Guelph, Canada

Guelph
City (single-tier)
City of Guelph
View of Guelph downtown with Norfolk St. and Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate pictured
Flag Coat of arms Logo
Nickname(s): "The Royal City"
Motto: Faith, Fidelity and Progress
Guelph Location of Guelph in Ontario
Coordinates: 43°33′N 80°15′W / 43.550°N 80.250°W / 43.550; -80.250Coordinates: 43°33′N 80°15′W / 43.550°N 80.250°W / 43.550; -80.250
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
County	Wellington County (independent)
City Wards	6
Founded	April 23, 1827
Incorporated	April 23, 1879
Government
• Mayor	Cam Guthrie 2014–Present
• Governing Body	Guelph City Council
• MPs	Lloyd Longfield (LPC) 2015–Present
• MPPs	Liz Sandals (OLP) 2003–Present
Area
• Land	86.72 km2 (33.48 sq mi)
• Urban	78.39 km2 (30.27 sq mi)
• Metro	378.45 km2 (146.12 sq mi)
Elevation	334 m (1,096 ft)
Population (2016)
• City (single-tier)	131,794
• Density	1,325.5/km2 (3,433/sq mi)
• Urban	131,794
• Urban density	1,475.1/km2 (3,820/sq mi)
• Metro	141,097
• Metro density	335.6/km2 (869/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Guelphite
Time zone	EST (UTC−5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC−4)
Forward sortation area	N1C to N1H, N1K to N1L
Area code(s)	519, 226 and 548
Website	www.guelph.ca

Guelph (ⁱ/ɡwɛlf/; Canada 2016 Census population 131,794) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly 28 kilometres (17 mi) east of Kitchener and 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 7. It is the seat of Wellington County, but is politically independent of it.

The current Guelph began as a settlement in the 1820s, started by John Galt, originally from Scotland, the first Superintendent of the Canada Company. He based the headquarters, and his home, in the community. The area – much of what became Wellington County – had previously been part of the Halton Block, a Crown Reserve for the Six Nations Iroquois. Galt would later be considered as the founder of Guelph.

Because of its low crime rates, clean environment and generally high standard of living, Guelph is consistently rated as one of Canada's best places to live. Guelph has been noted as having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country throughout the Great Recession. In February 2016, it had the lowest rate in the country, at 3.9 per cent, compared to the national rate of 7.3 per cent; in large part, this is because of the great number of manufacturing facilities, including Linamar.