"A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow" (Ontari-ari-ari-o!) is the unofficial
provincial anthem of the Canadian province of
Ontario. It was written as the signature tune for a movie of the same name that was featured at the
Expo 67 Ontario pavilion.
The song was written by
Dolores Claman, who also wrote "
The Hockey Theme", with lyrics by Richard Morris and orchestrations by
Jerry Toth. Lyrics for a French version were written by Larry Trudel.[1]
In 2017, the song was revived for a television commercial promoting provincial commemorations of the
150th anniversary of Confederation. With the tagline "A place for all of us", the ad was designed to reflect multiculturalism and diversity based on real-life experiences, including scenes of a
Syrian refugee, an
Ojibway father and his son,
African-Canadian parents, and a gay couple.[4]
In February 2020, the Ontario government unveiled a new
Ontario passenger license plate, which contained the slogan "A Place to Grow".[5][6] The license plate design and slogan briefly replaced the previous license plate design and slogan, "Yours to Discover".[7] However in May 2020, the new plates were discontinued after they were found to have visibility issues.[8][9]