Clarington

Local government

Clarington is governed by an elected municipal council consisting of a mayor, and local councillors representing each of the municipality's four wards. In addition, two regional councillors each represent a pair of wards. The mayor and the regional councillors sit on both Clarington Council and Durham Region Council.

The current council was elected on October 24, 2022.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Clarington had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 610.84 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnicity

• Note: Totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.

Language

2011 Census data show that Clarington has one of the highest proportions of residents that have English as their mother tongue within the GTA (91.2%). French is the native language for 1.8% of the population of Clarington. No other language has more than 1% of native speakers (Dutch with 0.8% - 695 native speakers - tops the pack of immigrant languages).

Communities

The municipality of Clarington consists of several urban communities, including Bowmanville, Courtice, Newcastle and Orono; as well as several rural communities such as Bond Head, Brownsville, Burketon, Clarke, Cowanville, Crooked Creek, Enfield, Enniskillen, Gaud Corners, Hampton, Haydon, Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Lovekin, Maple Grove, Mitchell Corners, New Park, Newtonville, Port Darlington, Port Granby, Salem, Solina, Starkville, Taunton (east portion; west portion split with Oshawa along Townline Road), Tyrone, West Side Beach and Wilmot Creek.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Clarington is home to several highways; three of which are 400 series highways. Highway 401 stretches through the entirety of Clarington, connecting Newtonville, Newcastle, Bowmanville, and Courtice along the route. Highway 407 is located in north Clarington. It was extended to and terminates at Highway 35/115. The 35/115, also in Clarington, begins at Highway 401 in Newcastle, and run concurrently until they split north of Kirby and head separate directions towards Lindsay and Peterborough. Highway 418, begins at Highway 401 and heads north to connect to Highway 407. The 418 opened on December 9, 2019, as a toll highway. The tolls were removed on April 5, 2022, by the Ontario government. Highway 2, once the primary east–west route across the southern portion of Ontario, runs through Clarington. Downtown Newcastle and Bowmanville are situated along Highway 2.

Bus services are offered by Durham Region Transit and GO Transit.

Freight rail is carried along the Canadian National Kingston subdivision and Canadian Pacific Belleville subdivision which pass through Clarington. The wooden bridge on Lakeshore Road in Lovekin, Ontario, which traverses the CN train line is a popular destination for rail photographers.

On June 20, 2016, it was announced that the Lakeshore East line of GO Transit would be extended to Bowmanville. Clarington will gain two new stations: Courtice GO Station in Courtice and Bowmanville GO Station in Bowmanville. The stations were scheduled to open in 2024, but as of 2025 no opening date has been announced.

Power

Clarington is home to the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station.

The Durham-York Energy Centre is located in Clarington. It is home to a 20 MW energy-from-waste (EFW) generation unit that opened in early 2016 that takes waste (140,000 tonnes per year) from Durham and York Regions to burn to generate electricity.

Co-developed by Durham and York Region cost $295 million Canadian to build was built and operated by American-based Covanta. The unit sells and transmits electricity onto Hydro One's distribution network.

Clarington was a candidate location to host ITER in 2001, but the bid was withdrawn two years later.

Climate

Environment Canada operates a weather station in Bowmanville. Under the Köppen climate classification Bowmanville has a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. Unlike many other locations on similar latitudes on the eastern half of the North American continent the winters are relatively mild, with cold extremes being moderated by the proximity to Lake Ontario. In spite of this the average low is around -10 C in January. Summers are normally moderately warm with averages of around 26 C during the day but with nights cooling off rapidly to fall below 15 C on many occasions.

Attractions

Clarington is home to five Christmas parades. It has more Santa Claus/Christmas parades than any other town-sized municipality in Canada . The parades are run in: Bowmanville, Newcastle, Courtice, Orono, and Enniskillen/Tyrone. The latter parade is organized by "T.H.E.E. Farmer's Parade of Lights", which is a special Christmas parade put on by the farmers from the communities of Tyrone, Haydon, Enniskillen and Enfield.

Enniskillen, which is located in the northern part of Clarington, was the birthplace of Samuel McLaughlin. Mr. McLaughlin started the McLaughlin Motor Car Co. in 1904 and was one of the first major automobile manufacturers in Canada, which evolved into General Motors of Canada. Enniskillen is home to the Enniskillen General Store which opened in 1840 and stills operates today.

Clarington is home to Jungle Cat World.

Clarington Museums & Archives is the local museum in the municipality.

Clarington is home to Camp 30, a World War II Prisoner-of-war camp, and located on Lambs Road, in Bowmanville.

Clarington is also home to Brimacombe, a ski resort located near Kirby, Ontario.

Clarington is home to Darlington Provincial Park, which is located in Darlington.

Bowmanville Zoo

Clarington was home to the Bowmanville Zoo, until its closure in 2016. The Clarington Family Outdoor Adventure Park occupied the same property as the former Bowmanville Zoo lands for several years under the same ownership, until closure. As of 2022, the Township is working with volunteers at Valley 2000 to convert the Zoo grounds into a town park, with trails connecting the surrounding housing areas.

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

A major attraction in the municipality is the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport Park), a multi-track facility located north of Bowmanville that features a 2.459-mile (4.0 km), 10-turn road course; a half-mile paved oval; a 2.4 km advanced driver and race driver training facility and a 1.4 km kart track (Mosport International Karting). It was also a host of the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One before the event was moved to a circuit in Montreal in the 1970s.

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) was also the location of three major music festivals held between 1970 and 1980. The Strawberry Fields Festival held August 7–9, 1970 featured Alice Cooper, Jethro Tull, Grand Funk Railroad, Procol Harum, Ten Years After, Lighthouse, Crowbar and Sly and the Family Stone. John Lennon was to be the headline act, bidding to gain exposure for his peace campaign, but after months of planning he backed out due to differences with the show's promoter. However, the event still used the title of The Beatles' 1967 single of the same name. Led Zeppelin were booked to play but also backed out.

Canada Jam was held August 26, 1978 and the Heatwave Festival was held August 23, 1980.

CTMP was home to Republic Live's Boots and Hearts Music Festival, which first opened in the summer of 2012. In 2015, the event was abruptly moved to Burl's Creek Event Grounds, near Barrie.

Notable residents

• Ken Davies, ice hockey player
• Samuel McLaughlin, businessman and philanthropist
• John Mutton, former mayor and controversial "Mr. X" of the Greenbelt scandal

Notes

References

References

1. (8 February 2012). "Clarington, Municipality Ontario (Census Subdivision)". [[Statistics Canada]].
2. (February 9, 2022). "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), Ontario". [[Statistics Canada]].
3. "Orono Weekly Times, 2 Jan 1974, p. 1". CPL / CMA.
4. Data Management Group. (2006). "Municipality of Clarington, 2006 Statistics". University of Toronto.
5. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. (2022-10-26). "Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population".
6. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. (2021-10-27). "Census Profile, 2016 Census".
7. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. (2015-11-27). "NHS Profile".
8. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. (2019-08-20). "2006 Community Profiles".
9. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. (2019-07-02). "2001 Community Profiles".
10. (8 February 2012). "Census Profile for the Census Subvision of Clarington (Municipality), Ontario". Statistics Canada.
11. "About Highway 407, Highway 412 and Highway 418".
12. "Unfair Tolls Officially Gone on Highways 412 and 418". Government of Ontario.
13. "GO trains going to Bowmanville starting in 2024". CityNews.
14. (January 28, 2016). "Durham Region gives incinerator green light". The Toronto Star.
15. "The Ontario Power Authority has merged with the Independent Electricity System Operator".
16. McCabe, Heather. (August 3, 2000). "France may bid for fusion reactor". Nature.
17. "Bowmanville, Ontario Climate Summary". Weatherbase.
18. "Clarington Museums & Archives".
19. "Brimacombe". Oshawa Ski Club.
20. "Ontario Parks".
21. (10 October 2016). "Bowmanville Zoo closes for good after animal abuse claims against director".
22. (28 June 2017). "Outdoor fun park opens at former Bowmanville Zoo".
23. (16 June 2022). "New plans for old Bowmanville Zoo". Clarington This Week.
24. (30 October 2014). "Boots and Hearts leaving Clarington 'great loss to the region'".