Barrie has a metropolitan area population of about 177,000 people and is located in Central Ontario, about 70 km north of Toronto.
Thanks to its economic and technological opportunities and with an annual growth rate of 5%, Barrie is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, attracting people from all over Canada as well as international residents. In addition, Barrie is considered a bedroom community for people commuting to Toronto.
The city’s most important economic sectors include advanced manufacturing, automotive industry, information and communications technology, environment and energy, finance, and life sciences.
The City of Barrie owns approximately 16 acres of serviced industrial land. In addition to that, there are over 1,000 acres of privately owned industrial lands within the City of Barrie. The city is home to Mapleview West Business Park which includes the Canplas Head Office, the Bank of Montreal’s Barrie Computer Centre and many more. In addition, the city is home to the Canadian Forces Base Borden and the nearby Lake Simcoe Regional Airport.
One of Barrie’s most important economic sectors is tourism. The city’s scenic waterfront and the beaches offer countless recreational activities and draw about 300,000 national and international visitors each year. Barrie offers several ski resorts including Horseshoe Valley, Snow Valley, Mount St. Louis Moonstone, and Blue Mountain. In addition, Barrie is considered the gateway to Cottage Country, a famous recreational area in Ontario.
Barrie is home to Georgian College, a leading institution of higher education in the automotive sector. Georgian College offers a wide range of technical and engineering programs to over 9,000 full-time and 28,000 part-time students. Thanks to its strong coop program, many of its graduates have gone on to work in large, multinational companies.
Barrie features an ethnically diverse community. The most prevalent groups are Blacks, Chinese, Hispanics, Filipinos, Southeast Asians, Koreans and Japanese.
In general, Barrie is a favorable location for business and industry, a major tourist destination and home to an ethnically diverse population, giving rise to opportunities linguistic services and ethnic marketing.
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