Claim: The Rainy River, the Pigeon River, Lake Superior, the St. Marys River, Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario are in Ontario.

Ontario -LRB- -LSB- ɒnˈtɛərioʊ -RSB- -LSB- ɔ̃taʁjo -RSB- -RRB- , one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada , is located in east-central Canada . It is Canada 's most populous province by a large margin , accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians , and is the second-largest province in total area . Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included . It is home to the nation 's capital city , Ottawa , and the nation 's most populous city , Toronto .   Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west , Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north , and Quebec to the east and northeast , and to the south by the U.S. states of -LRB- from west to east -RRB- Minnesota , Michigan , Ohio , Pennsylvania and New York . Almost all of Ontario 's 2700 km border with the United States follows inland waterways : from the west at Lake of the Woods , eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence River drainage system . These are the Rainy River , the Pigeon River , Lake Superior , the St. Marys River , Lake Huron , the St. Clair River , Lake St. Clair , the Detroit River , Lake Erie , the Niagara River , Lake Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River from Kingston , Ontario , to the Quebec boundary just east of Cornwall , Ontario . There is only about 1 km of land border made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border .   Ontario is sometimes conceptually divided into two regions , Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario . The great majority of Ontario 's population and arable land is located in the south . In contrast , the larger , northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested .