Oshawa

City and port in Ontario, Canada, on Lake Ontario, 48 km/30 mi east of Toronto; population (1996) 134,000. With an excellent harbour, and situated on the main intercontinental rail lines from Toronto to Montréal, it is an industrial centre, and a service and distribution point for a rich agricultural area. Car and heavy goods vehicle production is the principal industry; other products include motor accessories, brass and copper fittings, plastics, pharmaceuticals, building supplies, woollens, pottery, and glass bottles.

The McLaughlin Buick was produced here in 1907, and the city has been the Canadian headquarters for General Motors since 1918.

The area was first settled by the French as a trading post in 1750. Oshawa itself was settled as Skea's Corners in the 1790s, renamed in 1842, and incorporated in 1924. The name Oshawa reputedly derives from a Native Canadian term for a river crossing.