Durham Region, is a regional municipality east of Toronto, that follows lake Ontario. It is a largely suburban area that covers roughly 2,500 square kilometers, and it considered to be part of the Greater Toronto Area. Durham Region includes Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa and alos the smaller communities of Clarington, Uxbridge, and Scugog.

Whitby (2006 population 111,184) is a town in Ontario, Canada. Whitby is located east of Toronto on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and is home to the headquarters of Durham Region. While the southern portion of Whitby is predominantly urban, and an economic hub, the northern part of the municipality is more rural and includes the communities of Ashburn, Brooklin, Myrtle and Myrtle Station.

[pictured: Whitby Harbour]

Oshawa (2006 population 141,590, CMA, 330,594) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline, approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is not, however, part of the Toronto CMA but has its own metropolitan area, the fourteenth largest in Canada. It is the largest community in the Regional Municipality of Durham.

Ajax city hall. Ajax is growing community of 90,000 but prides it’s self as a a friendly personable city with a small town feel . This is reflected in the architecture of it’s city hall
Looking more like a friendly small town hall rather then the larger city that it really is.

[pictured: Ajax City hall]

Pickering has experienced rapid growth in the post-war period. Between the 1996 and 2001 censuses, the municipality experienced a growth rate of 10 percent (78,989 people to 87,139). Population growth has slowed considerably in recent years, growing only slightly between the 2001 and 2006 census. This is due mainly to development restrictions on land in the northern portion of the city. Negotiations are ongoing to permit development in this area.