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'Bécancour' is a town in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, Canada; it is the seat of the Regional County Municipality Bécancour. It is located at the confluence of the Bécancour River and the Saint Lawrence River, opposite Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

Contents

Description

Demographics

Communities

Notable Bécancour residents

References

See also

External links

Description

Bécancour's claim to fame is as the province of Québec's first amalgamated city; the town itself was created October 17, 1965 from the amalgamation of eleven municipalities^[1]. The city of Bécancour then became the largest city in Québec (as of 2003, the title belongs to La Tuque, Quebec). Bécancour is now divided into six ''secteurs'' (lit. "sectors"): Bécancour, Saint-Grégoire, Gentilly, Précieux-Sang, Sainte-Angèle-de-Laval, and Sainte-Gertrude. Bécancour, Saint-Grégoire and Gentilly, each located near the shore of the Saint Lawrence River, can be considered the main urban centres. Autoroute 55 intersects Autoroute 30 and Route 132 at Saint-Grégoire.
Bécancour is part of the Trois-Rivières metropolitan area; many residents work in Trois-Rivières and commute across the Laviolette Bridge daily. The economy of Bécancour, once mainly agricultural, shifted towards heavy industry and manufacturing in the 1970s and 1980s, with the creation of an industrial park and a nuclear power plant (Gentilly Nuclear Generating Station) in the area. Industries now present in Bécancour include: producers of aluminum, magnesium, refractory metals, and petroleum products; machine shops; and many related services such as excavators and sales of industrial parts.
Despite its proximity to Trois-Rivières, Bécancour has a vibrant culture and identity of its own; the city hosts a hot air balloon festival[1], a weekly public marketplace, a biodiversity museum and interpretation centre, and even a maritime pumpkin race[2].

Demographics

According to the Canada 2001 Census:

★ Population: 11,051

★ % Change (1996-2001): -3.8

★ Dwellings: 4,690

★ Area (km²): 441.00

★ Density (persons per km²): 25.1

Communities

★ Bécancour

★ Gentilly

★ Précieux-Sang

★ Sainte-Angèle-de-Laval

★ Sainte-Gertrude

★ Saint-Grégoire

Notable Bécancour residents

★ Nicolas Perrot (1644 - 1717), explorer, diplomat, and fur trader.

References

1. La Nativité de Notre-Dame de Bécancour (1722), Saint-Édouard-de-Gentilly (1784), Saint-Grégoire-le-Grand (1802), Sainte-Gertrude (1845), Sainte-Angèle-de-Laval (1868), Très-Précieux-Sang-de-Notre-Seigneur (1903), and the villages of Larochelle (1863), Gentilly (1900), Villers (1901), Bécancour and Laval (1909). Source: Becancour.net.

See also

★ Bécancour Regional County Municipality, Quebec

★ Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour

★ Gentilly Nuclear Generating Station

External links

★ Becancour.net: official city website

★ Bécancour tourism website