Windsor-Detroit

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The Windsor-Detroit (or "Detroit-Windsor") region is an international urban area centered around the United States city of Detroit, Michigan, and the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario. It is the world's largest international metropolitan area.

The Windsor-Detroit area covers the Canadian regions of Chatham-Kent, Essex and Lambton counties in Ontario and American counties of Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, Wayne, Genesee, Washtenaw and Monroe in Michigan. The region is sometimes defined to also include the greater Toledo area in northwest Ohio, which adjoins Monroe County, Michigan; and the London/Middlesex County area, which adjoins the Ontario counties of Kent and Lambton. Both London and Toledo have ties to Detroit sports, especially in baseball - both cities being home to minor league farm teams of the Detroit Tigers.

Overview

The Windsor-Detroit region is not recognized formally as a single metropolitan area by either the Canadian or American governments. Nevertheless, the communities have been historically tied by several partnerships and agreements, including the Detroit and Windsor Tunnel Corporation, the firm that is owned equally by the City of Windsor and City of Detroit and operates the tunnel. The cities are historically linked through the rise of the auto industry in both countries due to the Canada-U.S. Auto Pact in the 1960s, and share geo-political concerns affecting transportation and shared resources, such as the Detroit River. Many federal, state and provincial bi-national agreements effecting trade and border security also link the region. Today, increasing governmental co-operation is being formalized. The Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC), a bi-national effort made up of Michigan, U.S. and Ontario, Canada officials to recommend the location of a new or expanded crossing of the Detroit River and the joint Royal Canadian Mounted Police and U.S. Coast Guard Shiprider program of marine border security are examples. The increasing interdependence of Windsor-Detroit was recognized by American regional business and government in 2007 when Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis was invited to take part in, and speak at, the annual Mackinac Policy Conference, a committee of regional business and political leaders, developed to address the economic and quality of life issues that matter most to Southeast Michigan.

Economy

Detroit is the center of a manufacturing powerhouse and home to the Big Three automobile companies. As a result, Windsor is home to the Daimler-Chrysler Canadian Headquarters and car plants for the "Big Three." While the inner city of Detroit has experienced economic difficulties over the years, the affluent suburbs are magnets for immigrants, wealth, and population growth. Windsor's economy is reliant on the automotive industry, but has diversified. As an example, Casino Windsor, the largest in Canada, attracts visitors from the metro Detroit region. In fact, Kwame Kilpatrick stated that Detroit is transitioning "from a manufacturing economy to a casino economy" in his re-election campaign. Casino Windsor has major expansion plans and renovations and MGM Grand Detroit announced in March 2007 they were recruiting a thousand new employees for their permanent hotel and casino opening late 2007.

Many people commute across the Windsor-Detroit International border daily. Professions identified in the 1988 Free Trade Act are permitted TN Visas for legal work in the United States and Canada. As an example, a large number of nurses in Detroit hospitals are Canadians living in Windsor. One of the nation's largest law firms, Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone P.L.C., has offices in both Windsor and Detroit. The U.S dollar is readily accepted as currency in Windsor.

A 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the region and $13 billion in annual production depend on the Windsor-Detroit international border crossing. With many new businesses in the suburbs, the region is competitive in emerging technologies including biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, cognotechnology, and hydrogen fuel cell development. Incentives to bring more suburban companies to downtown Detroit include a wireless Internet zone, heavy infrastructure, the NextEnergy center, business tax incentives, entertainment, an International Riverfront, and residential high rises.

Demographics

Together, the two metropolitan areas have a population of almost 6,000,000 people, with 5.4 million in the Detroit area, 375,000 people in Essex County (Windsor), 125,000 in Lambton County (Sarnia), and 110,000 in Chatham-Kent, Ontario. It is the largest border region in the world (now that Hong Kong has been returned to China). (Rome, which surrounds Vatican City, is not far behind, however, with some 5,400,000 people living in its metropolitan area.) The Detroit side contains over one-half of the population of Michigan, whereas Windsor and Sarnia contain only two percent of Ontario's population. An estimated 46 million people live within a 480 km (300 mile) radius of the area, with other metropolitan areas within this radius, such as Toronto, Ontario; Hamilton, Ontario; Buffalo, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Northern Kentucky; Grand Rapids, Michigan; London, Ontario; Flint, Michigan; Saginaw, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois.

While about four-fifths of the population of Metro Detroit lives outside the city itself, Windsor has a balanced population between the city of Windsor itself and the rest of Essex County. There are over 50 different communities within Metro Detroit, all ranging in population from the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands. Windsor's CMA, however, has only eight official municipalities (with Windsor being a recent separated municipality), consisting of LaSalle (pop. 25,000), Tecumseh (pop. 25,000), Amherstburg (pop. 20,000), Leamington (pop. 30,000), Kingsville (pop. 20,000), Essex (pop. 20,000), Lakeshore (pop. 30,000), Pelee Island (1,000) and of course Windsor (pop. 226,000). Within each of these municipalities lie several smaller communities that serve as bedroom communities for Windsor's working force. Windsor has recently been given a boost by immigration. However, Detroit itself has less than half of its peak population.

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External links

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Last updated on Thursday February 21, 2008 at 13:34:47 PST (GMT -0800)
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