Ajax

Over the last half century, the area known as the Golden Horseshoe, around Lake Ontario, has seen incredibly growth. Always the centre of the largest urban populations in Canada, the region has outstripped even itself in growth over that time period. The result has been that communities that once lacked any kind of independence have increased the opportunities available to them in addition to their populations.

One good example of such a community is Ajax. Located just 25 kilometres east of Toronto, not so long ago Ajax totally lacked any industry of its own. The citizens living there were entirely dependent on outlying communities such as Oshawa, Pickering, and Toronto for their livelihoods, whether they made money constructing contemporary bathroom vanities, within the financial sector, or in automobile manufacturing.

While many Ajax citizens still travel to other cities for employment (something we will get to in a moment) many more today are employed within the industries that call the town home. These include Volkswagen Canada, Dupont, Dowty Aerospace and Ajax Textile. All of these industries opened up jobs in Ajax not only for labour, but also for experts in fields ranging from accounting to ERP. Vancouver, the largest city in Canada west of Toronto, cannot offer the same diversity of opportunity available to residents of Ajax, despite having many times the population numbers!

Ajax is also home to a thriving commercial sector, another change to the face of Ajax. Up until the '80s, town residents had to commute to larger cities for commercial as well as employment opportunities. Today there are several businesses catering to the specific needs of the 95,000 people who call Ajax home, and opportunities are ripe for those of an entrepreneurial mindset.

Obviously, Ajax could not have survived so many years without its own infrastructure if it were not for its proximity to so many other places of employment. As we mentioned above, Ajax has long been known as a bedroom community, where people could find affordable housing close enough to the big cities where they were employed. Today, Ajax still retains much of that character in terms of its housing options. You won't find anything like the latest condos for rent Toronto here; the houses in Ajax are still largely suburban, single family detached pieces of real estate.

That said, you can still buy houses in Ajax for the same price as you could expect for similar Mississauga townhouses. Growth has not meant a huge rise in prices for Ajax real estate, which has kept well under those found in Toronto, Oshawa, and even nearby Whitby.

In short, Ajax has everything a potential resident could want from affordable housing to businesses in need of staffing. Ottawa and centres in southern Ontario may appeal to those who like the rush of the big city, but Ajax offers a nice alternative for those who want a quieter lifestyle as well as security.