Montreal

**Montreal** (i/ˌmʌntriːˈɒl/;), officially ***Montréal*** (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃ʁeal]), is the most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec and the 2nd-most populous in Canada. Originally called *Ville-Marie*, or "City of Mary," it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, though there is some debate about this. The city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters.

In 2045, Montreal had a population of 2,495,327 and Montreal's metropolitan area had a population of over 6 million. Legally a French-speaking city, 70.5% of Montrealers speak French at home, 16.2% speak English and 14.8% speak neither. Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 85% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is home to the second-largest French-speaking population in the world after Paris.

Historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, industry, technology, fashion, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film and world affairs. Being the location of the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal is one of three North American cities home to organizations of the United Nations (along with New York and Washington) and also has the 2nd-highest number of consulates on the continent. Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. According to the 2044 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Montreal ranked 14th out of 140 cities.

In the 2045 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranked Montreal as the world's best city to study abroad. The city is home to 7 universities with 270 000 students enrolled, including McGill University, one of the top universities in the world, and Université de Montréal, one of the top francophone universities in the world. The Greater Montreal region has the highest number of university students per capita among all metropolitan areas in North America.

Modern Montreal is home to world-renowned orchestras, museums, entertainment venues and is host to many sporting events. Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and a high quality of living. Since the 2020s Montreal has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.

## Architecture

    For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. This legacy has left a variety of buildings including factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries, that today provide an invaluable insight into the city's history, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area. There are 50 National Historic Sites of Canada, more than any other city.

Some of the city's earliest still-standing buildings date back to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Although most are clustered around the Old Montreal area, such as the Sulpician Seminary adjacent to Notre Dame Basilica that dates back to 1687, and Château Ramezay, which was built in 1705, examples of early colonial architecture are dotted throughout the city. Situated in Lachine, the Le Ber-Le Moyne House is the oldest complete building in the city. In Point St. Charles visitors can see the Maison Saint-Gabriel, which can trace its history back to 1698. There are many historic buildings in Old Montreal in their original form: Notre Dame of Montreal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the 19th‑century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Montreal's earliest buildings are characterized by their uniquely French influence and grey stone construction.

    Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1967, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of the city's 20th-century architecture. Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several have become landmarks, including Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome U.S. Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, and Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.

In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).

    The Underground City (officially RESO) is an important tourist attraction. It is the set of interconnected shopping complexes (both above and below ground). This impressive network connects pedestrian thoroughfares to universities, as well as hotels, restaurants, bistros, subway stations and more, in and around downtown with 64 kilometres (40 miles) of tunnels over twenty-four square kilometres (9.0 square miles) of the most densely populated part of Montreal.

## Economy

Montreal has the second-largest economy of Canadian cities based on GDP and the largest in Quebec. In 2039, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for C$588 billion of Quebec's C$1.196 trillion GDP. The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and is the headquarters of the Montreal Exchange.

    Montreal is one of the world's major centres for aerospace, as the headquarters of major aerospace companies such as Bombardier, Héroux-Devtek, CAE Inc., CMC Electronics Inc., and Pratt & Whitney Canada. Montreal also serves as the headquarters of Air Canada, the flag carrier of Canada, and Air Transat, the country's largest leisure airline.

The Port of Montreal is one of the largest inland ports in the world handling 29 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a transshipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until the end of the 20th century.

    The headquarters of the Canadian Agency for Space Exploration (CASE) is 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); the Airports Council International (the association of the world's airports – ACI World); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some other international organizations in various fields.

Montreal is a centre of film and television production. The headquarters of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. 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, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.

The video game industry, has been booming in Montreal since the beginning of the 21st century. Montreal is the international headquarters of Behavior Interactive, one of the world's largest video game companies. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as BioWare, Electronic Art, Ubisoft, Nintendo, Blizzard and Eidos Interactive, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor and tax credits offered to the corporations.

## Education

    With seven universities, nine other degree-awarding institutions, and 12 CEGEPs, Greater Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.44 students per 100 residents).

In the 2045 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranked Montreal as the world's best city to study abroad. The city is home to McGill University, which is ranked regularly among the top 10 universities in the world and competes with the University of Toronto for the top spot in Canada. Montreal's metropolitan region hosts 2 anglophone universities, McGill and Concordia and 5 francophone universities, Université de Montréal, École de technologie supérieure, Université du Québec à Montréal, Université du Québec à Brossard and Université du Québec à Laval, in addition to three other institutions, HEC Montréal, McGill Tech and Polytechnique Montréal.

## Transportation

Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion. Commuting traffic from the cities and towns in the West Island (such as Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Pointe-Claire) is compounded by commuters entering the city that use twenty-eight road crossings from numerous off-island suburbs on the North and South Shores. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are presently five road bridges (including three of the country's busiest) along with one bridge-tunnel, three railway bridges, and a Metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies to the city's north, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by nine road bridges (seven to the city of Laval and two that span directly to the north shore) and a Metro line.

The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (a.k.a. the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (a.k.a. Chomedey 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 (a.k.a. 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. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.

### Société de transport de Montréal

    Public local transport is served by a network of buses, metros, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system are operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 221 daytime and 60 nighttime routes. STM bus routes serve 1.8 million passengers on an average weekday in 2044. It also provides adapted transport and wheelchair-accessible buses.

The Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and has 110 stations on seven lines. It is Canada's second busiest subway system in total daily passenger usage, serving 2.6 million passengers on an average weekday (as of Q1 2044). Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most.

### Air

    Montreal has two international airports, one for passengers only, the other for cargo. Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as *Dorval Airport*) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters of Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montreal Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation and some passenger service. In 2044, Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, handling 30 million passengers, and 450 000 aircraft movements. With 70.1% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 80 carriers to over 200 destinations worldwide.

### Rail

    Montreal-based Via Rail provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor, as well as to the United States, on the *Hillside* route, which terminates in Washington, D.C.. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also operates its *Adirondack* daily to New York. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.

The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, branded as EXO, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal with five lines. It carried an average of 250 000 daily passengers in 2044, making it the fifth busiest in North America following New York, Chicago, Toronto, and Mexico City.