Pickering - Ajax - Whitby

This string of cites east of Toronto along Lake Ontario have traditionally been Toronto's bedroom communities. Pickering is mainly residential but has a substantial industrial area by Ontario Power Generation's nuclear plant while its northern sections remain rural. In 2006 Pickering was one of Profit Magazine's 10 cities in Canada to grow a business. Ajax's twenty-year plan include efforts to control how physical development occurs and focuses on environment, transportation and building quality places. The Town of Whitby has spent $30 million expanding cultural facilities over the past five years and its downtown area is undergoing revitalization.