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City of Montreal, Quebec, Canada Ville de Montréal, Québec, Canada
File:MontrealSkyline3.jpg
FlagCoat of arms of City of Montreal, Quebec, CanadaCoat of arms
Motto: Concordia Salus
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Founded	1642
Established	1832
Government
• City Mayor	Gérald Tremblay
Population
• City	1,583,590**
• Urban	3,215,665
• Metro	3,635,700
	Metro population est. 2005
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
Postal code span	H
Area code	514/438/450
Website	Ville de Montréal
Area and city population figures reflect the new 2006 demerged city territory

Montreal, or Montréal in French, (pronounced /ˌmʌntɹiˈɑːl/ in Canadian English, /mɔ̃ʀeal/ in International French, and /mɒ̃ɾeal/ in some varieties of Quebec French) is the second largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. It's the largest French speaking city in the Western Hemisphere, and is the French language hub outside of France. At the 2001 Canadian Census, 1,588,590 people lived on the current territory of the city of Montreal proper (new 2006 demerged territory/the island of Montreal is about 1,900,000). The population of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (also known as Greater Montreal Area) is estimated at 3,720,000 in 2006, however the Montreal-Ottawa Corridor has around 5.7 million people. Montreal is ranked as the 15th-largest metropolitan area in Northern America and 77th in the world. In 2006, both Traveler's Digest and AskMen.com ranked Montreal as the number one city in the world to live in for its culture, architecture, history and ambience.

History

French rule

Huron, Algonquin, and Iroquois have inhabited the Montreal area for some eight thousand years. The first European to reach the area was Jacques Cartier, when he entered the village of Hochelega on the Island of Montreal on October 2, 1535.

Seventy years later, Samuel de Champlain arrived on the island but the village of Hochelaga no longer existed. In 1611 he established La Place Royale, a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, but the local Iroquois successfully defended their land. The first permanent European settlement on the Island of Montreal was created in 1639 by a French tax collector named Jérôme Le Royer. Missionaries Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, Jeanne Mance and a few French colonists founded the Ville Marie Catholic mission on May 17, 1642.

Ville Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further exploration into New France. The Iroquois continued their attacks on the settlement until a peace treaty was signed in 1701. The town remained French until 1760, when Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal surrendered it to the British army under Jeffrey Amherst. Fire destroyed one quarter of the town on May 18, 1765.

British rule

The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the Seven Years' War and ceded New France to the Kingdom of Great Britain. American Revolutionists briefly held the city in 1775 but soon left. By this time, now named Montreal, the city started to grow from British immigration. The golden era of fur trading began in the city with the advent of the locally owned North West Company, the main rival to the primarily British Hudson's Bay Company.

Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The city's growth was spurred by the opening of the Lachine Canal, which permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids south (upstream) of the island. Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, which attracted more English-speakers (or Anglophones) to the city, making the two linguistic groups roughly equal in size. The resulting increased Anglophone community built one of Canada's first universities, McGill, and the wealthy merchant classes began building large mansions at the foot of Mont Royal.

After Confederation (1867)

In 1852, Montreal had 58,000 inhabitants; by 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada. With the annexation of neighbouring towns between 1883 and 1918, Montreal became a mostly Francophone city again.

After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. Canada began to recover from the Great Depression in the mid-1930s, when skyscrapers such as the Sun Life Building began to appear.

During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to ignore the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and put him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).

Hundreds of Catholic churches were built as the population grew. This fact explains a few of Montreal's former nicknames: "the city of Saints" and "La ville aux cent clochers" (the city of a hundred belltowers).

Post-war

After Montreal's population surpassed one million in the early 1950s, Mayor Jean Drapeau laid down plans for the future development of the city. These plans included a new metro system and an underground city, the expansion of Montreal's harbour, and the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. New buildings were built on top of old ones in this time period, including Montreal's two tallest skyscrapers up to then: the 43-storey Place Ville-Marie and the 47-storey Tour de la Bourse. Two new museums were also built, and finally in 1966, the metro opened, along with several new expressways.

The city's international status was cemented by Expo '67 and the Summer Olympics in 1976.

In the mid-1970s, following the October Crisis and also due to economic and political shifts after the election of the soverignist Parti Québécois, Montreal's linguistic and ethnic composition underwent a period of transition greater than the norm for urban centres, as many (mostly Anglophone) Montrealers migrated to other provinces. Bill 101 was passed in 1977 and gave primacy to French as Quebec's (and Montreal's) main language of business and culture, and enforces the use of French for public signage and business communication.

Throughout the recessions of the 1980s and well into the 1990s, Montreal experienced a relatively slow rate of job growth compared to other major Canadian cities. By the mid 90s, though, Montreal's economy stabilized, and new companies and institutions have risen to fill the usual business and financial niches. As the city celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1992, two constructions of new skyscrapers: 1000 de La Gauchetière and 1250 René-Lévesque were elevated. Montreal's favourable economic conditions allowed further improvements in infrastructure, with the expansion of the metro system, construction of new skyscrapers and the development of a ring road around the island.

Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on 1 January 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire Island of Montreal. This move proved to be unpopular, and several former municipalities totalling 13% of the population of the Island of Montreal voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums which took place on 20 June 2004. The demerger took place on 1 January 2006, leaving 16 municipalities on the Island of Montreal, including Montreal.

See Montreal merger and demerger

Geography

Overview

Montreal is situated in the southwest of the province of Quebec, approximately 270 kilometres (168 miles) southwest of Quebec City, the provincial capital, and 190 kilometres (118 mi) east of Ottawa, the federal capital. It also lies 539 kilometres (335 mi) northeast of Toronto,and 610 kilometres (380 mi) north of New York City.<br\>

The city is located on the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is bordered by the St. Lawrence river on its south side, and by the Rivière des Prairies on the north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, Mount Royal.

Climate

Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions and thus the climate in Montreal varies greatly.

Precipitation is abundant with an average snowfall of 2.14 metres (84 in) per year in the winter. It snows on average more in Montreal, than Moscow, Russia. Regular rainfall throughout the year averages 897 millimetres (35.3 in). Each year the city government spends more than C$50 million on snow removal. Summer is the wettest season statistically, but it is also the sunniest.

The coldest month of the year is January, which has a daily average temperature of −10.4 °C (13 °F) — averaging a daily low of −14.9 °C (5.2 °F). Due to wind chill, the perceived temperature can be much lower than the actual temperature and wind chill factor is often included in Montreal weather forecasts. The warmest month is July which has a daily average temperature of 20.9 °C (69.6 °F) — averaging a daily high of 26.3 °C (79.3 °F). The lowest temperature ever recorded was −37.8 °C (−36.0 °F) on 15 January 1957 and the highest temperature ever was 37.6 °C (99.7 °F) on 1 August 1975. Moderate to high humidity is common in the summer. In spring and autumn, rainfall averages between 55 and 94 millimetres (2.2 and 3.7 in) a month. Some snow in spring and autumn is normal. Similarly, late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a regular feature of the climate.

Template:Montreal weatherbox

Botanics

Despite its widely varying climate, the Montreal region supports a diverse array of plants and wildlife. The maple is one of the most common trees and the sugar maple in particular is an enduring symbol of Montreal and Quebec, thanks to the production of maple syrup.

Demographics

Origins

According to Statcan, in 2001, the city of Montreal had 1,583,590 inhabitants. However, 3,635,700 live in the metropolitan area as of 2005 up from 3,426,350, reflecting an annual growth of 1.1 percent. Montreal has been growing more slowly than many other Canadian cities. In the 2001 census, children under 14 years of age (618,855) constituted 18.06 percent, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (442,720) numbered 12.92 percent of the total population. Some 13.55 perent of the population are member of a visible minority (non-white) group. Blacks contribute to the largest minority group, numbering some 140,000 (4.12% of Montreal inhabitants), which is the second largest community of Blacks in Canada, after Toronto. Other groups, such as Arabs (now estimated at 100,000 people), Latin American, South Asian, and Chinese are also large in number. (Chart on ethnicity on the left includes multiple responses.

Religions

The city of Montreal is overwhelmingly Catholic, which is unusual for many North American cities of its size. However, this is merely due to the fact that many people associate with Catholicism as part of their cultural heritage; in reality, church attendance is the lowest in Canada. Montreal society is one of the most secular in North America. Some 84.56 percent of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.51%), which is largely due to French, Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran and other number 7.02%, while the remaining 3.03% consists mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group with some 100,000 members, the second largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 2.96%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 90,000 . In some neighbourhoods of Montreal such as Cote St. Luc, Hampstead, and Dollard des Ormeaux, Jewish people consitute the majority , or a substantial part of the population. Other religions such as Buddhism, and Hinduism are present, but much smaller.

Languages

Because the city of Montreal is very diverse, there is a plethora of languages spoken. In 2001, 67.29% spoke French as a first language, followed by English speakers numbering 12.07%. The remaining percentage (20.64%) is made up mostly of other Indo-European languages such as Italian speakers (100,000), Portuguese, Greek, and German. Other languages include Arabic, Armenian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Hindi and Chinese (note that many of these speakers speak French as a second language). On the island of Montreal itself, these numbers change and Francophones constitute only 53% of the population, with the balance of 18% Anglophones and 29% allophones. A remarkable and unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, as noticed by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by a majority of its residents . Also, more immigrants speak French than ever, a trend that started after the introduction of the French language legislation during the 1970s.

Administration

The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The current mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Île de Montréal (English: Montreal Island Citizens Union). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the primary decision-making authority in the city. It currently consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.

Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises the decision-making powers appropriate to it and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted by the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.

Standing committees are the council's instruments for public consultations. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. and its five constituent parts. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The current standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.

The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 3,839 square kilometres (1,482 sq mi), with 3,635,700 inhabitants in 2005.

Montreal now constitutes its own region of Quebec.

v t e City of Montreal
Features	Coat of arms Demographics Flag Name Notable Montrealers Sister cities
History	Expo 67 Hochelaga Mayors Montreal District Montreal Metropolitan Commission Montreal Urban Community National Historic Sites of Canada October Crisis Oldest buildings and structures 2002–06 reorganization of Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics Timeline
Geography	Downtown Greater Montreal Hochelaga Archipelago Landmarks Mount Royal Neighbourhoods Old Port Parks Rivière des Prairies Saint Lawrence River West Island Montréal 2025
Economy	Board of Trade Montreal Exchange René Lévesque Boulevard Saint Jacques Street Skyscrapers
Politics	Boroughs City Council Elections Mayor Municipal government Opposition leaders Political parties
Public services	Urgences-santé Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal Hospitals Service de police de la Ville de Montréal
Education	English-language English Montreal SB Lester B. Pearson SB Concordia University McGill University French-language CSS de Montréal CSS Marguerite-Bourgeoys CSS de la Pointe-de-l'Île École de technologie supérieure Université de Montréal Université du Québec à Montréal Libraries Montreal Public Libraries Network Jewish Public Library
Culture	Architecture Cuisine Festivals and parades Films Media Museums Music groups Shopping malls Sport Tourism
Transport	Aéroports de Montréal Bridges Central Station Gare d'autocars de Montréal Metro Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport Port of Montreal Réseau de transport métropolitain Roads Société de transport de Montréal
Category WikiProject

Culture

Main article: Montreal culture

Montreal is the cultural centre of the Quebec nation, and of French-speaking Canada and French-speaking North America as a whole. The city is hub for French language television productions, radio, circuses, performing arts, film, multimedia and print publishing. Theater in Montreal is dominated by French-language productions. French Quebec movies also receive popular support, although Hollywood movies still dominate the Montreal market.

Montreal is also the cultural capital for English Quebec. Montreal Gazette newspaper, McGill University, and the Centaur Theatre are among the most revealing institutions of this dynamism.

Despite these cleavages, a great span of cultural lives are shared by both Anglophones and Francophones. A well frequented location by both linguistic communities is Place-des-Arts. This complexe of concert and theater halls are the epicentre of classical arts. Several Montreal institutions performed there, including Montreal Symphony Orchestra, ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, The Opéra de Montréal. The Musée d'art contemporain de Montreal is also located at Place-des-Arts, and some of the most important theater troops and musical concert scenes are found nearby. Montreal has been particularly renowned internationally for contemporary dance and multi-disciplinary performing arts. Its best known institution is arguably the Cirque du Soleil.

Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural events and festivals. The most popular festivals are the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the French song Montreal Francofolies festival, and the Just For Laughs Festival. During the seven-to-ten days that last each of these festivals, shows are held in a wide variety of venues, from relatively small clubs to the large halls of Place des Arts. Some of the outdoor shows are held on cordoned-off streets while others are on terraced parks.

Montreal's night life is particularly dynamic. The most active neighborhoods then are Montreal Downtown (Crescent Street, Sainte-Catherine Street) and Quartier Latin (Saint Denis Street).

Economy

General description

Montreal is an important regional centre of commerce, industry, culture, finance, and world affairs.

Prior to the completion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, Montreal was the most inland port for seagoing vessels and therefore served as the principal Altantic port for a vast region of North America's grain and raw materials.

Montreal remains a major port city along the Seaway, a deep-draft inland waterway links it to the industrial centres of the Great Lakes. It is still the largest inland port in the world. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, it is still part of the railway backbone of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is the eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway and home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway.

Montreal industries include pharmaceuticals, high technology, finance, textile and clothing manufacturing (the schmata industry), higher education, electronic goods, software engineering, building and city engineering, transportation devices, printed goods, aerospace and tobacco.

The headquarters of the Canadian Space Agency are located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); and the International Air Transport Association (IATA); as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.

Montreal is also a centre of film and television production, primarily but not exclusively for French Canadian productions. The operational headquarters and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer the National Film Board of Canada can be found here, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to several distinct film festivals which contribute significantly to its economy.

The Quebec sovereignty movement and the Montreal economy

The relationship of the rise of sovereignty politics and Montreal's economic decline is not simply one of cause and effect. According to Canadian historians John Dickerson and Brian Young ., Toronto economic activity surpassed Montreal before 1960. They argue that, in 1934, the Toronto TSX Stock Exchange already surpassed Montreal's as Canada's largest stock exchange, and that Toronto was outracing Montreal in the tertiary sector of industry as soon as after WWII. The rise of the automobile industry during the 50s in southern Ontario boosted Toronto's economic activity as well. And the completion of the St Lawrence Seaway in 1960 decreased the economic importance of Montreal because it wasn't necessary to stop by Montreal to get to the Great Lakes region. Thus, for Dickerson and Young, the rise of Quebec nationalism and the following October Crisis in 1970 only accentuated a process that favor Toronto which could have not been possibly reversed.

After the election of the PQ in 1976 and the decision of the PQ to enhance a linguistic law promoting French, known as bill 101, approximately 500'000 English-speaking Montrealers as well as several head offices of major national and financial institutions relocated, notably in Toronto. It is beyond doubt that these departures were a severe blow for Montreal`s economy. Following those event, Toronto had clearly become Canada's Metropolis.

Other reasons than Quebec's sovereignty movement must also be considered to explain the exodus of Montrealers. The 1973 oil crisis badly hurt Montreal petrochemical refinery production. The resulting development of this industry in Alberta attracted a great number of workers not only from Montreal, but from the whole of Eastern Canada. The Result was that Shell Canada was moving his HQ from Montreal to Calgary in 1984.

Sports

The biggest sport following in Montreal clearly belongs to hockey – and the city is famous for its hockey-hungry fans. The Montreal Canadiens are one of the Original Six NHL teams, and boast the greatest number of Stanley Cup championships at 24.

Montreal is also the site of two high-profile racing events each year: the Canadian Grand Prix, and the Molson Indy Montreal of the Champcars Series. Both races take place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Île Notre-Dame. As of 2006, NASCAR is also rumoured to be in talks with city officials and the track promoter about a possible racedate, most likely for the Busch Series at first and possibly the Nextel Cup down the road .

The Montreal Alouettes of the CFL draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium. Although university football has long been popular with Anglo Montrealers, who support the McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Bishop's Gaters, enthusiastic Francophone crowds also enjoy the University of Montreal's Carabins "en français".

The city's current USL First Division soccer team is called the Montreal Impact.

In 2006, Montreal was expected to attract some 16,000 LGBT athletes, who will participate in the first-ever GLISA World Outgames. The Outgames are being hailed as the largest international event in the city of Montreal since the 1976 Olympics.

The Montreal games of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 will be held at the Olympic Stadium. This will be the 16th edition of the soccer championship .

Montreal was the home of a major league baseball team, the Montreal Expos, named after the 1967 World's Fair, and began playing in Montreal in 1969. However, due to lack of support, dismal attendance and other financial factors, the team moved to Washington, DC in 2005, where it was re-named the Washington Nationals , .

Montreal has been slated to have a Can-Am League team beginning in 2008.

Current professional franchises

Former professional franchises

Recreational sports

Beaches

There are five beaches around the island.

• Cap St. Jacques Nature Park
• Bois-de-L’Ile Bizard Nature Park
• Jean Drapeau Park Beach
• Pointe Calumet Beach Club
• Oka Beach

The Quebec Ministry of Environment tests the beaches for pollutants, Rated “A” to “D”. Current water quality of Montreal beaches (French)

Cycling

Montreal has an excellent network of bicycle paths. Bike route maps

Bike rentals are available at the Old Port of Montreal (also quadricycles, inline skates, children trailers, and segways).

Transportation

Montreal is a transportation hub for eastern Canada, with well-developed air, road, rail, and maritime links to the rest of Canada, as well as the United States and Europe.

Public transit

The city is served by a network of buses and subway and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The current subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal, and buses off-island are operated by the Société de transport de Laval and the Réseau de transport de Longueuil in their respective territories. The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and extends across several municipalities.

The STM bus network consists of 169 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.

Each station of the Montreal Metro was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. It has 65 stations spread out along four lines. It was inaugurated in 1966 and completed in time for Expo 67. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who also brought the Olympics to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and is currently being extended into Laval, north of Montreal. Three new stations are scheduled to be opened in 2007, several months late and several hundred million dollars over budget.

Passenger rail

VIA Rail, which is headquartered in Montreal, provides several rail services to other cities in Canada, particularly to Québec City and Toronto with several trains daily.

Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City.

Airports

Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (formerly Dorval Airport, the name still used by locals) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves only cargo flights. In 2005, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada. It handled 10.9 million passengers and is expected to handle 11.2 million in 2006. Trudeau airport serves 117 destinations worldwide making it one of the most connected airports in North America.

Montreal-Trudeau is one of the few airports in the world that is prepared to handle the new Airbus A380, which is expected to begin service in 2007. Montreal is expecting to handle two of Air France's A380s and a Air France Boeing 747 every day. The A380 will initially be used on North Atlantic route services from Paris to Montreal.

Roads

Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Île Jésus, and Longueuil on the southeastern shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the southeastern shore expensive and difficult. Accordingly, there are only four road bridges (plus one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line), whereas the far narrower Rivière des Prairies is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two to the north shore).

Limited-access highways (Autoroutes)

The island of Montreal is a hub for the Québec Autoroute system, and is served by Québec Autoroutes A-10 (aka the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour.

Street grid system

Since Montreal is on an island, the directions used in the city plan do not precisely correspond with compass directions, as they are oriented to the geography of the island. North and south are defined on an axis roughly perpendicular to the St. Lawrence River and the Rivière des Prairies: North is towards the Rivière des Prairies, and south is towards the St. Lawrence. East and west directions are defined as roughly parallel to the St. Lawrence River (which flows southwest to northeast) and the Rivière des Prairies. East is downstream, and west is upstream.

Saint Laurent Boulevard, also known as "The Main," divides Montreal into east and west sectors. Streets that cut across Saint Laurent Boulevard undergo a name change, in that Est (East) or Ouest (West) are appended to their names. Streets that do not cross the Main do not generally contain a cardinal direction at the end of their names. Address numbering begins in either direction at one (1) at Saint Laurent Boulevard, increasing in both directions away from the boulevard. On north-south streets, house numbers begin at the Saint Lawrence River and the Lachine Canal and increase to the north. Odd numbers are on the east or north sides of the street, with even numbers on the west or south sides. Numbered streets generally run north and south, and the street numbers increase to the east.

Education

With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an 8 kilometer (5 mi) radius, Montreal has the second highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America. After the demerger, Montreal Regains the "concentration" title.

Francophone universities

• Université de Montréal:
  • École Polytechnique de Montréal
  • HEC Montréal - École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal
• Université du Québec:
  • Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM)
  • École de technologie supérieure (ETS)
  • École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)
  • Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)
• Université de Sherbrooke (Located in Sherbrooke, campus in Longueuil)
• Université Laval (Located in Québec, campus in Longueuil)

Anglophone universities

• McGill University
• Concordia University

English-language secondary public schools in the Greater Metropolitan Montréal Area are operated by the English Montreal School Board . The Lester B. Pearson School Board, Riverside School Board, Sir Wilfred Laurier School Board, and the New Frontiers School Board.

Downtown Montreal

Main Article: Places in Montreal

Downtown Montreal lies at the foot of Mount Royal, which is designated as a major urban park, and extends toward the St Lawrence River. The Downtown area contains dozens of notable skyscrapers — which, by law, cannot be higher than Mount Royal — including the aforementioned 1000 de La Gauchetière and 1250 René-Lévesque. The Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) is also a significant building in Montreal, and is home to the Montreal Exchange, that trades in derivatives such as futures contracts and options. The Montreal Exchange was the first stock exchange in Canada. In 1999 all stock trades were transferred to Toronto in exchange for an exclusivity in derivatives trading.

Place Ville-Marie, an I. M. Pei-designed cruciform office tower built in 1962, sits atop an underground shopping mall that forms the nexus of Montreal's underground city, one of the world's largest, with indoor access to over 1,600 shops, restaurants, offices, businesses, museums and universities, as well as metro stations, train stations, bus terminals, and tunnels extending all over downtown. The central axis for downtown is Saint Catherine Street, Canada's busiest commercial avenue. Other major streets include Sherbrooke, Saint-Denis, Peel, de la Montagne, de Maisonneuve and Crescent. The Montreal Skyline panorama includes two islands, Île Ste. Hélène and Ile Notre-Dame. The Notre Dame island hosts the Canadian Grand Prix and Formula One car races, as well as the Champ Car tournament. La Ronde is the biggest amusement park in Montreal and is located on Île Ste. Hélène. The Montreal Fireworks Festival is held there every summer.

The basic Skyline view may be seen from one of two lookouts on Mount Royal. The lookout at the Belevedere takes in downtown, the river, and the Montérégien Hills, and on clear days the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York or the Green Mountains of Vermont are visible. The view of eastern lookout on Remembrance Rd. sweeps out toward the Olympic Stadium, and beyond. Many tourists visit these lookouts.

Montreal is known for contrast between old and new architecture. The Maison des Coopérants (a 146 m / 479 ft tall building) and 1000 De La Gauchetière are located immediately behind the city's Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals. Much of Old Montreal has been maintained or restored to its original state. Old Montreal was a worldwide port, but shipping has been moved further east to the Port de Montreal site, leaving the Old Port/Vieux-Port as an historical area.

Old Montreal

Just southeast of downtown is Old Montreal (Vieux-Montréal), an historic area with such attractions as the Old Port, Place Jacques-Cartier, City Hall, the Marché Bonsecours, Place d'Armes, Pointe-à-Callière Museum, and the Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica. Architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained or restored to keep the look of the city in its earliest days as a settlement, and horse-drawn calèches help maintain that image. Old Montreal is accessible from the downtown core via the underground city and is served by several STM bus routes and metro stations, ferries to the South Shore and a network of bicycle paths.

Shipping has been moved further east to the Port de Montreal site, leaving the riverside area of Old Port/Vieux-Port adjacent to Old Montreal as a recreational and historical area now maintained by Parks Canada. The most recent trip to the North Pole departed from this port.

Underground City

Montreal's Underground City (French: La ville souterraine) is the set of underground city complexes in and around downtown. It is also known as the indoor city (ville intérieure), as not all of it is underground. With over 32 kilometres (20 mi) of tunnels spread over an area of twelve square kilometres (4.6 sq mi), the 60 residential and commercial complexes comprise 3.6 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi) of floor space, including 80% of all office space and 35% of all commercial space in downtown Montreal. Services include shopping malls, hotels, banks, offices, museums, universities, seven metro stations, two commuter train stations, a bus terminal and the Bell Centre hockey arena. There are more than 120 exterior access points to the underground city. Some 500,000 people use the underground city every day, especially to escape the traffic and/or Montreal's harsh winter. Because of the Underground City, Montreal is often referred to as "Two Cities in One."

Neighbouring municipalities

Sister cities

• Athens, Greece
• Hiroshima, Japan
• Shanghai, China
• Daegu, South Korea
• Busan, South Korea
• Hannover, Germany
• Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States
• Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
• New York City, New York, United States
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• London, England
• Los Angeles, California, United States
• Paris, France
• Toulouse, France
• Volgograd, Russia
• Yerevan, Armenia

See also

• List of famous Montrealers
• List of communities in Quebec
• List of Quebec regions
• List of Montreal boroughs
• List of Montreal media outlets
• List of Montreal metro stations
• List of bridges in Montreal
• List of Montreal mayors
• List of malls in Montreal
• List of Montreal's 10 tallest skyscrapers
• List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
• Montreal Screwjob

Notes

1. source
2. ^
3. It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and the Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263–4), the official style guide of the Canadian government, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials.
7. Dickinson, John and Young, Brian (2002). A Short History of Quebec. Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

References

• Statistics Canada (2004). 2001 Census of Canada. Retrieved Aug. 29, 2005.
• Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved Aug. 29, 2005.
• Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).

External links

2. Part 2

• WikiSatellite view of Montreal at WikiMapia
• Template:Wikitravel
• Official portal of Montreal
• Navigateur Urbain (map and aerial photos)
• IMTL Montreal: All building and skyscrapers in Montreal
• Life in Montreal (1840–1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
• Montreal 1894 (476K)
  • The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
  • Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec (Quebec National Library): various high-resolution maps, accessible via "Index des toponymes" / "M" / "Montréal (Québec).
• Photo Gallery of Montreal Attractions
• Montreal Official Tourism Website

Template:Montréal region

Template:Largest and smallest census divisions of Canada by population

45°30′32″N 73°33′15″W / 45.50889°N 73.55417°W / 45.50889; -73.55417

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• Montreal
• Cities in Quebec
• World Book Capital
• Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games
• 1642 establishments