The "town in North Ontario" referred to in the opening line of the song is often presumed to be Ontario native Young's hometown; Young himself cleared up the rumors in a 1995 Mojo interview with Nick Kent:
"Well, it's not literally a specific town so much as a feeling.
Actually, it's a couple of towns.
Omemee, Ontario, is one of them. It's where I first went to school and spent my 'formative' years. Actually I was born in Toronto..."
Omemee, just west of Peterborough, is well within what is now considered Southern Ontario, and 130 km from Toronto by road.