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Moncton

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For the parish, please see Moncton, New Brunswick (parish)

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Moncton (46°6′ N 64°46′ W) is the second largest city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and is at the heart of the fastest growing urban area in the province. Its metropolitan area includes the neighbouring city of Dieppe and the town of Riverview, as well as adjacent areas of Westmorland and Albert Counties.

The municipal coat of arms illustrates Moncton's agricultural, industrial and railway heritages, along with the Petitcodiac River's tidal bore.

Geography

Moncton is located in southeastern New Brunswick in the Petitcodiac River valley, along the north bank of the river at a point where it bends from a west–east flow to a north–south direction. The early Acadian settlers in the region named the area "Le Coude" (French for "The Elbow"). Moncton was originally at the head of navigation up the Petitcodiac River, but a causeway to Riverview was built in the 1960s, causing extensive infilling by sedimentation of the river downstream. The river is no longer navigable by large craft.

Moncton is at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces; for this reason and because it historically was the railway "hub" for the Maritime Provinces, Moncton is nicknamed the "Hub City".

Climate

Despite being located less than 50 km from the Bay of Fundy and less than 20 km from the Northumberland Strait, the climate is mostly continental, as opposed to maritime; this is most pronounced during the summer and winter seasons as maritime influences tend to temper the transitional seasons of spring and autumn.

Winter days are cold but usually sunny with solar radiation generating some warmth. There are several cold snaps throughout the winter with temperatures falling to the range of -15 to -25 degrees Celsius. Major snowfalls often result from nor'easter ocean storms moving up the east coast of North America from the southern United States. Large amounts of precipition can result from the counterclockwise rotation of these storms picking up moisture from the Atlantic Ocean and dumping it on southeastern New Brunswick as storms pass by to the south and east. This can be amplified locally by "sea effect" snow squall activity from the nearby Gulf of St. Lawrence. In February 1992, a nor'easter lasted for two days and dropped 162 cm (65 inches) of snow on the Moncton area, paralyzing the city for nearly a week. Major snowfalls typically average 20-30 cm and are sometimes mixed with rain or freezing rain.

Spring is delayed since the sea ice in the nearby Gulf of St. Lawrence requires time to melt, affecting the local micro climate. Snowfalls in late April and early May are not unheard of and trees are not in full leaf until the end of May.

Summers are usually hot and humid with daytime highs usually reaching the mid to high 20's Temperatures in the low to mid 30's occur 6-10 times per year. Rainfall is modest and periods of drought are not uncommon. The heaviest rainfalls tend to occur during thunderstorms.

Autumn is influenced by the retention of heat in the nearby Gulf of St. Lawrence and daytime temperatures remain warm until mid October. First snowfalls usually occur by mid November although consistent snow cover does not take place until mid December. Both October and November tend to have heavier precipitation and the Fundy coast of New Brunswick occasionally experiences the effects of hurricanes and tropical storms.

History

The original aboriginal inhabitants of the Petitcodiac river valley were the Mi'kmaq. French Acadians first settled the area in 1733 and established a farming community called Le Coude (The Elbow). The Petitcodiac river valley fell under British control after the capture of Fort Beausejour in 1755. The Acadian population was subsequently deported and the settlement remained empty until a group of eight immigrant families arrived from Pennsylvania in June 1766. They were armed with a land grant issued by the Philadelphia Land Company, one of the principal investors of which was Benjamin Franklin. A township gradually grew on the site with the new community initially being named The Bend of the Petitcodiac. The community would ultimately receive its present name to honour Lt.-Colonel Robert Monckton, the British military officer who had led the capture of Fort Beausejour in 1755 and then subsequently oversaw the deportation of the Acadians from the Petitcodiac and Beaubassin regions. Due to a clerical error at the time that the community was named, the "k" from "Monckton" was omitted creating the spelling that is used today.

The Bend initially was a farming community but later flourished as a centre for ship-building and was incorporated as the town of Moncton in 1855. The first mayor of Moncton was the shipbuilder Joseph Salter. Two years later on August 20, 1857 the European and North American Railway opened its line from Moncton to the nearby Northumberland Strait port of Shediac; this was followed by the E&NA's line from Moncton to Sussex and on to Saint John opening in 1859. The arrival of the railway however initially didn't have a significant impact on Moncton as the E&NA was headquartered in Shediac, where it maintained its locomotive shop.

At about the same time, steam-powered iron ships began to replace clipper ships on the ocean's sea routes and this forced an end to the era of wooden shipbuilding. The industrial collapse that developed from this caused Moncton to surrender its civic charter in 1862.

Moncton's economic depression did not last long and a second era of prosperity came to the area when Moncton was selected to be the headquarters of the Intercolonial Railway of Canada in 1871. The ICR merged the existing E&NA and the Nova Scotia Railway into its system and Moncton would become the hub of the ICR with the following rail lines connecting to the city:

  • The E&NA system merged into ICR, containing the Moncton-Saint John and Moncton-Shediac routes.
  • A newly-built ICR line was constructed between Truro and Painsec Junction (east of Moncton on the E&NA's line to Shediac). This connected to the NSR at Truro which went to Halifax and to Pictou.
  • A newly-built ICR line was constructed from Moncton north to Newcastle, Bathurst, Campbellton and on into Quebec to link with the Grand Trunk Railway at Riviere-du-Loup. It was the construction of this route which cemented Moncton's place as the most important economic centre for servicing northern New Brunswick - a relationship which continues to this day.

The coming of the ICR to Moncton was a seminal event for the community. For the next 120 years, the history of the city would be inextricably intertwined with that of the railway.

Moncton was able to reincorporate as a town in 1875 with the motto "Resurgo" (I rise again). One year later, the ICR line to Quebec was opened. The railway boom that emanated from this and the associated employment growth allowed Moncton to achieve city status on April 23, 1890.

A major fire at the ICR's riverfront railyard and shops in 1906 was very nearly disastrous for the local railway industry. Fearing that the shops might be relocated to Halifax or Riviere-du-Loup, Henry Robert Emmerson, (a Moncton native and federal Minister of Railways and Canals) quickly petitioned Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier to have the shop facilities rebuilt and expanded. His lobbying was successful and a larger locomotive shop facility was subsequently built northwest of the downtown and the future of the community was preserved.

Moncton grew rapidly during the early part of the 20th century, particularly after provincial lobbying saw the city become the eastern terminus of the massive National Transcontinental Railway project in 1912; this line would link Moncton with Edmundston, Quebec City, and on to Winnipeg where the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway continued to Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Prince Rupert. The First World War brought a halt to the era of railway expansion but the city would become an important trans-shipment point for war material funnelling onwards to the port of Halifax.

In 1918, the ICR and NTR (then autonomous companies grouped under the Canadian Government Railways) were merged by the federal government into the newly-formed Canadian National Railways (CNR) system. The ICR shops would become CNR's major locomotive repair facility for the Maritimes and Moncton became the headquarters for CNR's Maritime division. Reflecting the city's importance as a railway and logistics/shipping hub, the T. Eaton Company's catalogue warehouse located to the city in the early 1920's, employing over five hundred people. Meat packing plants and light manufacturing also contributed to the local economy.

As the city grew, it began to draw upon its hinterland for population growth. Much of the surrounding countryside to the east and the north of the city was (and is) inhabited primarily by French-Acadians who were descendants of the refugees that had returned to the region following the deportation of 1755. For the 150 years between its founding by the Pennsylvania Dutch in 1766 and the 1920s, the city of Moncton itself had been an English speaking community but the influx of francophone Acadians seeking employment beginning in the early 1900s would result in a major demographic and cultural shift for the community.

Moncton continued to develop as a regional distribution and transportation hub during the Second World War. The Royal Canadian Air Force established two air bases in the area for training and for operational squadrons. RCAF Station Moncton was located at the pre-existing Moncton airport and RCAF Station Scoudouc was constructed in nearby Scoudouc. The Canadian Army also built a large military supply base along the railway mainline near the CNR shops facilities northwest of downtown; this facility was used to sort much of the war materiel heading on to the ports of Halifax, Saint John and Sydney, as well as to supply army facilities throughout the Maritimes. Following the war, RCAF Station Moncton would revert to a purely civilian airport while RCAF Station Scoudouc was transferred to the provincial government for use as an industrial park. The army continued to use the supply base (CFB Moncton) to service its large military establishment in Atlantic Canada.

Railway employment in Moncton at the height of the steam locomotive era peaked at several thousand workers before starting a long decline following the Second World War. This was because the new diesel locomotives and longer trains that were introduced in the early 1950's required fewer employees for operation and maintenance.

A regional road network expanded from the city through the 1950s. The latter part of that decade also saw CNR begin development of a major railway hump yard in the city's west end. Further changes saw the downtown railyard modified and the historic passenger station demolished in favour of a small modern structure. This was followed by development of the Highfield Square shopping centre and several office buildings (CN Terminal Plaza) in the early 1960s.

Moncton was placed on the Trans-Canada Highway network in the early 1960s after Route 2 was built along the northern perimeter of the city. Subsequent development saw Route 15 built between the city and nearby Parlee Beach at Shediac and on to Port Elgin. At the same time, the infamous Petitcodiac River Causeway was constructed.

The Université de Moncton was founded in 1963. This began an Acadian "renaissance" which was in large measure encouraged and supported by university faculty who had been trained in Quebec during the founding years of the "Quiet Revolution". U de M, the renaissance, and the election of premier Louis Robichaud and his program of "equal opportunity" all led to increasing demands by the francophone populace for municipal services in French and led to tension between the Acadian minority and the anglophone majority during the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s.

The Acadian population began to become more prosperous and influential during the 1980s as linguistic tensions began to relax (although not disappearing entirely). The anglophone population of the city generally began to accept the principal of bilingualism and enrollment in French Immersion classes in public schools became popular. Bilingualism would ultimately become one of the strengths of the community.

The late 1970s and the 1980s again saw a period of economic hardship hit the city as several major employers closed or restructured. The Eatons catalogue division closed in 1976 and CN closed its locomotive shops facility in 1988, throwing thousands out of work and forcing the federal and provincial governments to step in with economic restructuring packages to diversify the Moncton economy. CFB Moncton was also closed at about this time due to defence cutbacks resulting from the end of the Cold War. Moncton became so despondent in the late 1980s (prior to economic restructuring having a positive impact) that the city's official motto became simply Moncton - We're OK.

Diversification in the early 1990s saw the rise of information technology, led by call centres which made use of the city's bilingual workforce. Bilingualism was heavily promoted by premier Frank McKenna's government to attract the call centre industry in order to provide a temporary employment "bridge" for the city as it transitioned from the old economy to a more modern one. By the late 1990s, retail, manufacturing and service expansion began to occur in all sectors and within a decade of the closure of the CN locomotive shops, Moncton had more than made up for its employment losses. This turnaround in the fortunes of the city has been termed the "Moncton Miracle".

In 1998, Prime Minister Jean Chretien used the city's growing French community to political advantage when he selected a Canadian site to host the Francophonie Summit in 1999 (it rotates among member nations). Following the near disaster of the 1995 Referendum on Quebec sovereignty, Chretien felt it more appropriate to host the summit someplace other than Quebec and he decided that the time had come to honour Canada's Acadian population. Moncton became the choice, partly because francophone Acadians consider the city to be their "capital" and also because Chretien had briefly represented the neighbouring federal district of Beausejour and wanted to show his appreciation to the area. The summit was held in late August 1999 and was the largest conference ever held in the city with heads of state and delegations attending from 54 nations around the world.

Following the World Trade Centre attacks of September 11th, 2001, United States airspace was abruptly closed by the FAA. Over a dozen flights with about 2,500 passengers were diverted to the Greater Moncton International Airport as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon. The Moncton Coliseum was turned into a temporary refugee camp for the stranded passengers but the citizens of the city opened their hearts and every passenger that wanted to were able to find billets in private homes.

Language and demographics

Moncton's linguistic majority is English, however the city has an active French-speaking Acadian minority population (30%), many of whom speak the Chiac variant of Acadian French. The adjacent city of Dieppe is about 80% francophone and has benefitted from an ongoing rural depopulation of the Acadian Peninsula and areas in northern and eastern New Brunswick. The town of Riverview meanwhile is heavily (95%) anglophone. The different linguistic characteristics of the three communities have defeated several attempts at metropolitan amalgamation.

The growth rate of the city of Moncton is 0.7% annually, which is greater than the provincial average. The census agglomeration had a population of 117,727, as of 2001 national census, but the current population is estimated to be approximately 125,000. The city's recent growth has been impressive, being second only to Halifax in the Atlantic region and Moncton is now a recognized census metropolitan area. Moncton is expected to become New Brunswick's most populous city within the next 5-10 years and its census metropolitan area is also expected to become the province's largest.

Historically, the population of the city has been racially very homogenous with almost all residents originating from northwest Europe (Great Britain, France and Ireland). This is slowly changing but it still remains a challenge to attract visible minorities as new immigrants to the city.

Racial composition

  • White: 95.3%
  • All others: 4.7%

Religious composition

Linguistic composition (metropolitan area)

  • Anglophone: 65%
  • Francophone: 35%

About 40% of the metropolitan population of Moncton is bilingual, (the remainder being mostly unilingual anglophone). The only other cities in Canada that approach this level of linguistic duality are Ottawa and Montreal.

Culture and recreation

The Capitol Theatre is an 800 seat, meticulously restored 1920s-era vaudeville house on Main Street that serves as the centre for cultural entertainment for the city. The theatre routinely hosts live stage productions (Theatre New Brunswick), as well as symphony orchestra and dance performances. The smaller Empress Theatre, located immediately behind the Capitol provides a more intimate venue for smaller productions and performances. A school for the performing arts is currently being organized by the Capitol Theatre. The Atlantic Ballet Theatre is based in Moncton and has recently been garnering national attention. Theatre l'Escaouette is a francophone live theatre company that has its own auditorium and performance space on Botsford Street. . The Aberdeen Cultural Centre, an Acadian cultural cooperative containing multiple studios and galleries, is also located on Botsford Street close to Theatre l'Escaouette. There are two main museums in the city, The Moncton Museum on Mountain Road and Le Musée Acadien at Université de Moncton.

Moncton is home to the Northrop Frye Literary Festival, a bilingual literary celebration in honour of world renowned literary critic and favorite son Northrop Frye. This celebration attracts authors from around the world and takes place in the month of April. The World Wine and Food Exposition is the largest event of its kind in eastern Canada and takes place every November. The annual Atlantic Nationals Automotive Extravaganza, held each July, is also one of the largest events of its kind in Canada. Other notable events include the Atlantic Seafood Festival every August, the Hubcap Comedy Festival in the Spring and "Le 15 Aout des Fous", celebrating Acadia's National holiday.

The Moncton Coliseum, a 7,000-seat arena, serves as a venue for major concerts and trade shows and is the home of the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The CN Sportsplex is a major recreational facility built on the former CN Shops property. It includes nine ballfields, six soccer fields and an indoor rink complex with four ice surfaces (the Tim Horton's 4-Ice Centre). An indoor air supported multi-use building (the Dundee Sports Dome) has also been constructed at the Sportsplex. This building is large enough to allow for year round football, soccer and golf activities. A newly constructed YMCA near the CN Sportsplex has extensive cardio and weight training facilities as well as three indoor pools. The CEPS at Université de Moncton contains an indoor track and a 37.5 metre swimming pool with diving towers. The only velodrome in Atlantic Canada is located in Dieppe. There are a total of 12 indoor hockey rinks and three curling clubs in the metro area.

Moncton has hosted major sporting events in the past, such as the Brier (the Canadian national men's curling championship) and Skate Canada's national figure skating championship. Moncton will host the Memorial Cup (the Canadian national major junior A hockey championship) in 2006. Ted Nolan, a former NHL hockey player and head coach of the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, signed on to coach the Wildcats for their Memorial Cup run.

Moncton has been awarded the 2010 IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championship. The federal and provincial governments have committed to help in the construction of a 10,000 seat outdoor stadium to host this event. this stadium will be built on the U de M campus. The city also has ambitions to land a CFL (Canadian Football League) franchise. Moncton however is in competition with Halifax and Quebec City for the CFL franchise.

There are eight 18 hole golf courses in the metro area, two of which are residential courses and two more of which are in the process of being converted to residential courses. These courses include:

  • The Moncton Golf and Country Club (Riverview)
  • Fox Creek Golf Club (Dieppe)
  • Royal Oaks Golf Club (Moncton)
  • Magnetic Hill Golf Club (Moncton)
  • Lakeside Golf Club (Moncton)
  • Memramcook Valley Golf & Country Club (Memramcook)
  • Maplewood Golf Club (Irishtown)
  • Country Meadows Golf Club (Catamount)

Royal Oaks and Fox Creek golf clubs can be rightfully considered as championship courses. Royal Oaks is the first Rees Jones designed golf course in Canada.

There are two major urban parks located in Moncton, Centennial Park in the city's west end and Mapleton Park adjacent to the Trans Canada Highway in the northwest section of the city. Both of these parks are in excess of 250 acres (1 km²) and contain numerous walking trails and recreational facilities. In addition to these two parks, The Irishtown Nature Park in the north end of the city and the St. Anselme Park in Dieppe also constitute major urban green spaces. The Irishtown Nature Park is located 1.5 km north of the Trans Canada Highway on Elmwood Dr and at 2450 Acres (9.9 sq. km), is one of Canada's largest urban Nature Parks.

Transportation

Moncton is serviced by a newly expanded international airport, the Greater Moncton International Airport (YQM). The GMIA is the third busiest and third largest airport in Atlantic Canada and handles more traffic than all other airports in New Brunswick combined. Passenger volume is expected to exceed 550,000 this year, which represents a doubling of traffic in only the last five years. The ultimate goal is for the airport to handle approximately a million passengers per year.

Regular carriers serving the GMIA (and destinations) include:

A number of charter airlines; including Corsair (France), Air Saint-Pierre (France), Condor (Germany), Air Transat (Canada) and Skyservice (Canada) also fly into the GMIA with direct connections to St. Pierre and Miquelon, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Germany and France.

The GMIA also is a major air cargo trans-shipment centre, rivalling the Halifax International Airport in terms of tonnage shipped. Both Federal Express and Purolator have their Atlantic Canada air courier bases located at the airport.

The Moncton Air Traffic Control Centre, located in Riverview and operated by NAV Canada is responsible for high altitude air traffic control over the Maritime Provinces. All flights between eastern North America and Europe pass through Moncton Centre airspace.

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Codiac Transit

Moncton is serviced by railway companies VIA Rail Canada, Canadian National Railway and the New Brunswick East Coast Railway. VIA Rail provides daily rail passenger service with the Ocean to Halifax and Montreal.

Moncton is a hub for the Acadian Lines interprovincial bus service. The Greater Moncton Area is also serviced by Codiac Transit, which operates on 25 routes in Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.

Moncton is located on Route 2 (the Trans-Canada Highway), at the junction of two other major four lane divided highways. Route 2 leads to Halifax in the east and Fredericton and on to central Canada in the west. Route 15 intersects Route 2 at the northeastern boundary of Moncton and leads to northern New Brunswick and also to Prince Edward Island. Route 1 intersects Route 2 just 15 km west of Moncton and leads to Saint John and on to the United States border. None of the other major Maritime cities is more than a two and a half hour drive from Moncton. Because of all these attributes, Moncton has developed as a major transportation, distribution, commercial and retailing centre

Attractions

The Moncton area has several major attractions:

  • Champlain Place - The largest single story shopping mall in Atlantic Canada with over 150 stores and services, located in Dieppe. Major tenants include Sears, Wal Mart, Sobeys, Future Shop, Sport Chek, Toys R Us, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Eddie Bauer, the Disney Store, etc.
  • Crystal Palace - An indoor amusement park adjacent to Champlain Place that also includes a hotel, restaurant, eight cinema multiplex and a Chapters bookstore/Starbuck's Cafe.
  • Tidal Bore - A phenomenon created by the extreme tides of the Bay of Fundy which actually reverses the downstream flow of the Petitcodiac River. A causeway built across the river to Riverview in the 1960s has significantly diminished the effects of the bore. Efforts are underway to have the causeway replaced by a bridge in order to restore the river flow, however there is a great amount of opposition from land owners on the "Lake" or western side of the causeway.
  • Magnetic Hill - An optical illusion created by local topography, is also the site of a major tourism development, including the nationally recognized Magnetic Hill Zoo and a water theme park called Magic Mountain. Magnetic Hill also features a major outdoor concert site. Pope John Paul II held a papal mass there in 1984. The Rolling Stones held a concert there on the 3rd of September, 2005 before 85,000 fans. While major concerts have been held at the facility intermittently over the last 10-12 years, the city now hopes to hold one or two megaconcerts at the facility every year, especially since the infrastructure at the site was upgraded considerably for the Stones concert. This would allow the city to recoup the major cost of these infrastructure improvements.

Moncton is well situated as a tourism destination. There are two national parks (Fundy National Park and Kouchibouguac National Park) within a one hour drive of the city. The warm water beaches of the Northumberland Strait are only 15 minutes away at Parlee Beach in nearby Shediac and New Brunswick's signature natural attraction (the Hopewell Rocks) are only a half hour's drive down the Petitcodiac river valley. The Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island is only a one hour's drive east of the city.

Other nearby attractions (within 30-60 minutes of the city) include:

Education

Moncton is home to two universities: Université de Moncton, the largest French language university in Canada outside of Quebec,and Atlantic Baptist University, a small Christian liberal arts and science institution. In addition, the University of New Brunswick Moncton Campus offers health sciences degree courses in Nursing and Medical X-ray Technology based out of the Moncton Hospital. Mount Allison University, one of Canada's top ranked undergraduate universities, is located only 30 minutes away in the nearby town of Sackville.

There are two campuses of the New Brunswick Community College located in the region; NBCC Moncton campus is anglophone while CCNB Dieppe is francophone. These institutions specialize in training for trades and technology. There are also a number of private colleges in the city including the Moncton Flight College, one of Canada's oldest and most prestigious flight schools.

There are 34 public schools in greater Moncton which are administered by separate anglophone and francophone school boards. District One is francophone and administers nine schools in the Moncton area. District two is anglophone and administers 25 schools.

High Schools in the greater Moncton area include

  • Moncton High School, (Moncton, anglophone)
  • Harrison Trimble High School, (Moncton, anglophone)
  • Dr. L. Bernice MacNaughton High School, (Moncton, anglophone)
  • Riverview High School, (Riverview, anglophone)
  • Ecole Secondaire Mathieu-Martin, (Dieppe, francophone)
  • Ecole Secondaire l'Odyssée, (Moncton, francophone)

Health facilities

There are two major regional referral and teaching hospitals in Moncton; The Moncton Hospital, (principally anglophone, 400 beds, affiliated with Dalhousie University Medical School, tertiary services in neurosurgery, vascular surgery, orthopedics, trauma, burn unit, medical oncology, neonatal intensive care,) and the Hopital Georges-L. Dumont, (principally francophone, 350 beds, affiliated with Université de Sherbrooke Medical School, tertiary services in oncology (including radiation oncology) and nephrology). Between these two institutions, Moncton serves as the main medical referral centre for the central Maritime region.

Media

Television

Rogers Cable has its provincial headquarters and main production facilities in Moncton and broadcasts on two community channels (Cable 9 and Cable 10).

Radio

There are a total of 14 broadcast radio stations (ten English and four French) in the city. These stations include:

Print

Moncton's daily newspaper is the Times & Transcript (anglophone—New Brunswick's second largest circulation daily newspaper). L'Acadie Nouvelle, based in Caraquet, serves the francophone population.

Buildings

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The Assumption Place Building
  • Aliant Tower- A 127 metre concrete microwave communications tower, built in 1971, which is the tallest structure in New Brunswick. (Formally known as the NBTel Tower)
  • Assumption Place- A 20 storey office building which is the headquarters of the Assumption Mutual Life Insurance Corporation. This building is 80.8 meters in height and is tied with Brunswick Square, (Saint John, New Brunswick) as the tallest building in the province.
  • Blue Cross Centre- Although only 8 stories tall, this building is architecturally distinctive and encompasses a full city block. It is the headquarters of Medavie Blue Cross Insurance.
  • The Delta Beausejour Hotel - is the city's premier hotel and major conference facility.

There are about a half dozen other buildings in Moncton that range between eight and twelve stories in height, including the Brunswick Crowne Plaza Hotel and the Terminal Plaza office complex. None of these buildings however are imposing enough to really help define the city.

Economy

The educational and health care sectors are major factors in the local economy; the Moncton Hospital alone employing over two thousand people. Despite this, the underpinnings of the local economy remain based on Moncton's commercial, distribution, transportation and retailing heritage. Moncton's central location in the Maritimes is the reason for this. Within a three hour drive of Moncton live 1.4 million people. This is a much larger catchment area than any other city in Atlantic Canada. Despite the longstanding rivalry between Moncton and Halifax, the two cities have recently joined together to promote the concept of a Moncton-Halifax growth corridor, building on the strengths of the two cities as well as the intervening communities including Truro, Amherst and Sackville.

A number of regionally prominent corporations have their head offices in Moncton including Atlantic Lottery Corporation, Assumption Mutual Life Insurance, Medavie Blue Cross Insurance, Pizza Delight, Major Drilling International, and Co-op Atlantic. There are a number of major call centres in the city including Asurion, ExxonMobil, Royal Bank of Canada, UPS, Fairmont Hotels, Rogers Communications, America Online and OAO Technologies. A burgeoning high tech sector includes companies such as Whitehill Technologies, Nanoptix and Spielo Manufacturing. Several arms of the Irving corporate empire have their head offices in Greater Moncton. These include Midland Transport, Majesta/Royale Tissues, Irving Personal Care, Master Packaging and Cavendish Farms. Hub Meat Packers is a major employer in the city. Armour transportation group is based in Moncton and other trucking companies maintain large regional trucking depots in the city. Molson/Coors Breweries has recently begun construction of a new brewery in the Caledonia Industrial Park.

A new four lane Gunningsville Bridge has just been opened, connecting downtown Riverview directly with downtown Moncton. On the Moncton side, the bridge will connect with an extension of Vaughan Harvey Boulevard as well as to Assumption Boulevard and will serve as a catalyst for growth along the riverfront. Major planned developments include a convention centre, two new hotels, a new regional courthouse, an expansion to the Blue Cross centre and new retail including an expansion of Highfield Square (the main downtown mall). On the Riverview side, the bridge will connect to a new bypass around the town and is expected to serve as a catalyst for development in east Riverview.

The retail sector in Moncton is increasingly becoming one of the most important aspects of the local economy. Major retail projects such as the Wheeler Park Power Centre on Trinity Drive have quickly become major destinations for locals and tourists alike. Major tenants of this development include Atlantic Superstore, Costco, Winners, HomeSense, Wal-Mart, Kent Building Supplies, Sears, Staples, Old Navy, Pier 1 Imports, Empire Theatres and the Home Depot.

Government

Municipal government consists of a mayor and ten city councillors elected to four year terms of office. The council is non partisan with the mayor serving as the chairman, casting a ballot only in cases of a tie vote. There are four wards electing two councillors each with an additional two councillors selected at large by the general electorate. Day to day operation of the city is under the control of a City Manager.

The current mayor of Moncton is Lorne Mitton (elected May 2004).

Councillors:

  • Kathryn M. Barnes - At Large
  • Norman Crossman - Ward 1
  • Merrill A. Henderson - Ward 2
  • Brian A.Q. Hicks - Ward 3
  • Chris Collins - Ward 4
  • Pierre Boudreau - At Large
  • Steven Boyce - Ward 1
  • Doug Robertson - Ward 2
  • Steve Mitton - Ward 3
  • René (Pepsi) Landry - Ward 4

Provincially, six ridings (out of 55 in the legislative assembly) are located in the greater Moncton area. Elected MLA's (and party affiliations) include:

Redistribution will give metropolitan Moncton a seventh riding in the yet to be called upcoming provincial election.

Moncton is located in the federal riding of Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, the current representative of which is Brian Murphy, (Liberal). Mr. Murphy had previously been a highly regarded mayor of Moncton. It should be noted that portions of Dieppe are located in the federal riding of Beausejour and portions of Riverview are located in the riding of Fundy Royal. The representatives for these two ridings respectively are Dominic LeBlanc,(Liberal) and Rob Moore, (Conservative).

Famous Monctonians

Although not everyone in this list was born in Moncton, they all live or have lived in Moncton and have had significant connections to the community.

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