# Ask the Guy From Northern Ontario. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421 "2010-05-31T20:48:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/1 "2010-05-31T20:48:06Z")
Well, [Northeastern Ontario](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_Ontario) to be exact. Northern Ontario’s a pretty big area, covering 87% of the province’s land area. It’s pretty quiet, though. That 87% of land area is home to just 6% of Ontario’s population. Furthermore, most residents of Northern Ontario are located in one of five cities: Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins and North Bay. To put it in an American context, if Northern Ontario were a U.S. state, it would be the second largest state, behind only Alaska, but would rank 47th in population, ahead of Alaska but behind South Dakota. I wanted to jump on the “Ask The…” bandwagon, and figured this was probably the most unique thing about me here. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/2 "2010-05-31T21:03:33Z")
Do you live in one of those five cities? Do you work for INCO? Are you Franco-Canadian, or otherwise speak French? I used to work with someone who went to Canadore College in North Bay and his family was from around there. Took him forever to take the bus home from Toronto to visit them. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/3 "2010-05-31T21:03:44Z")
Do you live in one of these cities? Or in a remote, undisclosed location? 😉 I don’t really have any questions except for my standard one for anyone who lives north of me: How do you stand the cold? I hate it when I have to put gloves on, and it’s a successful winter, in my view, when I never get them out at all. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/4 "2010-05-31T21:13:37Z")
Do you really have dream comfort memory to spare? ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/5 "2010-05-31T21:16:41Z")
**Mnemosyne** : I live in Sturgeon Falls, which is now part of the larger [Municipality of West Nipissing.](http://www.westnipissingouest.ca/home.html) It’s about half an hour west of North Bay; or about an hour east of Sudbury, depending on from which way you’re coming. I don’t work for INCO. I’m an Anglo, was actually born and raised in Parry Sound, which either is, or isn’t part of the North, depending on who you talk to. My wife is a Franco-Ontarian, and my kids go to French schools (or at least my daughter does. My son’s only 3.) **Ellen Cherry** : The cold is a fact of life here, you just deal with it, I guess. One thing I don’t mind about the (sometimes) extreme cold is that we don’t generally get a great deal of snow here. We get our share, sure, but it’s rare for us to get, say, eight inches over a 24-hour period. Generally it’s two, maybe four inches, then it’s done with and you shovel it. I should add that this last week has been a real scorcher, weather-wise, with temperatures in the high 20s (mid 80s American :D) Factor in the humidex and it feels like close to 35 (95 Fahrenheit). EDIT: **Fear Itself** I’m pretty sure Neil Young wasn’t singing about Sturgeon Falls. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/6 "2010-05-31T21:18:42Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Do you work for INCO? He’ll think no more of INCO. Before my Canadian excursion a few years ago, I had a phone interview with a place in Sudbury. After driving through it on my way west, I was fairly happy that it had gone no further. Sault Ste. Marie I think I could stand, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/7 "2010-05-31T21:32:44Z")
What’s your recommendation for the most effective, legally available, insect repellent? ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/8 "2010-05-31T21:40:38Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > **Mnemosyne** :EDIT: **Fear Itself** I’m pretty sure Neil Young wasn’t singing about Sturgeon Falls. 😃 OK, then what town was he talking about? I’ve never met anyone for North Ontario to actually ask. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/9 "2010-05-31T21:49:59Z")
> [@](#): > > From an interview with Neil Young: > > ``` > Q. On one of your most poignant and best-loved songs, Helpless, you sing about a town in North Ontario which you keep returning to in your mind for comfort. I've always presumed you're singing about the town in which you were born? > > NEIL: "Well, it's not literally a specific town so much as a feeling. Actually, it's a couple of towns. Omemee, Ontario, is one of them. It's where I first went to school and spent my 'formative' years. Actually I was born in Toronto... *I was born in Toronto*... God, that sounds like the first line of a Bruce Springsteen song (laughs). But Toronto is only seven miles from Omemee." > > ``` [link](http://www.thrasherswheat.org/fot.htm#helpless) mmm ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/10 "2010-05-31T22:26:49Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > What’s your recommendation for the most effective, legally available, insect repellent? My favourite is a product called C.I.L. No-Bite. It’s foam-based; it comes out like whipped cream and you rub it in to the skin. Bug spray, though, is something where you can ask ten people for their favourite and get twelve different answers. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/11 "2010-05-31T22:33:05Z")
I lived in Deep River for a few years. My ex was an engineer at AECL. Any local theories about the missing guy from the plant? I imagine they’ll find him in a thawing snowbank. Oh and for the bugs, you learn what we called the “Deep River Walk” which was walk quickly and flail your arms all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/12 "2010-05-31T22:40:15Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > My favourite is a product called C.I.L. No-Bite. It’s foam-based; it comes out like whipped cream and you rub it in to the skin. Bug spray, though, is something where you can ask ten people for their favourite and get twelve different answers. I know. 🙂 I’ve lived in Winnipeg, and planted trees in northern BC, Alberta, and Ontario. My preference was always the industrial grade little bottles of pure DEET, but you can’t get them anymore. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/13 "2010-05-31T22:40:33Z")
When I lived in Red Rock, we used to call you guys southerners…lol. We had to come out of the woods to hunt! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/14 "2010-05-31T23:24:17Z")
Omemee? That’s one of my favourite names. It’s a hamlet [on Highway 7](http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=omemee,+ontario&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=55.831952,113.203125&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Omemee,+Kawartha+Lakes+Division,+Ontario&ll=44.296579,-78.537827&spn=0.240322,0.4422&t=h&z=12) midway between Lindsay and Peterborough, and in no way is in Northern Ontario. To me, Northern Ontario starts wehere the Canadian Shield begins. It’s rocks and trees and bugs and water, cottages and mines and hardscabble farms and the remains of railways. Though according to the map, that includes quite a lot of Central and Eastern Ontario as well. Although I agree, Northern Ontario really only gets going when you’re north of Huntsville or Parry Sound. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/15 "2010-05-31T23:34:51Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Omemee? That’s one of my favourite names. It’s a hamlet [on Highway 7](http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=omemee,+ontario&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=55.831952,113.203125&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Omemee,+Kawartha+Lakes+Division,+Ontario&ll=44.296579,-78.537827&spn=0.240322,0.4422&t=h&z=12) midway between Lindsay and Peterborough, and in no way is in Northern Ontario. > > To me, Northern Ontario starts wehere the Canadian Shield begins. It’s rocks and trees and bugs and water, cottages and mines and hardscabble farms and the remains of railways. Though according to the map, that includes quite a lot of Central and Eastern Ontario as well. > > Although I agree, Northern Ontario really only gets going when you’re north of Huntsville or Parry Sound. A guideline that I use is that if your postal code begins with a “P,” then you can be considered to live in Northern Ontario. Now, that does include Parry Sound and Muskoka, which as I mentioned in the OP, is either considered Northern or Central Ontario, depending on who you ask. The town of Gravenhurst, in the District of Muskoka is only about a half hour north of Orillia, which is most definitely Central Ontario. Muskoka is eligible for [Fednor](http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/fednor-fednor.nsf/eng/Home) funding from the Canadian government through the Ministry of Industry. This is a very contentious issue with some. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/16 "2010-06-01T00:33:04Z")
Is the preferred term “Northern Ontario” or “North Ontario?” ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/17 "2010-06-01T01:00:51Z")
“Northern” as far as I’ve noticed. It matches “Eastern”, “Southern”, “Southwestern”, Northwestern", and “Western”. I haven’t really heard “North Ontario” anywhere outside that song, actually. Maybe it’s differnet for people who actually live there though. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/18 "2010-06-01T01:53:16Z")
Bagged any moose yet this year? Do you hate Toronto as much as the rest of Canada? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/19 "2010-06-01T03:15:52Z")
Do you read “For Better or For Worse”? Part of it was set in Nipissing. After one’s lived there for a while, does one become able to say “Nipissing” without giggling a little? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421/20 "2010-06-01T03:52:32Z")
Is it really dangerous to drive there at night because of moose and deer? Here’s the background of that question: twelve years ago, my wife and I were on a summer driving trip, and for various reasons, we left Thunder Bay at around 2 PM, intending to drive all the way to Sudbury, but around 10 PM, we stopped in a gas station, and they said it would be foolishly dangerous to drive further that night, so instead we stayed in a little place called Batchawana Bay. Bottom line - was that really necessary? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-from-northern-ontario/541421.md?page=2)