markham)
• CIWS-FM - WhiStle Community RadioWhitchurch–Stouffville

York's news media is also served by theoutlets based in Toronto.

• Omsk (Russia)

The Region of York signed a "Twinning Agreement" with the city ofOmsk,Russia, on August 28, 1997, after it signed a "Friendship Agreement" one year previous.^{[citation needed]}

• List of municipalities in Ontario
• Greater Toronto Area
• Province of Toronto
• List of secondary schools in Ontario#Regional Municipality of York

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