Regional Municipality of York

It replaced the former York County in 1971, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area and the inner ring of the Golden Horseshoe.[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 of King in the north.[8] The towns of Aurora, Newmarket, and Richmond Hill were defined to be the growth centres for the regional municipality, which was to become a greenbelt between the denser urban areas of Toronto to the south and Barrie to the north.[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.[15] York Region covers 1,762 square kilometres from Lake Simcoe in the north to the city of Toronto in the south.[26] In October 2008, York Regional Municipality was named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc.[27] Starting with the 2015 federal election, York Region encompasses all or part of the federal electoral districts of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, King—Vaughan, Markham—Stouffville, Markham—Thornhill, Markham—Unionville, Newmarket—Aurora, Richmond Hill, Thornhill, Vaughan—Woodbridge, and York—Simcoe.In May 2023, Premier Doug Ford announced that he would look to dissolve and restructure existing regional municipalities where deemed prudent.In response, Markham mayor Frank Scarpitti publicly proposed amalgamating York Region into a single-tier municipality, claiming it would save millions of dollars.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.[1] York is the third-largest census division in Ontario, following Toronto and Peel Region, and seventh-largest in Canada.York Region has an assortment of points of interest, ranging from nature reserves to pioneer-era museums, to a modern amusement park.Water is distributed from 14 water pumping stations and stored at 37 elevated tanks and reservoirs:[citation needed] Four public school boards operate primary and secondary institutions in York Region, Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (CSCM), Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV), the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB), and the York Region District School Board (YRDSB).