Thinking of buying a home in St. Catharines, Ontario?

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Here is a brief overview of some of the highlights of St. Catharines, Ontario:

St. Catharines (2006 population 131,989; metropolitan population 390,317) is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in Ontario, Canada, with 97.11 square kilometres (37.5 sq mi) of land. It lies in Southern Ontario 51 kilometres (32 mi) south of Toronto across Lake Ontario and is 19 kilometres (12 mi) inland from the international boundary with the United States of America along the Niagara River. It is the northern entrance of the Welland Canal. Residents of St. Catharines are known as St. Catharinians.

St. Catharines carries the official nickname "The Garden City" due to its 1,000 acres (4 km²) of meticulously groomed parks, gardens and trails.

St. Catharines is situated in an excellent area for commerce and trade since it is conveniently located between the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the Fort Erie-Buffalo metropolitan area. Manufacturing is the city's dominant industry, as noted by the heraldic motto, "Industry and Liberality". General Motors of Canada, Ltd., the Canadian subsidiary of General Motors, operates two plants in the city and until recently was the city's largest employer, a distinction now held by the District School Board of Niagara. TRW operate a plant in the city, though in recent years employment has shifted from heavy industry and manufacturing to services.

St. Catharines lies on one of the main telecommunications backbones between Canada and the United States, and as a result a number of call centres operate in the city.

St. Catharines is home to Brock University (established 1964), a modern comprehensive university located on the Niagara Escarpment. A partnership between the university and the Ontario Grape and Wine Industry established the city as a centre for cool-climate grape and wine research. "Brock" offers an Honours Bachelor of Science in Oenology and Viticulture.

St Catharines is also home to a satellite campus of Niagara College. Niagara College has brought Canada its first Teaching Winery. The "Niagara College Teaching Winery" (or NCT for short) has created award winning wines. Niagara College has also taken home various medals from international wine competitions such as "Cuvee", "The Ontario Wine Awards" and "The Finger Lakes International Competition" to name a few. It is clear why key people in the Wine industry are approaching Niagara College for employees. Niagara College is the only fully licenced teaching winery in Canada.

McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine is set to open a satellite campus in St. Catharines in September 2008. The Hamilton, Ontario-based university will educate 15 first-year medical students in the city's first-ever med school.

Ridley College, located near the city's downtown core in the Western Hill neighbourhood, is a distinguished co-educational boarding and day school. It was established as a boys' school in 1889, and became co-educational in 1973.

A campus of the Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology is located near the city's east end. The school's Horticultural Campus was once located on 360 Niagara Street in the 1970s-1990s but has since been relocated to Niagara-on-the-Lake. One of its greatest teachers, R. Roy Forster, was recognized with the Order of Canada on April 14, 1999, for his work in creating the VanDusen Botanical Garden in British Columbia.

The District School Board of Niagara (DSBN), responsible for managing a school system of nearly 119 faculties, contains 8 Secondary Schools in the city of St. Catharines, Kernahan Park, Laura Secord, Sir Winston Churchill, Governor Simcoe, St. Catharines Collegiate, Eden, West Park, and Lakeport.

The Niagara Catholic District School Board (NCDSB) operates 3 Catholic Secondary Schools within the city, Holy Cross, Denis Morris, and St. Francis.

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