Welcome to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada
Your Sault Ste Marie (Sault Ste Marie, Iron Bridge, Thessalon, Wawa)
area contact is Dallas Glawson (REMAX Sault Ste. Marie Realty Inc., Brokerage) Please refer to the "Relocating to Sault Ste Marie" section to the right for
the phone number, address, website, and email address to contact Dallas Glawson directly.
Ask about the RE/MAX MLS real estate homes for sale including residential houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, townhouse, acreages and farms.
Sault Ste Marie summary
Sault Ste. Marie (nicknamed "the Sault" or "the Soo") is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario,
after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. Residents of the city are called Saultites.
Sault Ste. Marie is bordered to the east by the Rankin Location and Garden River First Nation reserves, and to the west by Prince Township. To the north, the
city is bordered by an unincorporated portion of the Algoma District, with Heyden as the nearest community. To the south, across the river, is the United States
and the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The city's census agglomeration, consisting of the townships of Laird, Prince and Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen
Additional and the First Nations reserves of Garden River and Rankin, had a total population of 80,098 in 2006.
The two cities are joined by the International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Huron Street in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes
through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.
The city's crest contains the words "Ojibwa Kitche Gumeeng Odena" (from Ojibwe gichi-gamiing oodena) which means "Town by the large body of water of the Ojibwe"
(or simply "Town by Lake Superior") in the Ojibwe language.
The city has made a name for itself in steel-making, and Algoma Steel is the largest single employer with 3150 employees at the main plant and about 554 at the
Tube Mill Tenaris, which is separate from Algoma Steel. During the 1940s, the steel and chromium operations were of substantial importance to the war effort in
Canada and the United States. The Algoma Steel and the Chromium Mining and Smelting Corporation were key producers for transportation and military machines.
In the early 1960s and 1970s, Sault Ste. Marie was a booming town. However, as time passed and foreign imports became a vital reality of business success, the
demand for the town's steel industry diminished. Two times within the past eight years Algoma Steel has declared bankruptcy and laid off large numbers of workers.
Most recently, Algoma Steel was bailed out by the Ontario government, which promised interest-free loans.
Algoma Steel is currently the most profitable steel company per unit on a global scale. The company experienced a swift turnaround in 2004 from its earlier
financial troubles in the 1990s, largely due to the rising costs of steel and the high demand for steel in China. Denis Turcotte, CEO, was named Canadian CEO of
the year in 2006 for his efforts. An offer to purchase ASI by the Essar Group (India) had been recommended by the ASI Board of Directors and was approved. The
company was officially sold to the Essar Group in June 2007 for $1.6 billion.
Forestry is also a major local industry, especially at St.Mary's Paper which has been reopened as of June 2007 under new ownership. Also related to wood products
is Flakeboard Ltd., which employs over 110 people in the community along with an adjacent melamine factory which manufactures products with Flakeboard's materials.
Such examples of this are furniture and cupboards where a finish is added to the product. Together both of Flakeboard's factories employ about 150 people. St.
Mary's Paper recently declared bankruptcy, after its union (C.E.P.) refused a final offer by the company.
The newest major industry involves business process outsourcing, with five call centres located within city limits employing about 4000 people. The largest employer
of the five call centres is the Sutherland Group which employs about 1300 people in the community between its two centres. The call centre industry has become the
largest combined employer in Sault Ste. Marie with five locations throughout the city.
Another very large employer in the community is the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). The OLG has a corporate office located within the city on the
waterfront and employs about 900 people in Sault Ste. Marie between the corporate office and Casino Sault Ste. Marie. The head office used to reside within the
city but was moved back to Toronto (York Mills) in 2000. Its role in Sault Ste. Marie has diminished; however, it is still the fourth largest employer next only
to the call centre industry, Algoma Steel and Sault Area Hospital.
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