Greater Montreal

Greater Montreal

Greater Montreal
Grand Montréal
—  Metropolitan area  —
Montreal Metropolitan Community
Motto: L'espace pour se réaliser
Room to make it real
Country Canada
Province Quebec
Area
 - Total 4,258.97 km2 (1,644.40 sq mi)
Population (2010)
 - Total 3,859,318
 - Density 906.2/km2 (2,347.1/sq mi)
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
Postal code prefixes H, J
Area code(s) 438, 450, 514, 579

Greater Montreal is one of the two metropolitan communities of Quebec.

Greater Montreal is the most populous metropolitan area in the Canadian province of Quebec. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,859,318. A smaller area of 3,838 square kilometres (1,482 sq mi) is governed by the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC) (French: Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, CMM). This level of government is headed by a president (currently Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay).

The inner ring is composed of densely populated municipalities located in close proximity to Downtown Montreal. It includes the entire Island of Montreal, Laval, and the Urban Agglomeration of Longueuil.

The outer ring is composed of low-density municipalities located on the fringe of Metropolitan Montreal. Most of these cities and towns are semi-rural. Specifically, the term off-island suburbs refers to those suburbs that are located on the North Shore of the Mille-Îles River, those on the South Shore that were never included in the megacity of Longueuil, and those on the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Peninsula. Communities in that area are also informally referred to as the 450, after the telephone area code that has served the region since 1998.

Due to their proximity to Montreal's downtown core, some suburbs on the South Shore (Longueuil, Brossard, Saint-Lambert, and Boucherville) are usually not included in the off-island suburbs even though they are on the mainland.

Contents

Largest cities

The logo proposed in 2008 for Greater Montreal, which quickly fell into disuse just months after its adoption.
Rank City Region Population (2006) Land Area Population Density
km2 mi2 /km2 /mi2
1 Montreal Montreal 1,620,693 365.13 140.98 4,438.7 11,496
2 Laval Laval 368,709 247.09 95.40 1,492.2 3,865
3 Longueuil South Shore 229,330 115.59 44.63 1,984.0 5,139
4 Terrebonne North Shore 94,703 154.60 59.69 612.6 1,587
5 Repentigny North Shore 76,237 61.76 23.85 1,234.5 3,197
6 Brossard South Shore 71,154 45.20 17.45 1,574.3 4,077
7 Dollard-des-Ormeaux West Island 48,930 15.10 5.83 3,240.0 8,392
8 Blainville North Shore 46,493 55.10 21.27 843.8 2,185
9 Châteauguay South Shore 42,786 35.89 13.86 1,192.1 3,088
10 Saint-Eustache North Shore 42,062 69.42 26.80 605.9 1,569

Cities and towns

A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal

Island of Montreal

Laval

Montérégie

  • Kahnawake (native reserve)

Beauharnois-Salaberry

Lajammerais

La Vallée-du-Richelieu

Roussillon

Rouville

Urban Agglomeration of Longueuil

Vaudreuil-Soulanges

Laurentians

Lanaudière

Demographics

Mother tongue languages (2006)
Language Greater Montreal Quebec Canada
French 66.5% 80.1% 22.3%
English 13.2% 8.6% 58.4%
Italian 3.5% 1.8% 1.5%
Arabic 3.1% 1.6% 0.9%
Spanish 2.6% 1.5% 1.2%
Creole 1.4% 0.7% 0.2%
Chinese 1.2% 0.6% 1.5%
Greek 1.2% 0.6% 0.4%
Portuguese 0.9% 0.5% 0.7%
Romanian 0.7% 0.4% 0.3%
Berber 0.7% 0.4% 0.3%
Vietnamese 0.7% 0.4% 0.5%
Russian 0.5% 0.3% 0.4%
Armenian 0.4% 0.2% 0.1%
Polish 0.4% 0.2% 0.7%

Transportation

The Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) (English: Metropolitan Transportation Agency) plans, integrates, and coordinates public transport across Greater Montreal, including the Island of Montreal, Laval (Île Jésus), and communities along both the north shore of the Rivière des Mille-Îles and the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Established in 1996, the AMT's commuter rail system has five lines linking the downtown core with communities as far west as Rigaud, as far east as Mont-Saint-Hilaire, and as far north as Saint-Jérôme. AMT's mandate also includes the management of reserved High-occupancy vehicle lanes, metropolitan bus terminuses, park-and-ride lots, and a budget of $163 million, which is shared amongst the transit corporations and inter-municipal public transit organizations. The AMT's territory spans 63 municipalities and one native reserve, 13 regional county municipalities, and 21 transit authorities. It serves a population of approximately 3.7 million people who make more than 750,000 trips daily.

The major transit commissions under the Metropolitan Transit Agency are:

  • Société de transport de Montréal (English: Montreal Transit Corporation), serving the Island of Montreal
  • Société de transport de Laval (English: Laval Transit Corporation), serving the city of Laval
  • Réseau de transport de Longueuil (English: Longueuil Transit Network), serving the Urban agglomeration of Longueuil

Additionally, there are numerous smaller transit agencies known as Conseil Intermunicipal de Transport (CIT) (English: Intermunicipal Transit Councils).

Education

Greater Montreal is home to a number of higher education institutions, including:

Universities

  • Concordia University (Montreal)
  • McGill University (Montreal)
  • Université de Montréal (Montreal)
  • Université du Québec à Montréal (Montreal)
  • Université de Sherbrooke (Longueuil)

CEGEPs and community colleges

  • Cégep André-Laurendeau (Montreal)
  • Cégep Marie-Victorin (Montreal)
  • Cégep de Saint-Laurent (Montreal)
  • Cégep du Vieux-Montréal (Montreal)
  • Champlain College Saint-Lambert (Saint-Lambert)
  • Collège Ahuntsic (Montreal)
  • Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne (Montreal)
  • Collège Édouard-Montpetit (Longueuil)
  • Collège Gérald-Godin (Sainte-Geneviève)
  • Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf (Montreal)
  • Collège Lionel-Groulx (Sainte-Thérèse)
  • Collège de Maisonneuve (Montreal)
  • College Montmorency (Laval)
  • Collège de Rosemont (Montreal)
  • Dawson College (Westmount)
  • Herzing College (Montreal)
  • John Abbott College (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue)
  • LaSalle College (Montreal)
  • Marianopolis College (Westmount)
  • Vanier College (Montreal)
  • Collège de Valleyfield (Salaberry-de-Valleyfield)

Other schools

  • Lambda School of Music and Fine Arts (Montreal)
  • National Theatre School of Canada (Montreal)
  • Rabbinical College of Canada (Montreal)

See also

Flag of Montreal.svg Montreal portal
  • Montreal Urban Community


Coordinates: 45°34′N 73°40′W / 45.56°N 73.66°W / 45.56; -73.66

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