Local: City Information
Here are some basic facts about Mississauga:
Location
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Mississauga is strategically located in the centre of Canada's major consumer and industrial market, the "Golden Horseshoe" of Ontario. It sits on the western edge of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), only 90 minutes from the U.S. border.
Specifically, Mississauga is situated at a latitude of 43 36' north and a longitude of 79 39' west, 173 metres (570') above sea level.
We are in Eastern standard time, The same as Toronto and New York, and 6 hours earlier than western Europe.
Area: 111 square miles (288 km2); 71,040 acres (28,750 ha)
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Name
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The name "Mississauga" is believed to mean "river of the north of many mouths," referring to a river in Northern Ontario which drained into Lake Huron. It was from this part of Ontario that the Mississaugas had traveled in the late 17th century.
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Population
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Formed in 1974, Mississauga is now recognized as Canada's 6th largest and fastest growing major city with a population of 695,000 residents representing cultures from around the world.
Ontario is the most populous of Canada's provinces, and was one of the original provinces in Canada's Confederation in 1867. Ontario has 11 million residents in its 1,100,000 square kilometres (413,000 sq miles). Mississauga just west of the boundary of the province's capital city, Toronto.
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Industries
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Approximately half the city's 18,000 businesses are in the manufacturing, product distribution or corporate sectors. Mississauga ranks as the fourth largest head office centre in the country.
The strongest business sectors in Mississauga are pharmaceuticals, electronics, computer, chemical and transportation (automotive) parts and equipment.
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Weather
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The region's proximity to Lake Ontario has a moderating effect on the climate in the area.
The area is the convergence of two weather patterns, one from the southwest bringing warm humid air (all the way from the Gulf of Mexico, actually)
and from the northwest brings drier Arctic air.
In the summer the area has high humidity levels with temperatures occassionally soaring above 30C, and in the winter Mississauga is colder and cloudier but with relatively light snows.
The stabilizing effect of the Great Lakes means that Falls stay frost-free longer and the Spring comes later.
Easterly winds off the open waters of Lake Ontario may add substantially to local snowfall however the prevailing winds are from the southwest.
The average date for a late frost is May 3rd, and the first autumn frost occurs about the 15th day of October.
Average daily temperatures are:
| Scale | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|
Celsius |
-6 |
-6 |
-1 |
6 |
12 |
18 |
21 |
20 |
15 |
9 |
3 |
-1 |
Fahrenheit |
21 |
22 |
30 |
43 |
54 |
64 |
69 |
67 |
59 |
48 |
38 |
26 |
An approximate guide to Celsius Temperatures is as follows:
Mississauga a total of 700 millimetres (28 inches) of precipitation per year,and 200cm (78 inches) of snow.
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Some hotels include tips or gratuities with group programs to simplify bookkeeping. This will usually include gratuities for housekeeping, bell service and food service. In a hotel, bell service should be tipped about $1 per bag, and housekeeping $1 to $5 dollars a day (in proportion to your room rate). Visitors should know that the standard tip in restaurants is
10%-15% (on restaurant bills, an average tip will be 50% higher the GST & tax), with 20% (about double the GST & tax) for very outstanding service. This is especially important for visitors from countries where tipping on meals is not done: here the waitering staff depend on tips for a significant portion of their incomes. Tip taxis about 10%, and a dollar a bag they carry for you (not just unload), or at the very least round fares up to the nearest dollar.
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