Georgina, Ontario

Georgina is a town in south-central Ontario. The northernmost municipality in the Regional Municipality of York, the town is bounded to the north by Lake Simcoe. Although incorporated as a town, it operates as a township in which dispersed communities share a common administrative council. The largest communities are Keswick, Sutton, and Jackson's Point. Smaller communities include Pefferlaw, Port Bolster, Roches Point, Udora, and Willow Beach. The town was formed by the merger of the Village of Sutton, the Township of Georgina, and the Township of North Gwillimbury in 1971 and incorporated in 1986. North Gwillimbury had been part of Georgina but became its own township in 1826. It took its name from the family of Elizabeth Simcoe, née Gwillim.

Municipal composition
The main centres in Georgina are the communities of Keswick, Belhaven, Sutton West, Jackson's Point, Baldwin, Virginia, Pefferlaw, Port Bolster, Udora, and Willow Beach. Other settlements include Jersey, Cedarbrae, Brown Hill, Island Grove, Maple Hill, Elm Grove, Roches Point (named for the family of Author Mazo de la Roche, who is buried in the cemetery, at St. George's Anglican Church, Sibbald Point), Sibbald Point, Virginia/Virginia Beach (originally called Frenchtown), McRae Beach, Duclos Point, Balfour Beach, Varney, Brighton Beach, and a variety of other beach communities.

Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Georgina had a population of $47,642$ living in $17,895$ of its $19,368$ total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of $45,418$. With a land area of 287.69 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Racial profile As per the 2011 Canadian Census
 * 96.1% White
 * 1.6% Aboriginal
 * 0.5% Black
 * 0.3% Chinese

Religions
 * 45.7% Protestant
 * 22.4% Roman Catholic
 * 3.3% other Christian
 * 0.3% Jewish
 * 28.3% non-religious

Mother Tongue
 * 90.3% English
 * 1.2% French
 * 1.0% German
 * 1.0% Italian

Government


The Town of Georgina operates under a ward system, and its municipal council consists of the mayor, regional councillor (known procedurally as deputy mayor) and a councillor for each of the five wards. The current council consists of:
 * Mayor: Margaret Quirk
 * Deputy Mayor/Regional Councillor: Naomi Davison
 * Councillor Ward 1: Charlene Biggerstaff
 * Councillor Ward 2: Dan Fellini
 * Councillor Ward 3: Dave Neeson
 * Councillor Ward 4: Dale Kerr Genge
 * Councillor Ward 5: Lee Dale

The mayor and the deputy mayor represent Georgina at meetings of York Regional Council.

Georgina is part of the federal riding of York—Simcoe, represented by Scot Davidson of the Conservative Party of Canada, who was elected in a by-election on February 25, 2019.

Provincially, it was part of the riding of York North until 2007 and is now part of the provincial riding of York—Simcoe, represented by Caroline Mulroney of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.

Attractions

 * Captain William Johnson's Old Mill
 * St. George's Anglican Church, built in 1877 by the pioneering Sibbald family and burial place of Stephen Leacock and Mazo de la Roche
 * Roche's Point Anglican Church, built in 1862
 * The ROC (Recreational Outdoor Campus), including the Georgina Pioneer Village Museum and Archives
 * The Red Barn Theatre, Canada's oldest summer stock theatre. [Currently not operating due to a fire in 2010. ]
 * Stephen Leacock Theatre
 * Georgina Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Information Centre
 * Duclos Point Nature Reserve
 * Georgina Arts Centre and Gallery
 * The Peter Gzowski Festival of Stories
 * Georgina Public Libraries
 * York Regional Forests
 * Sibbald Point Provincial Park
 * Sutton Fair and Horse Show
 * Ramada Jacksons Point Resort and Spa
 * Willow Beach Conservation Area
 * Georgina Military Museum
 * The Briars (Georgina)

Notable residents

 * Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame member Whipper Billy Watson was a lifelong resident, and he spearheaded the campaign to build the Georgina Cultural Centre in the 1980s, which also houses the Stephen Leacock Theatre.
 * Keswick is the birthplace and childhood home of former NHL goaltender Curtis Joseph.
 * Captain William Johnson, former Royal Navy officer and founder of Pefferlaw, Ontario.
 * Noted writer Stephen Leacock settled on a farm near Egypt, a hamlet within Georgina.
 * Jim Carrey, a Canadian actor, comedian, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. He was born in nearby Newmarket. His family settled in Jackson's Point in his late teens.
 * Caroline Mulroney and her husband own land in Jackson's Point.

Local media

 * Georgina Advocate (Metroland Media Group)