The City of Kawartha Lakes (2021 population 79,247) is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. It is a municipality legally structured as a single-tier city; however, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontario county and is mostly rural. It is the second largest single-tier municipality in Ontario by land area (after Greater Sudbury).
The main population centres are the communities of Lindsay (population: 22,367), Bobcaygeon (population: 3,576), Fenelon Falls (population: 2,490), Omemee (population: 1,060) and Woodville (population: 718).
History
The Kawartha Lakes area is situated on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, Huron-Wendat and more recently, the Haudenosaunee peoples. The city's name is from the Kawartha Lakes. Kawartha is an anglicization of Ka-wa-tha (from Ka-wa-tae-gum-maug or Gaa-waategamaag), which was coined in 1895 by Martha Whetung of the Curve Lake First Nations. It meant "land of reflections" in the Anishinaabe language, according to Whetung. The word was later changed by tourism promoters to Kawartha, meaning "bright waters and happy lands."
Prior to its restructuring as a city, the area was known as Victoria County. The city was created in 2001, during the ruling provincial Progressive Conservative party's "Common Sense Revolution". Through provincial legislation, the former Victoria County and its constituent municipalities were amalgamated into one entity named the City of Kawartha Lakes.
This act was implemented by the Victoria County Restructuring Commission, led by commissioner Harry Kitchen. Despite a general opposition from residents of the area, the provincial government pushed forward with the amalgamation, which officially came into effect on January 1, 2001.
By a narrow margin (51% for, 49% against), the citizens of Kawartha Lakes voted to de-amalgamate in a November 2003 local plebiscite, but the provincial and municipal governments have not taken any steps since the vote to initiate de-amalgamation.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Kawartha Lakes had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
In the 2016 census, the population of the Lindsay urban area was 20,713, up from 20,291 in 2011.
Ethnicity
Ethnic Origins 2021
Only ethnic groups that comprise greater than 1% of the population are included. Note that a person can report more than one group
English: 35.9%
Irish: 27.2%
Scottish: 25.5%
Canadian: 20.6%
German: 8.8%
French n.o.s: 7.5%
British Isles n.o.s: 5.8%
Dutch: 5.3%
Italian: 3.4%
Welsh: 3.0%
Polish: 2.5%
Caucasian (White), n.o.s.: 2.1%
Ukrainian: 2.1%
European, n.o.s.: 1.5%
First Nations n.o.s: 1.4%
Métis: 1.1%
French Canadian: 1.0%
In 2021, Kawartha Lakes was 93.7% white/European, 3.4% visible minorities, and 2.9% Indigenous. The largest visible minority groups were South Asian (0.9%), Black (0.8%) and Chinese (0.5%).
Religion
53.8% of Kawartha Lakes residents were Christian in 2021, down from 68.8% in 2011. 28.3% were Protestant, including 12.7% United Church, 7.0% Anglican, 3.3% Presbyterian and 2.5% Baptist. 15.6% were Catholic, 5.8% were Christian n.o.s, and 4.1% belonged to other Christian denominations or Christian-related traditions. Non-religious and secular residents were 44.5% of the population, up from 30.3% in 2011. 1.7% of the population belonged to other religions and spiritual traditions, up from 0.9% in 2011. The largest non-Christian religion was Hinduism (0.4%).
Government
Kawartha Lakes is governed by a City Council consisting of the Mayor and one councillor from each of the City's wards. From 2001 to the 2018 election, there were 16 wards and councillors, but this was changed to 8 wards for the 2018 election. The mayor and councillors are elected for four-year terms, as mandated by the Government of Ontario for all municipalities in the province. The mayor of Kawartha Lakes is Doug Elmslie and Deputy Mayor is Tracy Richardson.
For purposes of electing representatives both provincially and federally, the city is within the riding of Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock. Its Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) is Laurie Scott of the Progressive Conservative Party, elected in 2018. Its federal Member of Parliament (MP) is Jamie Schmale of the Conservative Party, who was elected in 2015.