Montreal

City of Montreal Ville de Montréal
Flag Coat of arms of City of Montreal Coat of arms
Nickname:  City of Mary (Ville-Marie)
Motto(s):  Concordia Salus ("in unity, prosperity")
City of Montreal and enclave municipalities
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Founded	1642
Established	1832
Government
• Mayor	Gérald Tremblay
Population  (2006)
• City	1,620,693 (Ranked 2nd)
• Urban	3,316,615
• Metro	3,635,571
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
Postal code span	H
Area code(s)	(514) and (438)
Website	Ville de Montréal

Montreal, or Montréal in French, (pronounced in Canadian English, in European French, and in Quebec French) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie (" Literally 'City-Mary', translated 'Mary's City' or 'City of Mary'"), the city had come to be known as Montréal by the end of the 17th century, a name derived from the French Mont Royal ("Mount Royal"), the name of the three-head hill at the heart of the city.

Formerly the largest metropolis of Canada (a distinction acquired by Toronto in the mid-1970s), it is the second-largest French-speaking city in the Western world after Paris, as well as the largest French-speaking city in the Western hemisphere. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, 1,620,693 people resided in the city of Montreal proper. The population of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (also known as Greater Montreal Area) was 3,635,571 at the same 2006 census. Montreal is ranked as the 15th-largest metropolitan area in Northern America and 74th-largest in the world. In 2007, Montreal was ranked as the 10th cleanest city in the world, tied with Vancouver.[1]

History

Main article: History of Montreal

Map of Hochelaga (village)

Archeological evidence suggests that various nomadic native peoples had occupied the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. With the development of the maize horticulture, the St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of the Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".

Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribe wars, European diseases, and outmigration. Champlain, known as the father of New France, founded a permanent French settlement in Quebec City in 1608. He would established La Place Royale, a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal in 1611, but the indigenous Iroquois repelled the colonists.

Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, founder of Ville-Marie

In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Ville-Marie, the first permanent French settlement on the Island, was founded in 1642 at Pointe-à-Callière. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve would act as governor of the colony, and Jeanne Mance built the Hôtel-Dieu, Montreal's first hospital. Marguerite Bourgeoys would found the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, Montreal's first school, in 1653. In 1663, the Sulpician seminary became the new Seigneur of the island.

Complimenting its missionary origins, Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. The bloody French and Iroquois Wars would threaten the survival of Ville-Marie until a peace treaty (the Great Peace, see and) was signed at Montreal in 1701. With the Great Peace, Montreal and the surrounding seigneuries nearby (Terrebonne, Lachenaie, Boucherville, Lachine, Longueuil, ...) could develop without the fear of Iroquois raids. Ville-Marie remained a French colony until 1760, when Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal surrendered it to the British army under Jeffrey Amherst during the French and Indian War.

City seen from Mount Royal 1784

The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the Seven Years' War and ceded New France to the the British. American Revolutionists under General Richard Montgomery briefly captured the city during the invasion of Canada (1775). American and Anglo-Scot immigrants would establish the golden era of fur trading centered in the city with the advent of the locally owned North West Company, rivaling the established Hudson's Bay Company. The English-speaking community built one of Canada's first universities, McGill, and the wealthy merchant classes began building large mansions at the foot of Mount Royal in an area known as the Golden Square Mile.

Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. These linked Montreal's established port with continental markets and spawned rapid industrialization during the mid 1800's. The economic boom attracted French Canadian laborers from the surrounding countryside to factories in satellite cities such as Saint-Henri and Maisonneuve. Irish immigrants settled in tough working class neighborhoods such as Point Saint Charles and Griffintown, making English and French linguistic groups roughly equal in size. Montreal would surpass Quebec City as the seat of financial and political power for both English and French speaking communities of Canada, a position it held for many years. By 1852, Montreal had 60,000 inhabitants; by 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.

Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.

Industrialized city 1889

File:Montreal 1959.jpg

Montreal 1959 as viewed from the mountain.

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 disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).

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 public-transit 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 Montreal Metro system opened, along with several new expressways.

File:Aerial view of whole Expo 67 site e000990829.jpg

April 1967 aerial view of Île Sainte-Hélène on the left and Île Notre-Dame on the right, with most of the Expo 67 site in view, except Habitat 67 and the rest of the pavillions on la Cité du Havre. Source: the National Archives of Canada.

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

File:Le1000delag.jpg

View of skyline from a downtown restaurant.

The mid-1970's ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the separatist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in major political, ethnic and linguistic shifts. The extent of the transition was greater than the norm for major urban centres, with social and economic impacts, as a significant number of (mostly anglophone) Montrealers, as well as businesses, migrated to other provinces, away from an uncertain political climate. The Bill 101 was passed in 1977 and gave primacy to French as Quebec's (and Montreal's) only official language for government, the main language of business and culture, and enforced the exclusive use of French for public signage and business communication.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches. As the city celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1992, construction began on two new skyscrapers : 1000 de La Gauchetière and 1250 René-Lévesque. Montreal's improving economic conditions allowed further enhancements of the city infrastructure, with the expansion of the metro system, construction of new skyscrapers and the development of new highways including 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 unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referenda in June 2004. The demerger took place on 1 January 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.

Geography

A street in Montreal after a snowstorm.

McTavish Street on a foggy day

Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec, approximately 275 kilometres (168 miles) southwest of Quebec City, the provincial capital, and 190 kilometres (118 mi) east of Ottawa, the federal capital. It also lies 550 kilometres (335 mi) northeast of Toronto,and 625 kilometres (380 mi) north of New York City.<br\>

The city rests 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, a three-head hill called Mount Royal.

Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions and thus the climate in Montreal varies greatly. In general, the climate is humid continental (Koppen climate classification Dfb).

Precipitation is abundant with an average snowfall of 2.25 metres (84 in) per year in the winter. It snows on average more in Montreal, than Moscow, Russia. Regular rainfall throughout the year averages 900 millimetres (35.3 in). Each year the city government spends more than C$100 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), colder than either Moscow (-10 ºC) or Saint Petersburg (-6 ºC). 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 an average daily high of 26.3 °C (79.3 °F); lower nighttime temperatures make an average of 20.9 °C (69.6 °F) thus air exchangers often achieve the same result as air conditioners. 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. 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.

Delta Hotel downtown.

Climate data for Montreal, Quebec
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Source: Environment Canada

Demographics

Island of Montreal Population by year

1931 - 1,003,868 1941 - 1,116,800 1951 - 1,329,232 1961 - 1,747,696 1971 - 1,959,140 1976 - 1,869,585 1981 - 1,760,122 1986 - 1,819,670 1991 - 1,815,202 1996 - 1,775,846 2001 - 1,812,723 2006 - 1,854,442

Main article: Demographics of Montreal

File:Le100etmarr.jpg

View of Le 1000 and the Marriott hotel.

According to Statscan, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. 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 percent of the population are member of a visible minority (non-white) group. Blacks contribute to the largest minority group, numbering some 160,000 (5.16% of Montreal inhabitants), which is the second-largest community of Blacks in Canada, after Toronto. Other groups, such as Arabs, Latin American, South Asian, and Chinese are also large in number. (Chart on ethnicity on the left includes multiple responses According to the University of Montreal 46 percent of Canadians are [Mestizo] (Indian-White).

Language most spoken at home
in the Montreal metropolitan area (CMA)

	1996	2001
French	71.2%	72.1%
English	19.4%	18.5%
Other language	13.4%	13.1%
Note that percentages add up to more than 100% because some people speak two or more languages at home.

In terms of first language learned (in infancy), the 2001 census reported that on the island of Montreal itself, 53% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 18%. The remaining 29% percentage is made up of many languages including Italian (3.6%), Arabic (2.1%), Spanish (1.9%), Chinese (1.24%), Greek (1.21%), Creole (predominantly of Haitian origin) (1.02%), Portuguese (0.86%), and Vietnamese (0.60%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.

Ethnic origin	Population
Canadian	1,885,085
French	900,485
Italian	224,460
Irish	161,235
English	134,115
Scottish	94,705
Jewish	80,390
Haitian	69,945
Greek	55,865
German	53,850
Portuguese	41,050
Romanian	32,540
Armenian	25,439

The city of Montreal is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, however, church attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. 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 constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as the 1960s the Jewish community was 2-3 times as large, however, many moved to Toronto and other parts of Canada along with other non-French "white ethnic" Montrealers.

Administration

The Metropolitan Community of Montreal

The island in winter, as seen from space

The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The 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 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 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.

See also: Districts of Montreal and Montreal borough

Culture

Main article: Montreal culture See Festivals and parades in Montreal

File:IMG 2669.JPG

View of Montreal from McGill University

Paramount movie theater on Sainte-Catherine Street

Banana Republic on Sainte-Catherine Street

A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large open-spaced square in the downtown. The Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO), which performs in its halls regularly. The MSO is one of the world's foremost orchestras, most remembered for the quality of its performance of the repertoire of Maurice Ravel under conductor Charles Dutoit. Since 2006, the MSO has a new conductor, the American Kent Nagano. L'orchestre métropolitain and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing home at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the city’s chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. In contemporary dance, Montreal has been active, particularly since the 80s. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The intelligent integration of multi-discipline arts in choreography of these troops has paved the way to the success of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil.

Montreal is the cultural centre of Quebec, and of French-speaking North America as a whole. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. The Quartier Latin is a neighborhood crowded of cafés animated by this literary and musical activity. The local English-speaking artistic community nevertheless contributes dynamically to the culture of Montreal, and intense collaborations exist between all Montreal communities. The result is a dynamic musical scene, ignited by the presence of numerous musical festivals, that melts different musical styles and traditions. English theatre struggled but survived with the Centaur Theatre. Ethnic theatre, by the 70s, began to be a force with the Black Theatre Workshop, the Yiddish Theatre established at the Saidye Bronfman Centre and the Teesri Duniya Theatre. In the late 90s, Montreal started becoming a veritable hotspot for low-budget independent English theatre with companies such as MainLine Theatre, Gravy Bath Theatre, Sa Booge, Persephone, Pumpkin Productions, and Tableau D'Hôte Theatre warming up the once lackluster scene.

Festivals

The plaza on Place des Arts is the home of the most important events during several musical festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Montreal Francofolies, a festival of French-speaking song artists. During the seven-to-ten days that last each of the two 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. The most popular festival, in terms of attendance, is the Just For Laughs Festival. A comedy festival held in both languages, it features comedians, humorists, and stand-ups from all over the world. The Montreal Fireworks Festival also attracts a lot of attention. On the evenings of competition, tens of thousands of people watch the fireworks for free on their roofs or from locations nearby the competition. Other festivals in Montreal include Pop Montreal, The Fringe festival and Nujaz. Annual family-oriented events promoting health and cycling are also organized in the streets of Montreal. Parades are also popular in downtown Montreal.

The city is increasingly becoming known for its mainstream rave festivals such as the Black and Blue Festival attracting thousands of ravers to the city every Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, as well as the Bal en Blanc held every Easter Sunday, also attracting over 15,000 attendees every year.

Night Life

A general view of downtown Crescent Street with Mont Royal in the background.

During the period of Prohibition in the United States, Montreal became well-known as one of North America's "sin cities" with unparalleled nightlife, a reputation it still holds today. In part, its bustling nightlife is attributed to its relatively late "last call" (3 a.m.), and its many restaurants and afterhours clubs that stay open well on into the morning. The large university population, the drinking age of 18, and the excellent public transportation system combine with other aspects of the Montreal culture to make the city's night life unique.

Crescent

Crescent Street is "party central" for Montreal's Anglophone population, lying at the edge of the Concordia University campus. Throughout the summer, it features street fairs and festivals. The Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix unofficially starts off Montreal's non-stop festival season in the summer. Crescent Street also features many clubs and bars. The clientele of Crescent nightclubs and bars are mostly students, tourists and in general a younger crowd looking for exhilaration and excitement. Most venues will play Top 40, rap and hip hop music. The nearest subway stops are Peel and Guy-Concordia.

"The Main"

Looking towards the mountain from a downtown building.

Boulevard Saint-Laurent (Saint Laurent Boulevard, known locally as "The Main") is one of the best places to find nightlife, with many bars and nightclubs and a wide range of restaurants. Saint-Laurent street night spots are often less mainstream than those on Crescent street, with a great variety; from Top 40 and urban music to electronica and techno, from underground and alternative rock to live bands. South of Prince Arthur Street, towards Sherbrooke Street, one is likely to encounter a "posher" clientele. From Prince Arthur Street north (to Mount Royal avenue & beyond), one should expect to rub shoulders with an "edgier" crowd. The nearest subway stop is Saint-Laurent.

Sainte-Catherine Street West

Another highly notable nightlife area is Sainte-Catherine Street West between Mackay St. and Peel St. where many nightclubs, bars, restaurants, movie theaters, shopping, and strip joints are located.

Shopping

File:02099003.jpg

The current Holt Renfrew store in Montreal, designed by Ross and Macdonald, under construction in 1937.

Still standing since 1866, Ogilvy's is a high fashion department store.

Saint Catherine Street and the downtown area once boasted Montreal's four prominent department stores: Eaton's, Morgan's, Ogilvy's, and Simpson's. Today, only Ogilvy's remains. However, the area remains a shopping destination, with many major retailers having large stores along the streets of downtown, including Holt Renfrew, Hudson's Bay Company, Les Ailes de la Mode, American Eagle Outfitters, Zara, Chapters, Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, Max Azria, La Maison Simons, Archambault, La Senza, Future Shop, and Roots. Additionally, many of Montreal's most prominent shopping complexes, including the Faubourg Sainte-Catherine, the Centre Eaton, les Cours Mont-Royal (a high fashion shopping mall), the Complexe Desjardins, the Complexe Les Ailes, Place Dupuis, Plaza Alexis-Nihon, Westmount Square, and Place Montreal Trust all make their home along this street.

There are many other areas in the city for shopping.

See also: List of malls in Montreal

Montreal cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of Quebec

Perhaps no single contribution from the allophone communities is more perceived than in Montreal's culinary fabric. Italian, Greek and Jewish communities have contributed to the making up of Montreal's delicatessens and other restaurants. Poutine being one of the most favorite foods of French-Canadians is served almost everywhere. Jewish culinary contributions extended to two of the world-renowned smoked meat sandwiches and Montreal style bagels. Lebanese falafels and Japanese sushi have become appreciated cuisines. This wide variety of cuisines certainly participates to the fact that Montreal is one of the cities with the most restaurants in the world.

Architecture

Habitat 67 from the port

For almost a century Montreal was the industrial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest. Habitat 67 Its striking design was created by architect Moshe Safdie based on his master's thesis at McGill University and built as part of Expo 67. Today also there are many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in its original way. Grocery stores built in Montreal today look more modern then most old ones. The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. Each metro station in Montreal is completely unique.

Economy

Stock Exchange Tower

Place Ville Marie

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

Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.

Montreal is 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 the railway hub 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.

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. It is also the leading Canadian city for its research output, fuelled in part by Montreal's four urban universities and numerous scientific research centres.

Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarters and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer 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 many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Montreal Jazz Festival, e.g), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprise, the Cirque du Soleil.

The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft's studio in the area. As of today (2007), the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First and many more. Every year, this industry is generating billions of dollars and thousands of jobs in the Montreal area only.

Alcan, Bombardier, CGI Group, Air Canada, CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Power Corporation, Bell Canada, SNC-Lavalin, Hydro-Quebec, Abitibi-Consolidated, National Bank of Canada and many other corporations are headquartered in the Greater Montreal Area.

Sports

Main article: Sport in Montreal

See also: List of Montreal parks

Hockey

Canadiens win a game at the Bell Centre.

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. The only other team in the four major North American sports leagues to have this many championships is the 26 titles of baseball's New York Yankees.

Races

Fans fill up the area every year for the Grand Prix

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 December 2006, NASCAR is in talks with city officials and the track promoter about a possible racedate for the Busch Series in August 2007.

Football, Baseball, Soccer

The Montreal Alouettes of the CFL draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium. University football receives increasing support, with the McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal's Carabins playing in Montreal. The city's USL First Division soccer team is called the Montreal Impact. Montreal has also been slated to have a Can-Am League team beginning in 2008. Montreal was home to the major league baseball team, the Expos, until they were relocated to Washington, DC in 2005 and rebranded themselves as the Washington Nationals. They played their home games at the Olympic Stadium.

Montreal Olympics

The Olympic Stadium, in the city's eastern section.

The Montreal Games were the most expensive in Olympic history, costing over $5 billion (equivalent to $20 billion in 2006); bad planning led to the Games' cost far exceeding the budget, and the city (as of 2007) is still paying off the debt for the games. For a time, it seemed that the Olympics might no longer be a viable financial proposition. There was also a boycott by African nations to protest against a recent tour of apartheid-run South Africa by a New Zealand rugby side. The Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci won the women's individual all around gold medal with two of four possible perfect scores, thus giving birth to a gymnastics dynasty in Romania. Another female gymnast to earn the perfect score and three gold medals there was Nellie Kim of the USSR.

Montreal hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 particiants engaged in 35 sporting activities. They were the biggest sporting event in the city since the Summer Olympics of 1976.

The Montreal games of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 will be held at the Olympic Stadium.

Sports teams of Montreal

Club	League	Sport	Venue	Established	Championships
Montreal Canadiens	NHL	Hockey	Bell Centre	1909	24
Montreal Alouettes	CFL	Football	Percival Molson Memorial Stadium Olympic Stadium	1946-87 1996-today	7
Montreal Impact	USL	Soccer	Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard	1993	2
Quebec Caribou	RCSL	Rugby	Dollard-des-Ormeaux	1998	0
Montreal Royal	ABA	Basketball	Centre Pierre Charbonneau	2005	0
Montreal Mission	NRL	Ringette	Various	2004	0

Montreal has a well developed network of bicycle paths. Bike rentals are available at the Old Port of Montreal, as well as quadricycles, inline skates, children trailers, and segways. Five beaches around the island, in addition to a network of parks that include one on the Mont Royal, offer a set of recreational activities enjoyed by the local population.

Transportation

See also: Montreal roads

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.

Air

Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport

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 2006, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada. It handled 11,434,070 passengers and 213,403 aircraft movements in 2006. Trudeau airport serves over 100 destinations worldwide making it one of the most connected airports in North America. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Asia, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the second largest duty free shop in North America. It is also a primary hub for Air Canada and Air Transat.

Other airports in the Montreal area serve military and regional use.

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. Most trains operate out of Gare Centrale.

Montreal's McGill Metro Station.

Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subway circuits, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The 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.

Bus and Metro

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

Metropolitain entrance to Square-Victoria station by Hector Guimard.

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 68 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 has recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal.

Road

Main page: Category:Streets in Montreal

Jacques Cartier Bridge.

Ville-Marie Highway, near Old Montreal.

View of the Sun Life Building on a downtown street.

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).

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. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion, such as re-routing traffic and expanding lanes. (Osirus Azer, "Montreal's Traffic Problems", 2006)

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.

Further information: List of bridges in Montreal

Education

Main article: Education in Montreal

With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an 8 kilometer (5 mi) radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.8 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.7 students per 100 residents).

McGill dorm rooms on University Street.

English-language elementary and secondary public schools in the Greater Metropolitan Montréal Area are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Île (CSPI).

The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the High School and University levels, there is an additional college level called "Cégep". It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission at the University) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montréal, there are 17 Cégeps offering courses in French and 5 in English.

See also: List of Cégeps

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)
  • Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ)
• Université de Sherbrooke (Located in Sherbrooke, campus in Longueuil)
• Université Laval (Located in Québec, campus in Longueuil)

English-language universities

• McGill University
  • Desautels Faculty of Management
  • Schulich School of Music
• Concordia University
  • John Molson School of Business (JMSB)

Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry pavilion

File:Mcgill-u.jpg

McGill University, Arts Building

Places in Montreal

Main article: Places in Montreal

A panorama taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal.

Looking up University Street.

Evening Skyline

A view of McGill College Street in December.

Downtown 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, 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, 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.

Underground City

Halles de la gare, going from Gare centrale to Place Ville-Marie

Extending all over downtown is Montreal's Underground City (French: La ville souterraine), a set of pedestrian levels built to cross under streets, thereby connecting buildings to each other. It is also known as the indoor city (ville intérieure), as not all of it is underground. The connections are considered tunnels architecturally and technically, but have conditioned air and good lighting as any building's liveable space does. Many tunnels are large enough to have shops on both sides of the passage. With over 32 kilometres (20 mi) of tunnels spread over more than twelve square kilometres (5 sq mi), connected areas include shopping malls, hotels, banks, offices, museums, universities, seven metro stations, two commuter train stations, a regional bus terminal and the Bell Centre amphitheatre and arena. There are more than 120 exterior access points to the underground city. Each access point is an entry point to one of 60 residential or commercial complexes comprising 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. In winter, some 500,000 people use the underground city every day. Because of its Underground City, Montreal is often referred to as "Two Cities in One."

Old Montreal

View from above

Just southeast of downtown is Old Montreal (French: 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.

Montreal is known for contrast between old and new architecture. 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.

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. The riverside area of Old Port (French: Vieux-Port) adjacent to Old Montreal is now a recreational and historical area now maintained by Parks Canada.

Religious sanctuaries

Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.

File:Inside Notre Dame.jpg

Inside the Notre-Dame Basilica.

Nicknamed "la ville aux cent clochers" (the city of a hundred belltowers), Montreal is renowned for its churches. As described by Mark Twain, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the largest dome of its kind in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Other well-known churches include the pilgrimage church of Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours, which is sometimes called the Sailors' Church, and the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, which was completely excavated and suspended in mid-air during the construction of part of the Underground City. All of the above are major tourist destinations, particularly Notre-Dame and the Oratory.

An impressive number of other churches, synagogues and mosques can be found, and church steeples are a familiar view all over the city and island.

Gallery

• A view of Sainte-Catherine Street.
  A view of Sainte-Catherine Street.
• 
  A view of stores on Sainte-Catherine Street.
• 
  Saint-Denis in winter in the Quartier-Latin.
• 
  Old Port of Montreal.
• 
  Centre CDP Capital, seen from Place Jean-Paul Riopelle.
• 
  Victoria Square, with Centre CDP Capital's W Hotel on the left.
• 
  Ogilvy's on Sainte-Catherine Street.
• 
  Le 1000 de La Gauchetière
• 
  Casino de Montréal
• 
  Downtown looking up de la Montagne street.
• 
  Part of the skyline from Sainte-Catherine Street.

Partner cities

• Casablanca, Morocco
• Beirut, Lebanon
• Dublin, Ireland
• London, UK
• Paris, France
• Lyon, France
• Algiers, Algeria
• Shanghai, China
• Lucknow, India
• Bucharest, Romania
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Busan, South Korea
• Hiroshima, Japan
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Honolulu, USA
• Hanover, Germany
• Harrisburg, USA
• Athens, Greece
• Yerevan, Armenia
• Rome, Italy
• Lima, Peru

See also

• History of Montreal
• 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
• Places in Montreal
• Sport in Montreal
• Montreal culture

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

• WikiSatellite view of Montreal at WikiMapia
• Template:Wikitravel
• Official portal of Montreal
• Life in Montreal (1840–1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
• 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)

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