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Laval, Quebec

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Laval
City
Flag of Laval
Flag
Coat of arms of Laval
Coat of arms
Motto(s): 
"Unité, progrès, grandeur"  (French)
"Unity, Progress, Greatness"
City of Laval
City of Laval
Country Canada
Province Quebec
RegionLaval
RCMNone
ConstitutedAugust 6, 1965
Government
[1]
 • TypeLaval City Council
 • MayorGilles Vaillancourt
 • Federal ridingAlfred-Pellan and Laval and Laval—Les Îles and Marc-Aurèle-Fortin
 • Prov. ridingChomedey and Fabre and Laval-des-Rapides and Mille-Îles and Vimont
Area
[1][2]
 • Total267.20 km2 (103.17 sq mi)
 • Land247.09 km2 (95.40 sq mi)
Elevation
91 m (299 ft)
Population
 (2011)[2]
 • Total401,553
 • Density1,625.1/km2 (4,209/sq mi)
 • Change (2006–11)
Increase8.9%
 • Dwellings
159,509
Time zoneUTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)
H7A to H7Y
Area code(s)450 and 579
Websitewww.ville.laval.qc.ca

Laval (French pronunciation: [laval]) is a Canadian city located in southwestern Quebec, north of Montreal. It forms its own administrative region of Quebec. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third largest municipality in the province of Quebec, and the thirteenth largest city in Canada with a population of 401,553 in 2011.[2]

Laval is geographically separated from the mainland to the north by the Rivière des Mille Îles, and from the Island of Montreal to the south by the Rivière des Prairies. Laval occupies all of Île Jésus as well as the Îles Laval.

Laval constitutes region 13 of the 17 administrative regions of Quebec as well as a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and census division (CD) with geographical code 65. It also constitutes the judicial district of Laval.[4]

History

The first European Settlers were Jesuits in 1636 when they were granted a seigneury there. Agriculture first appeared in Laval in 1670. In 1675, François de Montmorency-Laval gained control of the seigneury. In 1702 a parish municipality was founded, and dedicated to Saint-François de Sales (not to be confused with the modern-day Saint-François-de-Sales in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean). The first municipalities on the island were created in 1845, after nearly 200 years of a rural nature. The only built-up area on the island, Sainte-Rose, was incorporated as a village in 1850, and remained as the main community for the remainder of the century. With the dawn of the 20th century came urbanization. Laval-des-Rapides became Laval's first city in 1912, followed by L'Abord-à-Plouffe being granted village status three years later. Laval-sur-le-Lac was founded in the same year on its tourist-based economy from Montrealers. Laval began to grow throughout the following years, due to its proximity to Montreal that made it an ideal suburb.

To deal with problems caused by urbanization, amalgamations occurred; L'Abord-à-Plouffe amalgamated with Renaud and Saint-Martin creating the city of Chomedey in 1961. The amalgamation turned out to be so successful for the municipalities involved that the Quebec government decided to amalgamate the whole island into a single city of Laval in 1965. Laval was named after the first owner of Île Jésus, François de Montmorency-Laval, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec. At the time, Laval had a population of 170,000. Laval became a Regional County Municipality in 1980. Prior to that, it was the County of Laval.[5]

The 14 municipalities, which existed prior to the incorporation of the amalgamated City of Laval on August 6, 1965, were:

Geography

The island has developed over time, with most of the urban area in the central region and along the south and west river banks.

Laval is bordered on the south by Montreal across the Rivière des Prairies, on the north by Les Moulins Regional County Municipality and by Thérèse-De Blainville Regional County Municipality and on the west by Deux-Montagnes Regional County Municipality across the Rivière des Mille Îles.

Demographics

Laval
YearPop.±%
18719,472—    
18819,462−0.1%
18919,436−0.3%
190110,248+8.6%
191111,407+11.3%
192114,005+22.8%
193116,150+15.3%
194121,631+33.9%
195137,843+74.9%
195669,410+83.4%
1961124,741+79.7%
1966196,088+57.2%
1971228,010+16.3%
1976246,243+8.0%
1981268,335+9.0%
1986284,164+5.9%
1991314,398+10.6%
1996330,393+5.1%
2001343,005+3.8%
2006368,709+7.5%
2011401,553+8.9%
[6]
Ethnic Origin in Laval (2006)[7]
Ethnic origin Population Percent
Canadian 168,090 46.1%
French 88,210 24.2%
Italian 34,500 9.5%
Greek 18,760 5.1%
Irish 15,555 4.3%
Haitian 12,250 3.4%
Lebanese 10,725 2.9%
Québécois 8,055 2.2%
English 7,655 2.1%
Armenian 7,640 2.1%
Portuguese 7,370 2%
Scottish 6,535 1.8%
First Nations 6,415 1.8%
German 6,090 1.7%
Spanish 5,070 1.4%
Romanian 3,885 1.1%
Moroccan 3,645 1%

In 2001, the population of Laval was an estimated 343,005, a 3.8 percent increase from the earlier census in 1996. Women constitute 51.44% of the total population. Children under 14 years of age total 18.6%, while those of retirement age (65 years of age and older) number 13.2% resulting in a median age of 38.7 years.[8]

In 2001, 15.48% of Laval's population was born outside of Canada, a lower percentage than the national average, but higher than that for Quebec. Many immigrants have come to the city from the French-speaking Caribbean, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Those of indigenous origin constitute 0.22%, while those who are visible minorities (non-white/European) number 8.68%, and are chiefly Black Canadian, Arab, and Hispanic. Like Quebec as a whole, the city is overwhemingly Christian (90.71%), particularly Roman Catholic (81.09%), while Protestant and Orthodox groups constitute the remainder of the population. Religions such as Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and others total less than 5% of the population combined.

As of March 2009, Laval was the main destination for immigrants to Canada, according to a study released by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). The report says that between 2001 and 2006, the immigrant population grew by 40% in Laval, while the national average stood at 15%.[9]

Laval is not quite as linguistically diverse as neighbouring Montreal. The 2006 census found that, counting both single and multiple responses, French was spoken as a mother tongue by 68.4% of the population, and was spoken most often at home by 73.8% of Laval residents.[10] Counting single responses only, the next most common mother tongues were English (6.9%), Italian (4.4%), Greek and Arabic (3.9% each), Spanish (2.2%) and Armenian (1.8%).[11]

Mother tongue Population Percentage
French 242,155 66.41%
English 25,270 6.93%
English and French 2,375 0.65%
French and a non-official language 4,025 1.10%
English and a non-official language 1,695 0.46%
English, French and a non-official language 685 0.19%
Italian 16,025 4.39%
Arabic 14,070 3.86%
Greek 14,070 3.86%
Spanish 8,065 2.21%
Armenian 6,420 1.76%
Creole 5,120 1.40%
Portuguese 4,670 1.28%
Berber 3,970 1.01%
Vietnamese 1,900 0.52%
Khmer (Cambodian) 1,415 0.39%
Chinese languages 1,365 0.37%
Mother tongue Population Percentage
Persian 1,260 0.35%
Lao 1,035 0.28%
German 955 0.26%
Russian 935 0.26%
Polish 875 0.24%
Hungarian 785 0.22%
Panjabi (Punjabi) 775 0.21%
Tamil 545 0.15%
Urdu 485 0.13%
Croatian 430 0.12%
Turkish 305 0.08%
Tagalog 190 0.05%
Yiddish 175 0.05%
Hebrew 150 0.04%
Dutch 140 0.04%
Serbian 140 0.04%
Bengali 125 0.03%
Knowledge of official Languages (2006)[11]
Language Population Pct (%)
French only 144,085 39.51%
English only 15,900 4.36%
English and French 198,980 54.57%
Neither English or French 5,650 1.54%

Government

Municipal politics

Main article: Laval City Council

As of 2009, Gilles Vaillancourt is the mayor of the city of Laval. He has been in office since 1989.[12] Vaillancourt's party, the Parti PRO des Lavallois, was born in 1980. Vaillancourt took over as head of the party just before the 1989 municipal elections.[13]

Past mayors have been:

Flag, seal and motto

On a white-yellow background, the emblem of Laval illustrates the modernism of a city in full expansion. The sign of the city symbolizes the "L" of Laval.

The colours also have a significant meaning :

  • Dark red represents usually the affluence and represents here the great economic potential of Laval.
  • Blue symbolizes the quality of life and the installation of a human city.

The "L" of Laval is made of cubes that represent the development of Laval.

The letters of the Laval signature are related one to the other to point out the merger of the 14 municipalities of Jesus island in 1965.

The logo (that is on the flag) has existed since the 1980s and the flag since the 1990s.[14]

Federal and provincial politics

See also: Canadian federal election results in Northern Montreal and Laval and Quebec general election, 2008

Politically, Laval is a battleground area between the Quebec separatist parties (the Bloc Québécois federally and the Parti Québécois provincially) and the federalist parties (various parties federally and the Quebec Liberal Party provincially). The only exception is Chomedey in the south, which voted overwhelmingly to not separate in the 1995 Quebec referendum. The other parts of Laval were narrowly split.

Economy

Laval's diverse economy is centred around the technology, pharmaceutical, industrial and retail sectors. It has many pharmaceutical laboratories but also stone quarries and a persistent agricultural sector. Long seen as a bedroom community, Laval has diversified its economy, especially in the retail sector, developing numerous shopping malls, warehouses and various retail stores. Laval has four different industrial parks.[15]

The first is Industrial Park Centre, in the heart of Laval at the corner of St. Martin West and Industriel Blvd. One of the largest municipal industrial parks in Quebec, the Industrial Park Centre boasts the highest concentration of manufacturing companies in Laval: 1,024 at last count, and 22,378 employees. The park still has 1,300,643 m² of space available.

The second, the Autoroute 25 Industrial Park is at the crossroads of the metropolitan road network. Inaugurated in 2001, this new industrial municipal space has been a tremendous success, boasting an 80% occupancy rate. Laval is studying the possibility of expanding this park in the next few years.

The third, known as Industrial Park East, is in the neighbourhood of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul. This park has reached full capacity with a 100% occupancy rate. Industrial Park East is currently part of a municipal program to revitalize municipal services and public utilities. Laval is working with a private developer on an expansion project for the park that should be announced in the near future.

The fourth industrial park, the Laval Science and High Technology Park is located along Rivière des Prairies and Autoroute 15. It is an internationally renowned science campus that houses the Biotech City and the Information Technology Development Centre (ITDC). The Laval Science and High Technology Park is a beacon of the metropolitan economy, in an environment befitting the best technopolises in the world. Nearly 500,000 square metres (5,380,000 sq ft)* of space are available for development. The Biotech City spans the entire territory of the Laval Science and High Technology Park and is a unique concept in Canada in that its residents comprise both universities and companies.

Created in 1995, Laval Technopole is a nonprofit organization that has the objective to promote the economic growth of Laval by attracting and supporting new business and investments located in its 5 territory poles: Biopole, e-Pol, Agropole, industrial pole and Leisure/tourism.

Alimentation Couche-Tard has its headquarters in Laval.[16]

Poles in figures (excluding Leisure and tourism)[17]
Agropole Industrial Pole Biopole E-Pole
1,750 companies 624 companies More than 80 firms 264 businesses
15,800 jobs 16,000 jobs Over one billion $ invested since 2001 4,370 jobs
Main sectors:
  • Transformation
  • Food production
  • Agriculture
  • Restaurant industry
  • Wholesale and retail
 Main sectors:
  • Metal products
  • Printing
  • Machinery
  • furnitures
  • Clothing
  • Rubber
  • Plastic
 Main sectors:
  • Biotechnology
  • Pharmaceutical
  • Medical Technology
 Main sectors:
  • Software
  • Manufacture
  • Service

Sport

Laval was the host-city of the "Jeux du Québec" held in summer 1991 and of the Canadian Hockey League's 1994 Memorial Cup.

Sports teams based in Laval
Team Sport League Venue
Les Associés de Laval Baseball Ligue de Baseball Élite du Québec Parc Montmorency
Sabercats Rive-Nord Canadian football Quebec Junior Football League Parc Cartier
Laval Comets Women's soccer W-League Bois-de-Boulogne Sports Centre

Transportation

Roads

Highways

The Metropolitan Community of Montreal

Provincial routes

Incidents

  • On June 18, 2000, during renovations to the Souvenir Boulevard overpass over Highway 15, the southern section collapsed onto the highway, causing the death of one person.[18][19]
  • On September 30, 2006, the De la Concorde overpass over Autoroute 19 suddenly collapsed killing five people.[20] See also: De la Concorde Overpass collapse.

Public transit

Metro

A train arriving at Montmorency station in the Montreal Metro.
  • In April 2007, the Montreal Metro was extended to Laval with three stations. The long-awaited stations were begun in 2003 and completed in April 2007, two months ahead of the revised schedule, at a cost of $803 million, funded entirely by the Quebec government. The stations are Cartier, De La Concorde, and Montmorency. The arrival of the metro in Laval was long awaited as it was first promised in the 1960s.
  • Public transit users must purchase the $111 per month (2010) TRAM-3 card to access the metro from Laval's three new stations or pay $3 per trip (as of 2011) towards Montreal since regular Montreal tickets and the CAM pass are not valid at the three new stations.
  • On July 22, 2007, the mayor of Laval, Gilles Vaillancourt, announced his wish to loop the Orange line from Montmorency to Côte-Vertu stations with the addition of six new stations (three in Laval and another three in Montreal). He proposes that Transports Quebec, the provincial transport department, set aside $100M annually to fund the project, which is expected to cost upwards of $1.5 billion.[21]

Commuter railway

The Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) operates two commuter train lines on the island. The Deux-Montagnes and Blainville-Saint-Jerome lines connect Laval to downtown Montreal in as little as 30 minutes. Including De la Concorde, there are currently five train stations.

Buses

Montmorency Terminus
For the public transit system, see Société de transport de Laval.

The STL's network consists of 35 regular lines, two rush hour lines, two trainbus lines, three express lines, one community circuit and several taxi lines.

  • There are reserved lanes for buses and taxis on Chomedey Blvd between Le Carrefour Blvd and the Des Prairies River (Lachapelle Bridge) and beyond as well as along boulevard des Laurentides between rue Proulx and boulevard Cartier (the reserved lane, in this case for buses only, continues onto the Pont Viau bridge into Montreal until the Terminus Laval at the Henri-Bourassa metro station). Most buses that use the reserved lane end their journey at the Cartier metro station.
  • The AMT and the City of Laval have developed reserved bus and taxi lanes on Notre-Dame Boulevard between Vincent Massey Street and Place Alton-Goldbloom and another on De la Concorde Blvd between De l'Avenir and Laval Blvds, as well as between Ampere Ave and Roanne St. These reserved lanes (Notre-Dame and De la Concorde are the same boulevard but change name where they meet under Autoroute 15) opened shortly after October 31, 2007.

A Google Map of the subway system, including the three new Laval stations can be viewed at Montreal-Laval Subway Map Mashup.

Blainville-Saint-Jerome Line Deux-Montagnes Line Line 2 Orange (Montreal Metro)
Sainte-Rose Sainte-Dorothée Montmorency
Vimont Île-Bigras De la Concorde
De la Concorde Cartier

Education

Laval is home to a variety of vocational/technical centres, colleges and universities, including:

  • College Montmorency
  • CDI College
  • Centre de formation Compétences-2000
  • Centre de formation en métallurgie de Laval
  • Chomedey Centre
  • Centre de formation horticole de Laval
  • Centre de formation Paul-Émile-Dufresne
  • Herzing College

The city has two separate school boards, the Commission scolaire de Laval for French-speaking students and the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board for English-speaking students.

Attractions

The Cosmodome is a major local attraction.

Laval's main attractions are:

Source: Tourisme Laval.[22]

Media

Laval is served by media from Montreal, however it does have some of its own regional media outlets.

Laval has two radio stations on its territory: CFAV 1570 AM "Radio Boomer" and CFGL 105.7 FM "Rythme FM".

Additionally, there are three major newspapers in Laval. The bi-weekly English-language The Laval News, the bi-weekly French-language Le Courrier Laval and the weekly French-language L'Echo de Laval.

One television network operates on Laval's territory, Télévision régionale de Laval, on the VOX network (only available on Videotron cable).

Sister cities

Laval is twinned with two different cities:[23]

It also shares about ten economic and cultural cooperation agreements with cities such as Markham, Ontario;[25] Ribeira Grande, The Azores; Nice, France; Grenoble, France; Mudanjiang, China and Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Chile.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Répertoire des municipalités: Geographic code 65005". www.mamh.gouv.qc.ca (in French). Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l'Habitation.
  2. ^ a b c "Laval, Quebec (Code 2465005) Census Profile". 2011 census. Government of Canada - Statistics Canada.
  3. ^ "Banque de noms de lieux du Québec: Reference number 34753". toponymie.gouv.qc.ca (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec.
  4. ^ Territorial Division Act. Revised Statutes of Quebec D-11.
  5. ^ "History and Heritage". Laval portal website. Retrieved November 8, 2006.
  6. ^ "Évolution démographique des 10 principales villes du Québec (sur la base de 2006) selon leur limites territoriales actuelles1, Recensements du Canada de 1871 à 2006". Stat.gouv.qc.ca. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  7. ^ "Laval, Quebec — Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for census divisions - 20% sample data". Ethnocultural Portrait of Canada, Canada 2006 Census. Statistics Canada. 2010-10-06. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  8. ^ Statistics Canada.2001 Community Profile
  9. ^ [1][dead link]
  10. ^ "Laval, V (Que)". Population by language spoken most often at home and age groups, 2006 counts, for Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities) – 20% sample data. Statistics Canada. 20 November 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
  11. ^ a b "Laval, V". Detailed Mother Tongue (103), Knowledge of Official Languages (5), Age Groups (17A) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data. Statistics Canada. 20 November 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
  12. ^ "Pro Vaillancourt : The leader". Parti Pro website. Retrieved March 10, 2007. [dead link]
  13. ^ "Laval's Vaillancourt cruising toward win". Montreal Gazette website. Retrieved March 10, 2007.
  14. ^ "Flags of the World". Flags of the World website. Retrieved July 16, 2005.
  15. ^ "Laval Technopole website". Laval Technopole website. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved March 2, 2007.
  16. ^ "Executive Office." Alimentation Couche-Tard. Retrieved on 18 January 2011. "Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. 4204 Industriel Blvd. Laval (Quebec) H7L 0E3." Address in French: "Alimentation Couche-Tard inc. 4204 Boul. Industriel Laval (Québec) H7L 0E3 " Map
  17. ^ La Presse Affaires, Montreal, Tuesday October 21, 2008, p.12
  18. ^ "Overpass dismantled, highway re-opened". CBC News website. June 24, 2000. Retrieved March 8, 2007.
  19. ^ "Overpass collapse shuts down Quebec highway". CBC News website. Archived from the original on August 21, 2007. Retrieved March 10, 2007.
  20. ^ "Overpass Collapses Near Montreal; People Trapped Feared Dead". Fox News Website. September 30, 2006. Retrieved November 8, 2006.
  21. ^ CA (2007-07-22). "Montréal a bien d'autres priorités — Transport en commun". Courrier Laval. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  22. ^ "Tourisme Laval". Tourisme Laval website. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  23. ^ "Laval Web Site — Twin Cities Section". Laval Web Site (English). Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  24. ^ Fasciano, John (September 4, 2009). "Laval: 25 ans d'amitié par-delà l'Atlantique". Courrier Laval. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  25. ^ Twinning Economic Co-operation Agreement, June 6, 2003
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