Ontario. Ministry of Transportation. Southwestern Region

• Southwestern Region

• West Region

The Office of the Southwestern Region, under the direction of a Regional Services Manager, reported to the Operations Branch until 1971. In that year, the Ontario Department of Highways and the Ontario Department of Transport were amalgamated to form the Ontario Department (and later Ministry) of Transportation and Communications. Following this development, the head of the Office of the Southwestern Region, now known as the Regional Director, began reporting to the Executive Director of the Operations Division. This organizational structure lasted until 1976, when the various Regional Directors began reporting to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Operations. From 1981 to 1983, the Regional Directors reported to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Provincial Highways, and from 1983 to 1992, directly to the Deputy Minister. From 1992, however, the Regional Offices started reporting to the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Operations Division. Presently (2019), the Regional Director reports to the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Provincial Highways Management Division.

The Office of the Southwestern Region was established in 1956 within the Ontario Department of Highways in order to co-ordinate the various district engineers' offices in the southwestern part of the province. The Southwestern Region itself consisted of previously established districts with centres in London, Owen Sound, Stratford and Chatham.

When the field operations within the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications were decentralized in 1978-1979, the Office of the Southwestern Region assumed greater responsibility for programs and activities within the region. By 1986, most of the regional offices generally consisted of eight different sections: Administrative Services, the Construction Office, the Driver and Vehicle Office, the Engineering and Right of Way Office, the Maintenance Office, the Municipal Roads Office, and Resource Planning and Scheduling. Some services were delivered at the regional level, while others were delivered at the district level.

In the ensuing years, the Southwestern Region and other regions were affected by re-organizations and re-assignments of responsibility. Some of these included a 1987 ministry re-organization which divided the transportation and communications functions, with the former returning to the newly formed Ministry of Transportation. In 2003 another major change occurred with the outsourcing of driver examination and licensing services to DriveTest centres, operated by a British company called the Serco Group. As well, the Operations Division was renamed the Provincial Highways Management Division during the 2006-2007 fiscal year.

During the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the regional name was changed from Southwestern Region to West Region, and the boundaries were slightly modified. Whereas formerly Simcoe County had been included, the eastern boundary was altered to include only Dufferin County.

While the regions have continued to assume responsibility for regional programs and activities over the years, further central co-ordination, standards, and policy development have also been necessary due to the growth of regional programs. This need has been handled either through an office in a separate branch, or through a section within the offices of the Central Region in Toronto. The latter includes several specialized offices not found in other regions. Due to this situation, an office in one of the regions may have a counterpart office in another branch or in the Central regional office with the same name which is tasked with higher level responsibilities for the same functional area.

The Regional Offices were originally responsible solely for construction and maintenance of Ontario provincial highways. During the 1978-1979 fiscal year, however, field operations in the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications were decentralized. With this change the Regional Offices assumed more direct responsibility over the delivery of the ministry's planning, design, construction and operations functions. In addition to the traditional activities of highway construction and maintenance, these have included at various times activities such as: route planning; highway design; the delivery of municipal roads and municipal transit subsidies; responsibility for driver examinations, vehicle inspections and highway carrier enforcement; and ferry services. Business services are also delivered in the regional offices. Each of the five regions is responsible for a defined geographic part of the province, with the Southwestern Region (later called the West Region, with slightly different boundaries) being headquartered in London, Ontario.

RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

Government of Ontario telephone directories; Government of Ontario KWIC (Keywords in Context) directories; 2007-2008 Estimates Briefing Books; authority record for Ontario. Ministry of Transportation. Northwestern Region; telephone conversation with West Region staff member.

Archivist(s):
Shimpo