Saint-Laurent, Quebec


Saint-Laurent is a borough of the city of Montreal, Canada. It is the largest in area of all Montreal's boroughs. Prior to its 2002 merger by the Parti Québécois government, it was a city. Its neighbours include Bois-Franc and Norgate.

History

Saint-Laurent was first settled in 1700 after land grants were given, including one to Bernard Bleignier dit Jarry, who is associated later with a village mayor and city councillor.
Saint-Laurent was founded as the Parish of Saint-Laurent in 1720.

Merger and proposed demerger

The City of Saint-Laurent or Ville Saint-Laurent was merged into the City of Montreal on January 1, 2002, by the Parti Québécois government. On June 20, 2004, the demerger forces lost a referendum on the issue of recreating Saint-Laurent as a city. While 75% of the turnout voted to demerge, this only represented 28.5% of the total eligible voting population, falling short of the requisite 35% as set by the province.

Geography

Neighbourhoods within this borough include Bois-Franc and Norgate.
The borough has two municipal districts: Norman-McLaren and Côte-de-Liesse.

Demographics

LanguagePopulationPercentage
French28,38054%
English25,53023%
Other languages32,18521%

Mother tongue figures from the 2016 census of Canada are: French, English, non-official languages of which the largest linguistic groups are Arabic, Chinese, Greek and Spanish.
In 2018 the immigrant population was 54 percent.
LanguagePopulationPercentage
French26,95029%
English13,36015%
Other languages51,31056%

Economy

Saint-Laurent is the second-largest employment hub within the metropolitan region, after downtown Montréal.
Air Canada Centre, also known as La Rondelle, is Air Canada's headquarters, located on the grounds of Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport and in Saint-Laurent. In 1990 the airline announced that it was moving its headquarters from Downtown Montreal to the airport to cut costs.
In addition Air Transat's headquarters and a regional office of Air Canada Jazz are in Saint-Laurent and on the grounds of Trudeau Airport. Before its dissolution Jetsgo was headquartered in Saint-Laurent.
Bombardier Aerospace has the Amphibious Aircraft Division in Saint-Laurent.
Norgate Shopping Centre is the oldest shopping centre in Canada. It was built in Saint-Laurent in 1949, is still operational, and was refurbished in the 2010s.
From 1974 to 1979, General Motors Diesel Division buses were built in a plant in Saint-Laurent.
Decarie Hot Dog is a greasy spoon diner counter restaurant and landmark located in Saint-Laurent.

Government

Borough council

Saint-Laurent is divided into two districts, Norman-McLaren and Côte-de-Liesse. The Norman-McLaren district is named for Norman McLaren, a cinema pioneer at the National Film Board of Canada, whose headquarters are located in the borough district.
As of the November 5, 2017 Montreal municipal election, the current borough council consists of the following councillors:
DistrictPositionName Party
—Borough mayor
City councillor		Alan DeSousa Ensemble Montréal
Côte-de-LiesseCity councillorFrancesco Miele Ensemble Montréal
Côte-de-LiesseBorough councillorJacques Cohen Ensemble Montréal
Norman-McLarenCity councillorAref Salem Ensemble Montréal
Norman-McLarenBorough councillorMichèle Biron Ensemble Montréal

Federal riding of Saint-Laurent

The riding has elected a Liberal Party of Canada member of Parliament since its creation in 1986. Before that, it was a part of the riding Dollard, which was represented by Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MP Gerry Weiner. The fall of the PC Party resulted in the riding becoming a Liberal Stronghold. It was the riding of longtime MP and former federal Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. Dion has represented the riding since 1996. He survived the Orange Wave that eliminated many of his Liberal cohort in the federal election of 2011, besting his closest adversary by greater than 5700 votes.

Infrastructure

Saint-Laurent has three fire stations and two police stations, one municipal court building, two libraries, the former City Hall. There are two indoor hockey arenas, the municipal Raymond Bourque Arena, named after Raymond Bourque a former NHL player and Hockey Hall of Fame member and a Multipurpose Sports Complex. There is also the commercial Bonaventure's Arena which has rinks available for rent.

Transportation

Saint-Laurent has many transportation links, with one Exo bus terminus, two Montreal Metro stations, three commuter train stations, four autoroutes, and a secondary highway, in addition to major urban boulevards. The former Cartierville Airport is no more, having been turned into a residential subdivision called Bois-Franc.
Part of Trudeau International Airport also lies within the territory of Saint-Laurent.

Education

Saint-Laurent contains two CÉGEPs within its limits, one English and one French. An art museum, the Saint-Laurent Museum of Art, is located on the campus of Cégep de Saint-Laurent, along with a bowling alley and an indoor college hockey rink.
The Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys operates Francophone public schools. The district operates the École secondaire Saint-Laurent buildings Émile-Legault and Saint-Germain in Saint-Laurent. It also operates multiple primary schools and the Centre de formation professionnelle Léonard-De Vinci.
The English Montreal School Board operates the following Anglophone public schools in the borough:
Private schools:
Previously it housed a campus of the United Talmud Torahs of Montreal Jewish school.
Kativik School Board, which operates schools in Nunavik, has its main office here.

Public libraries

The Montreal Public Libraries Network operates the Vieux-Saint-Laurent Branch and the Du Boisé Branch in Saint-Laurent.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Saint-Laurent is twinned with: