Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the capital of the province of Ontario. It is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. In 2011, the city had about 2,615,000 inhabitants, and together with its suburbs, the entire Toronto metropolitan area had around 5,583,000 residents. Toronto lies at the heart of the so-called Golden Horseshoe, the most populated region in southern and central Ontario, home to about 8 million people.