Guelph

Guelph ( GWELF; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", it is roughly 22 kilometres (14 mi) east of Kitchener and 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7, and Wellington County Road 124. It is the seat of Wellington County, but is politically independent of it. Guelph was established in the 1820s by Scottish novelist John Galt, first superintendent of the Canada Company, who based his headquarters and home in the community. The area—much of which became Wellington County—was part of the Halton Block, a Crown reserve for the Six Nations Iroquois. Galt is generally considered Guelph's founder. For many years, Guelph ranked at or near the bottom of Canada's crime severity list. However, the 2017 index showed a 15% increase from 2016. It had one of the country's lowest unemployment rates throughout the Great Recession. Much of this was attributed to its numerous manufacturing facilities, including Linamar.