Thank-you for your interest in Windsor, Ontario, Canada! I think it is an amazing place to live. I have been a resident here for many years. There are a lot of things that make Windsor a wonderful place to call home. I would like to share with you a few features I admire about this city. Windsor is an easy city to get around. The EC Row Expressway can zip you from one end of the city to the other in a matter of minutes. Windsor has the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and is close to Lake Erie. I am a water person so this is very important to me! Michigan is our neighbour. We are so fortunate to be able to cross over to the US in five minutes and be able to shop, see major league sporting events, attend popular music concerts, go to dinner or just get out for the day. Windsor has beautiful world class parks. My favourite park is Coventry Gardens. The floating Peace Fountain is relaxing to stop and look at. We have a lot of park land and bike paths which run for miles and miles. One of my favourite things to do on a day off is go for a walk or run on the Ganatchio Trail. Yes Windsor has many, many great qualities. I have only a few highlights listed here.
Read on for more information on Windsor, Essex County provided by Wikipedia. I hope you will find it to be useful if you are thinking about moving or immigrating to Windsor, Essex County, Ontario, Canada.
Is the southernmost major city in Canada and lies in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is in Essex County, although administratively separated from the county government. Windsor is located south of Detroit, is separated from that city by the Detroit River, and has views of the Detroit skyline. Windsor is known as The City of Roses and residents are known as Windsorites.
Windsor's nickname is the "Rose City" or the "City of Roses" and the city is noted for the several large parks and gardens found on its waterfront. The Queen Elizabeth II Sunken Garden is located at Jackson Park in the central part of the city. A World War II era Avro Lancaster was displayed on a stand in the middle of Jackson Park for over four decades but has since been removed for restoration. This park is now home to a mounted Spitfire replica and a Hurricane replica.
Of the parks lining Windsor's waterfront, the largest is the 5 km (three mile) stretch overlooking the Detroit skyline. It extends from the Ambassador Bridge to the Hiram Walker Distillery. The western portion of the park contains the Odette Sculpture Park which features over 30 large-scale contemporary sculptures for public viewing, along with the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The central portion contains Dieppe Gardens,Civic Terrace and Festival Plaza, and the eastern portion is home to the Bert Weeks Memorial Gardens. Further east along the waterfront is Reaume Park, across from Detroit's Belle Isle Park. The focal point of Reaume Park is the Charles Brooks Memorial Peace Fountain which floats in the Detroit River and has a coloured light display at night. The fountain is the largest of its kind in North America and symbolizes the peaceful relationship between Canada and the United States.
Windsor's Department of Parks and Recreation maintains 3,000 acres (12 km2) of green space, 180 parks, 40 miles (64 km) of trails, 22 miles (35 km) of sidewalk, 60 parking lots, vacant lands, natural areas and forest cover within the city of Windsor. The largest park is Mic Mac Park, which can accommodate many different activities including baseball, soccer, biking, and sledding. Windsor has numerous bike trails, the largest being the Ganatchio Trail on the far east side of the city. In recent years, city council has pushed for the addition of bicycle lanes on city streets to provide links throughout the existing trail network.
The Windsor trail network is linked to the LaSalle Trail in the west end, and will eventually be linked to the Chrysler Canada Greenway (part of the Trans Canada Trail). The current greenway is a 42 km former railway corridor that has been converted into a multi-use recreational trail, underground utility corridor and natural green space. The corridor begins south of Oldcastle and continues south through McGregor, Harrow, Kingsville, and Ruthven. The Greenway is a fine trail for hiking, biking, running, birding, cross country skiing and in some areas, horseback riding. It connects natural areas, rich agricultural lands, historically and architecturally significant structures, and award winning wineries. A separate 5 km landscaped traverses the riverfront between downtown and the Ambassador Bridge. Part of this trail winds through Odette Sculpture Park, displaying various modern and post-modern sculptures from artists in Essex County.
Each summer, Windsor co-hosts the two-week-long Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival, which culminates in a gigantic fireworks display that celebrates Canada Day and US Independence Day. The fireworks display is among the world's largest and is held on the final Wednesday in June over the Detroit River between the two downtowns. Each year, the event attracts over a million spectators to both sides of the riverfront.
Windsor tourist attractions include Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino, a lively downtown, Little Italy, the Art Gallery of Windsor, the Odette Sculpture Park,and Ojibway Park, . Windsor was a major entry point into Canada for refugees from slavery via the Underground Railroad and a major source of liquor during American Prohibition.
Windsor is home to the University of Windsor, which is Canada's southernmost university. It is a research oriented, comprehensive university with a student population of over 15,000 full-time and part-time undergraduate students and over 1000 graduate students. The university is just east of the Ambassador Bridge, south of the Detroit River. Windsor is also home to St. Clair College with a student population of 8000+ full-time students. Its main campus is in Windsor, and it also has campuses in Chatham and Wallaceburg. In 2007, St. Clair College opened a satellite campus in downtown Windsor in the former Cleary International Centre.
Windsor is home to two International Baccalaureate recognized schools: Assumption College School (a Catholic high school) and Académie Ste. Cécile International School (a private school). Massey Secondary School is renowned in Southern Ontario for its notable accomplishments in mathematics. Windsor youth attend schools in the Greater Essex County District School Board, the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board, Conseil scolaire de district des écoles catholiques du Sud-Ouest and Conseil scolaire de district du Centre-Sud-Ouest. Independent faith-based schools include Maranatha Christian Academy (JK-12), First Lutheran Christian Academy (preschool-8), and Académie Ste. Cécile International School (JK-12, including International Baccalaureate), and Windsor Adventist Elementary School. The non-denominational Lakeview Montessori is a private school as well.
The Windsor Public Library offers education, entertainment and community history materials, programs and services. The main branch coordinates a literacy program for adults needing functional literacy upgrading.
There are two hospitals in Windsor: Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital and Windsor Regional Hospital. Hôtel-Dieu Grace is the result of an amalgamation of Grace Hospital and Hôtel-Dieu in 1994. The merger occurred due to the Government of Ontario's province-wide policy to consolidate resources into Local Health Integrated Networks, or LHINs, which aimed to eliminate duplicate services and allocate resources more efficiently and regionally. This policy resulted in the eventual closure of many community-based and historically important hospitals across the province. Accordingly, two of Windsor's independent hospitals - Metropolitan General Hospital on Lens Ave and Windsor Western Hospital on Prince Road were joined to form Windsor Regional Hospital. The original hospital sites remain but are administratively centralized through the new collective structure. Windsor hospitals have formal and informal agreements with Detroit area hospitals. For instance, pediatric neurosurgery is no longer performed in Windsor; The Windsor Star reported in July 2007 that Hôtel-Dieu Grace has formally instituted an agreement with Detroit's Harper Hospital to provide this specialty and surgery for the dozen patients requiring care annually. Leamington District Memorial Hospital in Leamington, Ontario serves much of Essex County and, along with the Windsor institutions, share resources with the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
The Essex County Medical Society lists family doctors accepting patients. Many people who do not seek a family doctor use the region's many walk-in clinics for regular medical conditions.
Windsor is the western terminus of both Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway, and Via Rails Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The city is served by Windsor Airport with regular, scheduled commuter air service by Air Canada Jazz and heavy general aviation traffic. The Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is located approximately 40 km across the border in Romulus, Michigan and is the airport of choice for many Windsor residents as it has regular flights to a larger variety of destinations than Windsor Airport. Windsor is also located on the St. Lawrence Seaway, and is accessible to ocean-going vessels.
Local transportation is provided by Transit Windsor, the city-owned bus company, which shares its newly-constructed $8-million downtown depot with Greyhound Lines.
Windsor has a municipal highway, E.C. Row Expressway, running east-west through the city. Consisting of 15.7 km (9.8 mi) of highway and nine interchanges, the expressway is the fastest way for commuters to travel across the city. E.C. Row Expressway is actually in the Guinness Book of Records as the shortest freeway that took the longest time to build as it took more than 15 years to complete. The expressway stretches from Windsor's far west end at Ojibway Parkway east to Banwell Road on the city's border Tecumseh.
Windsor is connected to Essex and Leamington via Highway 3, and is well connected to the other municipalities and communities throughout Essex County via the county road network. Nearly 17,000 vehicles travel on Highway 3 in Essex County on a daily basis. It is the main route to work for many residents of Leamington, Kingsville and Essex.
Windsor is linked to the United States by the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, a Canadian Pacific Railway tunnel, and the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry. The Ambassador Bridge is North America's #1 international border crossing in terms of goods volume: 27% of all trade between Canada and the United States crosses at the Ambassador Bridge.
Windsor has a bike trail network including the (Riverfront Bike Trail, Ganatchio Bike Trail, and Little River Extension). They have become a blend of parkland and transportation, as people use the trails to commute to work or across downtown on their bicyles.
The Port of Windsor is located on the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway System, on the Detroit River. The port is the third largest Canadian Great Lakes port in terms of shipments.
Windsor has a humid continental climate with four distinct seasons. Amongst cities in Ontario, Windsor has the warmest climate of any city in Ontario. The mean annual temperature is 9.9 °C (50 °F), among the warmest in Canada primarily due to its hot summers. Some locations in coastal and lower mainland British Columbia have a slightly higher mean annual temperature due to milder winter conditions there. The coldest month is January and the warmest month is July. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Windsor was −32.8 °C (−27.0 °F) on January 29, 1873 and the warmest was 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) on June 25, 1988.
Winters in Windsor are cold with frequent snowfall. Summers are hot and humid, with a July mean temperature of 23.0 °C (73 °F) (the highest such mean in Canada, with the warmest summer nights in the country) although the humidex reaches 30 or above 70 times in an average summer; the highest recorded humidex of 52.1 occurred on June 20, 1953. Thunderstorms are common during summer and occur on average 32 days per year. Winters are generally cold with a January mean temperature of −3 °C (27 °F).[15] Windsor is not in the traditional lake-effect snow belts but does occasionally see lake-effect snow that originates over Lake Michigan. Snow cover is intermittent throughout the winter; on average there are 53 days each year with snow on the ground. There are typically three to five major snow falls each winter. Windsor has the highest number of days per year with lightning, haze, and daily maximum temperatures over 30 °C (86 °F) of cities in Canada. Windsor is also home to eastern Canada's warmest fall, with the highest mean temperatures for the months of September, October and November. Precipitation is generally well-distributed throughout the year. There are on average 2,261 sunshine hours per year in Windsor.
In 2016, Windsor's population was 217,188. In 2017, the total population of the Windsor metropolitan area (consisting of Windsor, Tecumseh, Amherstburg, LaSalle and Lakeshore) was 344,747. This represents an increase of 3.0% in the city population since 2011 and an increase of 3.1% in the metropolitan area population since 2011. During the same period, Ontario grew by 4.6% and Canada by 5.0%. Windsor attracts many immigrants from around the world. In 2016, in the city 27.7% of the population was foreign-born while in the metropolitan area, 22.9% of the population was foreign-born; this is the fourth-highest proportion for a Canadian metropolitan area. Visible minorities make up 25.7% of the population, making it the most diverse city in Ontario outside of the Greater Toronto Area. In 2016, Windsor's population was 48.8% male and 51.2% female. Children under 15 years of age accounted for 16.3% of the city population compared to 16.6% for Canada. Persons of age 65 years and over accounted for 17.6% of the population in Windsor compared to 16.9% for Canada. The median age in Windsor is 41.4 years compared to 41.2 years for Canada.
The current mayor of Windsor is Drew Dilkens. Windsor is governed under the Council-Manager form of local government and includes the elected City Council, mayor, and an appointed Chief Administrative Officer. The city is divided into ten wards, with one councillor representing each ward. The mayor serves as the chief executive officer of the city and functions as its ceremonial head. Day-to-day operations of the government are carried out by the Chief Administrative Officer. In August 2009, Windsor City Council approved a 10-ward electoral system for the 2010 civic election. Under the new plan, voters will elect one councillor in each of the ten new wards. The new election map will double the number of wards that have existed along unchanged boundaries for 30 years.
At the provincial and federal levels, Windsor is divided into two ridings: Windsor West and Windsor—Tecumseh. The city is currently represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by NDP MPPs: Lisa Gretzky (Windsor West), and Percy Hatfield (Windsor—Tecumseh).
Federally, Windsor has two constituencies, Windsor West and Windsor Tecumseh. Both ridings are currently represented in the federal Parliament by NDPMPs: Brian Masse (Windsor West) and Cheryl Hardcastle (Windsor—Tecumseh).
