Longueuil, Quebec

Longueuil (pronounced "lohn-gail") is a city in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from Montreal, of which it is a suburb.

The city was merged on January 1, 2002 with the communities of Boucherville, Brossard, Greenfield Park, LeMoyne, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Saint-Hubert, and Saint-Lambert. These cities have become boroughs of the new city. Saint-Lambert and Le Moyne became one borough, and the former city of Longueuil became the borough of Vieux-Longueuil. On June 20, 2004, the boroughs of Boucherville, Saint-Lambert, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and Brossard voted to demerge from Longueuil and reconstitute themselves as municipalities, having obtained 10 % of signatures at a registry requesting a referendum and 35 % or more majority yes votes at the referendum out of the total voting population on electoral lists. Locals refer to the borough of Vieux-Longueuil as "Longueuil proper" to distinguish it from the part of the borough known as "Old Longueuil".

In 2001, the population of the components of the current city of Longueuil totalled 348,091, making it the third largest city in Quebec and 11th largest in Canada. The current city has an area of 273.52 sq.km. Residents of Longueuil are called Longueuillois.

Most of the community's residents commute to Montreal to work. This generates major traffic problems; owing to the width of the Saint Lawrence River between the Island of Montreal and the south shore, there are only five automobile crossings (the Honoré-Mercier, Champlain, Victoria, and Jacques-Cartier bridges and the Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine tunnel), and they are severely congested. (See List of Montreal bridges.)

The city is also served by the Longueuil–Université-de-Sherbrooke metro station, connected to downtown Montreal by the yellow line of the metro. The Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) bus lines almost all terminate here, or cross over the Champlain Bridge to arrive at the Terminus Rive-Sud in downtown Montreal (under the 1000 de la Gauchetière office tower, at Bonaventure metro). The Mont-Saint-Hilaire commuter train line also serves the south shore.

There are several explanations for the origin of the city's name. According to Abbé Faillon, Charles Le Moyne (1626-1685), lord of the area starting in 1657, named it after a village which is today the seat of a canton in the district of Dieppe in his homeland of Normandy.

1 Demographics
2 Education
3 Economy
4 Transportation
5 Health
6 The Community
7 Media
8 Famous people
9 External links

Demographics

Racial make-up of Longueuil and its former cities:

	Longueuil (old city)	Boucherville	Brossard	Greenfield Park	LeMoyne	Saint-Bruno- de-Montarville	Saint-Hubert	Saint-Lambert	Total
White	116,655	34,960	46,580	14,705	4,555	22,950	69,350	19,485	329,240
Black	3,520	340	2,615	520	120	130	2,405	275	9,925
Chinese	975	120	6,375	345	0	110	330	130	8,385
South Asian	480	0	2,590	340	10	70	515	60	4,065
Arab	1,185	60	1,660	160	25	135	450	310	3,885
Latin American	1,205	95	1,320	220	30	35	700	130	3,735
Southeast Asian	1,225	35	1,535	140	0	25	690	60	3,710
West Asian	680	20	680	115	45	0	85	95	1,720
Aboriginal	420	50	195	60	40	85	200	35	985
Filipino	55	0	450	175	0	0	220	0	900
Korean	85	10	160	15	0	0	50	15	335
Japanese	10	0	65	10	0	0	20	35	140
Multiple	100	0	270	10	0	10	80	10	470
Other	165	0	155	50	0	20	95	20	505