While Ontario is an absolutely massive province, there are a few telltale signs that make it very obvious that you are, in fact, from Ontario. Of course, I can’t speak for an entire population, but I have noticed a few commonalities.
Honestly, I didn’t really notice these little quirks until I moved abroad. That’s when I started meeting Canadians from all over the country, and I realized I could usually pick out the Ontarians pretty easily.
If you grew up in Ontario, chances are at least a few of these will feel pretty familiar. And if you didn’t? Well, you can go ahead and consider this a crash course in the wonderfully specific culture that comes with being raised in Canada’s most populous province.
So, whether you hail from the big city of Toronto or way up in Thunder Bay or Kingston, fellow Ontarians I’ve crossed paths with tend to share the following specific (and kinda quirky) traits.
They call electricity “hydro”
I can distinctly remember the day when I was just a sweet, naive teenager and I’d finally put two and two together to figure out why we (Ontarians) call our electricity “hydro.”
For most of us, it’s just part of our vocabulary. We don’t pay the electric bill; we pay the hydro bill. It makes perfect sense when you realize so much of Ontario’s electricity comes from hydroelectric power, but until then, it’s one of those things you simply never question.
They think bagged milk is totally normal
This one is totally obvious, but too important not to mention. As someone who grew up in Ontario, I grew up with bagged milk, which is not a thing across all of Canada. And at my house (like many households in Ontario, I’m sure), there was a right way to cut the corner off the bag. It couldn’t be too small a snip, nor too large; it had to be just right (iykyk).
While I personally don’t really buy bagged milk anymore, I still consider it a totally normal thing to have had in my fridge as a kid.`
Anything above the 401 is referred to as “Up North”
Up North.
Brittany Barber | Narcity
To anyone who isn’t from Ontario, the idea of going “up north” for the weekend sounds like someone is embarking on a strangely speedy Arctic expedition.
To someone who is from Ontario, it could mean literally anywhere from Muskoka to Algonquin to Sudbury, or just two hours outside the GTA. “Up north” isn’t really a direction so much as a vibe. It means lakes, trees and campfires (and for us Toronto locals, anywhere that’s as far away from the DVP as possible).
Canoe trips are their idea of a vacation
Canoe trips in Ontario.
Brittany Barber | Narcity
Maybe not every single person who grew up in Ontario is wildly outdoorsy, but a staggering amount of people I know back home absolutely live for a canoe trip. And not only do they love being on the water (and the camaraderie of such a trip), but they (and by “they” I mean “we”) love to up one another about how many kilometres we’ve paddled.
And if someone randomly mentions Algonquin Provincial Park, Killarney, or Temagami, there’s a good chance they’re about to tell you the story of that one brutal portage that changed them forever during their formative years.
They call the liquor store “The LC”
A lot of Canadians know what the LCBO (the Liquor Control Board of Ontario) is, but when you’ve grown up in Ontario, you’ve likely shortened the already-abbreviated storefront even further. If you hear someone drop “I’m just grabbing alcohol from the LC,” then you know they’re 100% born and raised in Ontario.
Marineland was a childhood staple
Whether you loved it or hated it (or have since developed some complicated feelings about it, because same), odds are if you grew up in Ontario, you probably visited Marineland at least once when you were a kid.
And even if you didn’t get the chance to go, many of us can still sing the entire jingle decades later. I, for one, still have the phrase “Everyone loves Marineland!” permanently burned into my memory, and I know I’m not the only one.
But any mention of Niagara Falls is followed by an eye roll
Don’t get me wrong, Niagara Falls is incredible. But if you grew up in Ontario, especially in or around Niagara, you know what I’m saying.
School trips. Visiting distant relatives. Friends from out of town. Family weekends. Hoards of tourists. Eventually, it becomes less about the unbelievably stunning falls and more “ugh, here we go again”. Most locals are far more likely to recommend Niagara-on-the-Lake than the Clifton Hill strip.
They insist on saying “Muskoka” chairs
Ontario’s beautiful nature.
Brittany Barber | Narcity
I genuinely had no idea these chairs had another name until I was a fully-grown adult. To anyone who grew up in Ontario, they’re Muskoka chairs. I mean, that’s exactly where we picture them, sitting on a dock beside a lake, beverage in hand, watching the sunset somewhere in cottage country. They’re iconic. Call it an Adirondack chair if you want, but if you’re from Ontario, it’s most certainly a Muskoka chair.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
![10th Aug: Dr. Seuss's Red Fish, Blue Fish (2026), 3 Seasons [TV-Y] – New Episodes (6.65/10)](https://occ-0-1522-1001.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/0Qzqdxw-HG1AiOKLWWPsFOUDA2E/AAAABaz43TuW0XVgXq0XWtO0vVcIgFuAspTWG9tdl69Ov2vBQijoBSp0Hzbs5nUs8YFq0p0DaQTIRqTD3pPwRvjvLjB8kp4u_H1HiVL-DG3YSREhNzeJoOI0IyKXbF2cJ3M14_6grtHrfECKvhxeNh7F-hoxkKNXUjlJ06NbjQp9.jpg?r=c62 "10th Aug: Dr. Seuss's Red Fish, Blue Fish (2026), 3 Seasons [TV-Y] – New Episodes (6.65/10)")
