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This article is about Quebec's largest city. For other uses, see Montreal (disambiguation).

Template:Montreal infobox

Montreal, or Montréal in French, (pronounced ] in Canadian English, ] in International French, and /mɒ̃ɾeal/ in Montreal French) is the second largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. It is the Francophone Metropolis of North America and also nicknamed The City Of Saints, due to the many streets starting with the name "Saint". At the 2001 Canadian Census, there were 1,583,590 people living on the current territory of the city of Montreal proper (new 2006 demerged territory). The population of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (also known as Greater Montreal Area) is estimated at 3,635,700 in 2005 , making it the second largest French-speaking metropolitan area, after Paris, in the world. Montreal is ranked as the 15th-largest metropolitan area in Northern America ( & ) and 77th in the world. In 2006, according to Traveler's Digest and AskMen.com, Montreal is ranked as the Number #1 city in the world to live in for its culture, architecture, history and ambience.

Montreal is situated in the southwestern corner 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, 539 kilometres (335 mi) northeast of Toronto, 610 kilometres (380mi) 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 up 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 FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 will be contested in the Olympic Stadium (Montreal). This championship will be the 16th contested.

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, on October 2, 1535, he entered the village of Hochelega, on the Island of Montreal.

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 set up a mission named Ville Marie on May 17, 1642.

Ville Marie became a centre for the fur trade and the Catholic religion, as well as 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 of the island. Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, bringing more English-speakers 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. The Canadian Pacific Railway made its headquarters there in 1880, and the Canadian National Railway in 1919. Saint Jacques Street in what is now Old Montreal, then better known as Saint James Street, became the centre of the Canadian financial industry in the late 19th century; the name "Saint James Street" was used as a metonym for Canadian high finance as much as "Wall Street" is used in the United States, or Toronto's "Bay Street" is used in Canada today. With the annexation of neighbouring towns between 1883 and 1918, Montreal became a mostly Francophone city again. The tradition to alternate between a Francophone and an Anglophone mayor thus began and lasted until 1914.

After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Despite the increase in tourism, unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. However, Canada began to recover from the Great Depression in the mid-1930s, and 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).

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. A major league baseball team, the Montreal Expos, was named after the Expo and started playing in Montreal in 1969. However, the team moved to Washington, DC in 2005, where it was re-named the Washington Nationals.

Growth of the Quebec sovereignty movement

After the ascent to power of the Parti Québécois in the mid-1970s, Montreal's linguistic and ethnic composition underwent a period of transition greater than the norm for urban centres, as many Anglophones relocated to Ontario. The passing of Bill 101 in 1977 would also ensure linguistic change, as new immigrants to the province learned French and became known as allophones (also see Bilingualism in Canada).

The election of a separatist provincial government had a negative effect on Montreal's economy; the decline of Montreal as the metropolis of Canada and main economic hub had started before the election of the Parti Quebecois. The completion of the St Lawrence Seaway greatly increased the importance of Toronto. Following the passage of Bill 101, a number of organizations — including the Royal Bank of Canada and Sun-Life Insurance Co. — relocated their head offices to Toronto. By the end of the 70s, concurrent with the election of Parti Quebecois, Toronto had surpassed Montreal as the premiere Canadian city. Throughout the 1980s and well into the 1990s, Montreal experienced a relatively slow rate of job growth as compared to other major Canadian cities. By the mid 90's, Montreal's economy was greatly recovering so the city celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1992, prompting the construction of new skyscrapers: 1000 de La Gauchetière and 1250 René-Lévesque (formely known as the IBM Tower).

Montreal today

Currently, Montreal's favourable economic conditions allow 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. Neighbourhood gentrification is also occurring at a rapid rate. Montreal now constitutes its own region of Quebec.

In late 2005, Montreal hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the first meeting joint meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol and to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

City government

For the recent city merger and demerger, see Montreal merger and demerger.

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: the city of Montreal proper plus 15 much smaller municipalities.

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. 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: Metropolitan Community of Montreal or CMM), 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.

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

Climate

Montreal lies at the confluence of several climactic regions and thus the climate in Montreal varies greatly, both by season and day to day, and is considered a part of the culture of the city by Montrealers.

Precipitation is abundant with an average snowfall of 2.14 metres (7.0 ft) per year in the winter and regular rainfall throughout the year averaging 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.

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

The Census Metropolitan Area of Montreal (also known as Greater Montreal Area) has a population of 3,635,700 in 2005 according to Statistics Canada (). This total includes the neighbouring cities of Laval and Longueuil, as well as other smaller cities. Montreal proper, in its new city borders following the January 1, 2006 demerger, has a population of 1,583,590 (according to 2001 census figures). A resident of Montreal is known as a Montrealer in English and a Montréalais(e) in French. Residents sometimes refer to the city by the shorthand of MTL, or occasionally by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport designation of YUL. The large population of Montreal justifies it having its own postal district, H span, together with Laval.

About 67.8% of the population of Montreal area is composed of Francophones, 18.4% have neither French nor English as their first language and are called allophones, and 13.8% are Anglophones. On the island of Montreal itself, these numbers change and Francophones constitute only 53% of the population, allophones 29%, and Anglophones 18%. However, the majority of residents have at least a working knowledge of both French and English, and a majority of allophones speak either English or French as a second language. This trend has increased after the French language legislation of the 1970s. Armenian, Italian, Chinese, Romanian, Arabic, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish and Hindi are also commonly spoken.

The information at left is from the 2001 Canadian Census. The percentages add to more than 100% because of dual responses (e.g. "French-Canadian" generates an entry in both the category "French" and the category "Canadian".) Groups with greater than 30,000 responses are included.

Economy

Once the largest city in Canada, Montreal remains a vibrant major centre of commerce, industry, culture, finance, and world affairs. Montreal is a major port city along the Saint Lawrence Seaway, a deep-draft inland waterway which links it to the industrial centres of the Great Lakes. It's the largest inland port in the world and is one of the most important. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it is a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, it is 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 vibrant centre of Canadian film and television production. 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.

Places in Montreal

Downtown Montreal

Downtown Montreal lies at the foot of Mount Royal, which is designated as a major urban park. 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 is also a significant building in Montreal, as it is where all stock and derivative trades take place, and is also home to a successful program to encourage nesting peregrine falcons.

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.

Other streets like Saint-Denis, Peel, de la Montagne, de Maisonneuve and Crescent are very popular as well. Downtown Montreal is located between the mountain Mount Royal and the St Lawrence River. Two islands are located in front of the Montreal Skyline panorama, 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 (now owned by American company Six Flags) 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 Adirondak Mountains of Upstate New York are visible. The view of the eastern lookout on Remembrance Rd. sweeps out toward the Olympic Stadium, and beyond. Both are popular tourist sites. Montreal is known for the contrast between old and new. 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 kept the way it was back in the day Montreal was first established. 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 glow of the city lights can be visible from different parts of the surrounding American States.

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

Olympic Park

Montreal was host to one of the most successful World's Fairs in history, Expo '67. Partially based upon the success of the World's Fair, Montreal was awarded the 1976 Summer Olympics. The Olympic site was built 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from downtown in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district. Montreal's Olympic Stadium has the world's tallest inclined tower at 175 metres (575 ft) high and leaning at 45 degree. Until the end of the 2004 season, the stadium was the home of the Montreal Expos baseball team. The Olympic complex also includes the Montreal Biodome, Montreal Insectarium, and the Montreal Botanical Garden, one of the largest botanical gardens in the world, second only to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England. Two pyramidal towers, known as the Olympic Village, were built to house athletes. They now serve as apartments and offices. Today, the CFL's Montreal Alouettes play the last game of each season and playoff games in the Olympic Stadium. English-speaking Montrealers nicknamed it the "Big O" because of its oval shaped roof. It has a capacity of up to 56,040 fans for a football game (45,000 for baseball) and it may hold more in the future when temporary overflow stands are added to the dugout pits and centre field for football. Locals also sometimes refer to the stadium as the "Big Owe" — a reference to its exorbitant total cost, which was only recently completely paid off. Also called the "big uh-oh" because the roof, which was supposed to be controlled to close and open, did not work.

Museums and cultural centres

Montreal is the centre of Quebec culture and a major centre of Canadian culture in general. It has many specialized museums such as the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), the Musée d'art contemporain (MAC), the Redpath Museum, the McCord Museum of Canadian History, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. The Place des Arts cultural complex houses the MAC and several theatres, and is the seat of the Montreal Opera and for the moment the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, which is slated to receive a new concert hall adjacent to Place des Arts.

Religious sanctuaries

Nicknamed "the city of saints," or "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 can be found, as such that a five-minute walk is usually enough to find another one.

Chinatown

Montreal has a small but active Chinatown (Quartier chinois) just south of downtown, featuring many Chinese shops and restaurants, as well as a number of Vietnamese establishments. Several of these restaurants offer dim sum from as early as 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and can be quite crowded, especially on Sundays. The principal axes of Chinatown are Saint Laurent Boulevard and La Gauchetière Street.

The Gay Village

Montreal is known as a Queer or Gay-friendly city. Its pride festival, Divers/Cité, is claimed to be the largest in North America; organizers estimate that it drew 1.4 million people in 2002. It benefits from financial support from all three levels of government. Montreal is home to one of the largest gay villages in the world, centred around the downtown Beaudry metro station (known in French as le Village gai). Montreal is a centre of Queer life and culture in Canada and hosts several circuit parties every year. The 2006 World Outgames were held in Montreal.

The Plateau Mont Royal

Montreal's trendy and colourful Plateau Mont Royal neighbourhood is located on the twin North-South axes of Saint Laurent Boulevard and Saint Denis Street, and East-West axes of Mount Royal Avenue and Sherbrooke Street. The cobbled, pedestrian-only Prince Arthur Street is also located in this neighbourhood. In the summer, night life often seems as active as in the day in this area. It boasts the highest population density of all Montreal and the greatest number of creative people in Canada, according to Statistics Canada. The same source also states that it is the urban place where the most people travel mainly by foot, bicycle or public transport. The Plateau Mont-Royal has been dubbed the "coolest neighbourhood in North America" by Wallpaper* magazine . The exterior staircase is a distinctive feature of the city's architecture.

Mile End

The tiny "Mile End" district, officially part of the Plateau borough but generally considered distinct, is home to many Montreal artists and filmmakers. The city's two famous bagel emporia, the Fairmount and St-Viateur bakeries, are located on the streets of the same names. Fairmount Street is also home to Wilensky's, immortalized in Mordecai Richler's novel "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" and Saint-Viateur is the site of several cafés of note. The area has become noticeably more cash-rich in recent years, due in part to the presence of the Ubisoft studios in the district, on Saint Laurent Boulevard. As well, as of late it has been the home of many art galleries, designers, and boutiques. Mile End is also where William Shatner spent some time growing up in addition to Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

Mount Royal

Mount Royal is Montreal's outstanding urban park, designed in 1876 by Frederick Law Olmsted, best known as the designer of New York's Central Park. Mount Royal's features include the Chalet and the Kondiaronk Belvedere overlooking downtown Montreal (the most famous view of the city), and man-made Beaver Lake (Lac aux Castors) with its recently renovated pavilion. Mount Royal is topped by an illuminated cross that has become a Montreal landmark.

Observant hikers on the park's many trails will find an abundance of small wildlife. In the winter, the park is the site of numerous cross-country ski trails and a new, refrigerated skating rink near Beaver Lake.

Once, a funicular railroad brought sightseers to its peak. Unfortunately, that attraction has long since vanished. A tramway also went up the mountain on the north side, replaced in the late 1950's by the Camillien Houde Parkway, which now bisects the mountain (the parkway is named for long-time but controversial former mayor, jailed during World War II for his opposition to conscription in Canada). The "11-Montagne" bus line perpetuates the route of the tram.

Every Sunday in the summer, hundreds of people gather at the statue of Confederation co-founder George-Étienne Cartier at the foot of Mount Royal for several hours of drumming, dancing, and juggling (among many other activities), in an event that has come to be known as the Tam-Tams. It is unclear how this event started; but, as it has no formal organization and has carried on both in a lively and peaceful way since at least the late 1980s, it remains a popular event. The statue is currently undergoing extensive and long-needed renovations but the partying continues all around the construction area.

The intersection of Park and Pine Avenues (in French : Avenue du Parc, Avenue des Pins), just to the south, formerly a winding urban interchange (inspired by the New York parkways of Robert Moses), is also undergoing a major transformation to become more pedestrian-friendly.

Parc Jean-Drapeau

Located in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, parc Jean-Drapeau consists of the islands of Sainte-Hélène and Notre-Dame, which hosted Expo '67. A real mosaic of water and green space with diverse attractions and events, parc Jean-Drapeau is accessible by métro, car, bicycle or boat. It is a popular playground for Montrealers who come to enjoy its beach, trails, Sunday afternoon Picnik Electronik parties, or to simply relax.

Île Notre-Dame

The magnificent Floralies gardens, a preferred spot for flower and plant lovers, are located at the centre of the island. Île Notre-Dame also offers pedal boat rides on its network of canals, or, further west at the lake, a beach and other water sports. The Montreal Grand Prix takes place here in June, while the Montreal Casino is open year round.

Île Sainte-Hélène

Dominated by the impressive geodesic dome of the Biosphère, the island is also home to the elegant Hélène de Champlain restaurant, the De Lévis tower, situated on top of a wooded hill, and a small pond leading to a charming waterfall. The island also contains several monumental public works of art, such as the imposing “Man”, sculpted in steel by artist Alexander Calder. Six Flags La Ronde is located at the northern tip of the island. Buses run every 15 minutes from the Jean-Drapeau metro station to La Ronde.

Underground city

Montreal's Underground City (French: La ville souterraine) is the set of underground city complexes in and around downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 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."

Night life

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.

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.

Saint-Denis Saint Denis Street is the heart of the Latin Quarter of Montreal (Quartier latin), just south of the Plateau, and filled with clubs, bars, and street festivals. The principal east-west axes of this district are Saint Catherine Street and Boulevard de Maisonneuve, with Saint Denis Street as its north-south axis. The language is mainly French, and the mood is bohemian.

The Main 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 Another notable night life spot is Ste-Catherine Street between St-Hubert and Papineau, where many gay nightclubs are concentrated.

Afterhour clubs

Montreal nightlife is also rated fourth in the world at www.askmen.com for its after-hours (3 to 11 a.m.). Stereo nightclub, Aria Nightclub and Circus are amongst the most notable after-hours; Stereo boasts one of the best sound systems in the world. One can often see world-famous deejays such as Tiësto, Deep Dish and Armin van Buuren featured in Montreal's clubs and after-hours.

Strip-clubs Montreal is known in some circles as the strip club capital of Canada. The city has over 30 male and female strip clubs in the downtown area alone. Strip clubs in Montreal are unique in that the majority offer full-contact lap dances. Full-contact lap dances have been legal in the province of Quebec as of 2001. Strip clubs in Montreal are either categorized as full-contact or non-contact.

Strip clubs in Montreal operate differently from U.S. strip clubs. In Montreal exotic dancers are mostly independent workers, not house dancers. Dancers are thus free to work at a variety of strip clubs, and often do. Unlike U.S. exotic dancers, those working in Montreal retain all of the revenues from their performances; gratuity is not expected.

Sports

Montreal 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. With football's new-found popularity "en français", the University of Montreal's Carabins draw enthusiastic crowds as well.

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.

Current 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
• 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 Montreal Metro was inaugurated in 1966 in time for the Expo 67 World's Fair held in the city the following year. Montreal is also served by a commuter rail system, which is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport. The Montreal metro is made up of 65 stations spread out along four lines.

Construction of the metro was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau who also brought the Olympics to Montreal in 1976. Each station of the Montreal Metro was designed by different architects with individual themes, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most.

The metro system is currently being extended into Laval, north of Montreal. The 3 new stations are scheduled to be opened in 2007, several months late and several hundred million dollars over the initial, drastically lowballed, budget. The current metro and buses within Montreal are operated by Société de transport de Montréal. In Laval, the buses are operated by Société de transport de Laval. The STM bus network consists of 169 daytime and 20 night-time service routes.

Passenger rail

VIA Rail, which is headquartered in Montreal, provides several rail services to major cities across Canada. Its "Quebec-Windsor Corridor" provides several trains daily between Quebec City and Windsor, with stops in Kingston and Toronto.

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

Airports

Montreal has two big international airports, although only one is currently open for passenger flights. 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. It was built to handle over 50 million passengers a year, and by 2010 it was expected to handle over 120 million making it among the busiest airports in the world. In 2005, Montreal-Trudeau handled 10.9 million passengers and is expected to handle 11.2 million in 2006. Trudeau airport serves 114 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 A380's and a Air France Boeing 747 every day. The A380 will initially be used on North Atlantic route services from Paris to Montreal. Lufthansa will use their Airbus A380 on a North Atlantic route services from Munich 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 Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec 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 Mirabel Autoroute), 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 lie on both sides of Saint Laurent Boulevard are divided into two parts, which have Est (East) or Ouest (West) appended to their names. Streets that lie on only one side of the Main do not generally contain a direction in their names. Address numbering begins at one at Saint Laurent Boulevard. The numbers increase as you move 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.

Culture

Major cultural events include the world's largest jazz and comedy festivals as well as celebrations of French-language song (les Francofolies), African culture (Nuits d'Afrique), electronic music (Mutek), artisanship (Salon des Métiers d'Art) and cinema (World Film Festival, and Festival du Nouveau Cinéma).

Francophone

Montreal is the cultural centre of Quebec, French-speaking Canada and French-speaking North America as a whole. Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the largest French-speaking city in all of North America, the second in the world after Paris when counting the number of native Francophones or the third (after Paris and Kinshasa) when counting second language speakers. The city is hub for French language television productions, radio, theatre, circuses, performing arts, film, multimedia and print publishing.

Unlike other North American cities which serve their suburbs and hinterlands, Montreal plays a national role in the development of Québécois culture. Therefore its contribution to culture is seen as a state-building endeavour rather than a civic duty. The best talents from French Canada and even the French-speaking areas of the United States converge to Montreal and often perceive the city as their cultural capital. Montreal is also the most important stop in the Americas for French-language artists from Europe, Africa and Asia.

The degree to which Montrealers and Quebec residents support local output is impressive, considering the influence of nearby American and English Canadian culture. The cultural divide between Montreal's and Canada's Francophone and Anglophone culture is strong and is was famously referred to as the Two Solitudes by Canadian writer Hugh MacLennan. The Solitudes were historically strongly entrenched in Montreal, splitting the city geographically at St-Laurent Boulevard.

Anglophone

Montreal is also the cultural capital for English Quebec. The Montreal Gazette newspaper, McGill University, and the Centaur Theatre are traditional hubs of Anglo culture. Notable English-speaking Montrealers such as Leonard Cohen, Oscar Peterson, Nick Auf Der Maur and Mordecai Richler have been influential. Anglophones from the Eastern Townships, Ottawa Valley and Northern Quebec enjoy radio and television that is produced in English in Montreal.

English is well-represented and widely understood on the island of Montreal. Though Anglophones only account for approximately 18% of the population, the majority of non-native English speakers are bilingual : some 57% of Francophones and 70% of allophones claim to be able to carry a conversation in English.

Anglophones are concentrated and sometimes even form a majority in the Montreal boroughs (or demergered cities) of Hampstead, Montreal West, Westmount, Pointe-Claire, Beaconsfield, Baie-d'Urfé, Côte-Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Dorval, Kirkland, and the Town of Mount Royal.

Some 30 years after the adoption of the Charter of the French Language, French is more widely spoken by Montreal's various non-Francophone communities. 66% of Quebec Anglophones, claim to be able to carry a conversation in French. It is now common to hear the children of Vietnamese, Italian, Haitian and Arab immigrants speaking French with a distinct Québécois accent, as well as English and their own mother tongues.

While tensions can occur between Anglophones and Francophones, contemporary Montreal is home to a diverse collection of cultures and peoples who generally live together amicably.

Jewish

Montreal's Jewish community is historically one of the oldest in Canada and one of the most populous in the country, second to Toronto and numbering about 93,000 according to the 2001 census. The community is quite diverse, and is composed of many different Jewish ethnic divisions that arrived in Canada at different periond of time and under differing circumstances. Included among Montreal's diverse Jewish community are the European Jews (Ashkenazim) who arrived mostly prior to and following the Holocaust; the Middle Eastern and North African Jews (Mizrahim) who were already French-speaking having come mostly from former French colonies; and Spanish Jews (Sephardim) and again Ashkenazim who had previously settled in Britain and from there moved to Canada as far back as the 18th century. More recent arrivals include significant numbers of Russian, Argentinian, and French Jews as well as some individual Indian Jews, Ethiopian Jews and others. Close to 25% of Montreal's Jewish population have French as their mother-tongue.

Montreal's Jewish community is very active in business sectors such as fabrics, alcohol, real estate, finance, and the fine arts. Demographically smaller than other ethnic groups, Montreal's Jewish community has nevertheless been a leading contributor to Montreal's cultural landscape and is renowned for its level of charitable giving and its plethora of cultural and social service community institutions. Among these are the world renowned Jewish Public Library of Montreal, Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, and Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre.

Jewish culinary contributions have also been a source of pride for Montrealers; two world-renowned contributions are Montreal's smoked meat sandwiches and Montreal style bagels. There are many private Jewish schools in Montreal, partly funded by the Quebec government (like most denominational schools in Quebec). Approximately 7,000 children attend Jewish day schools, over 50% of the total Jewish school age population, an extremely high percentage for North American cities.

Montreal Festivals

Montreal is a "Gamma" global city, hosting a multitude of international festivals and events.

• Just for Laughs comedy festival
• Fantasia Festival Genre films festival
• Black and Blue Festival gay circuit/rave festival
• Montreal Jazz Festival
• Montreal World Film Festival
• New Montreal FilmFest
• L’International des Feux Loto-Québec - International fireworks competition
• FestiBlues international de Montréal
• Montreal High Lights Festival
• Les FrancoFolies de Montréal
• Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and New Media
• Jamaica day
• Trinidad day
• Divers/Cité

Montreal Parades

• St. Patrick's Day parade, Montreal's is the longest continuous running St. Patrick's Day Parade in North America
• Saint-Jean-Baptiste Parade, see also the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society
• Canada Day Parade, celebrating Canada's birthday
• Carifiesta Montreal, a Parade celebrating the Caribbean culture of Montreal
• Divers/Cité gay pride parade, celebrating Montreal's gay community
• Santa Claus parade

Montreal music scene

Montreal's music scene has always garnered much attention in popular media (The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin Magazine, BBC, NPR...). The growing success of the current "scene" owes much to a couple of bold local record labels (Alien8 Recordings & Constellation Records), as well as the edgy Pop Montreal Music Festival.

The city's culture, a melting pot of nations from around the world, has produced a variety of artists and bands who are currently enjoying the limelight of "Montreal's music scene".

Montreal in films

Hollywood Movies

• The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), Richard Dreyfuss, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman.
• The Jackal (1997), starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier.
• The Whole Nine Yards (2000), starring Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry.
• The Score (2001), starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, and Marlon Brando.
• Taking Lives (2004), starring Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, and Kiefer Sutherland.
• The Day After Tomorrow (2004), the boat scene filmed at the old Port.

Québec English Films

• Mambo Italiano (2003), starring Paul Sorvino, Luke Kirby, Mary Walsh, Sophie Lorain, and Ginette Reno.
• Eternal (2004).

Québec French Films

• Les Invasions Barbares (2003), by Denys Arcand.
• Jésus de Montréal (1989), by Denys Arcand.
• C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005), by Jean-Marc Vallee.
• October 1970 (film) (2006), story of the FLQ terrorist group and the October Crisis.

Montreal cuisine

Montreal is considered to be one of the cities with the most restaurants in the world (based on the ratio of restaurants to population), serving a wide variety of cuisines.

• Poutine
• Montreal-style bagel
• Smoked meat
• Montreal hot dog

Literary

Due to its vibrant literary scene, Montreal was awarded as the 2005 "World Book Capital City 2005–2006" by UNESCO.

Post-secondary education

With access to five universities in an 8 kilometer radius, Montreal has the second highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America.

• École de technologie supérieure
• Université de Montréal:
  • École Polytechnique de Montréal
  • HEC Montréal - École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal
• Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM):
• McGill University:
• Concordia University:
• Université de Sherbrooke (Located in Sherbrooke, campus in Longueuil)

Neighbouring municipalities

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

Notes

1. It is most common to omit the 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 p. 263-4), the official style guide of the federal government, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials.
2. "The Canadian Style" also cites the proper capitalization of language-speakers as such, on p. 72: capitals for Anglophone and Francophone, but not for allophone, as the latter word does not derive from the name of a language. All three words are written in lower case in French only.

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
• IMTL Montreal: All building and skyscrapers in Montreal
• Life in Montreal (1840-1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (University of Texas):
• Montreal 1894 (476K)
  • The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
  • Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec (Quebec National Library): various very nice high-resolution maps, accessible via "Index des toponymes" / "M" / "Montréal (Québec).

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

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