Discover

:''Westmount redirects here; for other uses, see Westmount (disambiguation)''
'Westmount' is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the Island of Montreal, an enclave of the city of Montreal; pop. 20,494; area 4.02 km²; (Statistics Canada, 2006).
Westmount was first incorporated as a city in 1874 and remained so until January 1, 2002 when it was forced to become a borough of the City of Montreal. On June 20 2004 it voted to "demerge" and became an independent city again on January 1, 2006. However, it has not truly regained its former status since the bulk of its municipal taxes go to the newly created Agglomeration Council, which oversees activities common to all municipalities on the Island of Montreal (e.g. fire protection, public transit) even after the demerger.

Contents

Government

Community

Demographics

Landmarks

Famous residents

Amalgamation controversy

See also

References

External links

Government

Since regaining its status as a city, Westmount is governed by a City Council made up of a mayor and eight "district" councillors. The current mayor of Westmount is Karin Marks. In addition to the local city council, Westmount is represented by its mayor on the Montreal Agglomeration Council.
On the federal level, Westmount is represented in the Westmount—Ville-Marie riding. The riding is currently held by Liberal MP Lucienne Robillard.
Provincially, the city is represented in the riding of Westmount—Saint-Louis by MNA Jacques Chagnon of the Quebec Liberal Party.

Community

Traditionally, the community of Westmount was an enclave of wealthy anglophones, having been at one point the richest community in Canada; it now competes with West Vancouver in British Columbia and Rosedale, Toronto for the title. This made the city one of several symbolic targets of FLQ terrorist bombings in the 1960s, culminating in the 1970 October Crisis. However, it is now mostly comprised of middle and upper-middle class families of multiple ethnic and linguistic backgrounds with the stereotype only partially existing at the very top of the mountain, around Summit Circle, a road which rings around its summit (one of the three peaks of Mount Royal), and on which some of Montreal's wealthiest families (including the Bronfmans and the Molsons) have built their homes as well as select avenues located off The Boulevard.
Westmount is mostly residential containing schools, an arena, a pool, a public library and a number of parks, including Westmount Park and King George Park . However, there are small commercial districts on the western part of Sherbrooke Street, around Victoria Avenue ("Victoria Village"), on Saint Catherine Street, on Greene Avenue and near the Atwater metro station.
There are three units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve in Westmount:

★ 3rd Field Engineer Regiment

★ 712 Communications Squadron

★ The Royal Montreal Regiment
Westmount is also home of the oldest active rugby club in North America, the Westmount Rugby Club.

Demographics

As of the census of 2001, there were 19,727 people, 8,460 households, and 5,215 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,907.21/km² . There were 9,333 housing units at an average density of 2,321.64/km².

The median income for a household was $142,660 and the median income for a family was $190,120 ^[1], one of the highest in Canada. Males had an average income of $112,882 versus $42,245 for females. About 5.0% of the labour force was unemployed. The largest occupation categories were 24.0% employed in management occupations, 18.2% in business, finance, and administration occupations, and 17.4% in social science, education, government service and religion occupations.
Westmount is one of the most English and bilingual cities in Quebec: 75% have English as their first official language spoken.
English is the mother tongue of 61.6% of the population, French of 20.8%, and 19.6% have other languages as their mother tongue; 76.3% can speak both English and French, 20.5% of the population can speak only English, 3.1% can speak only French.
About 27% of the population is foreign-born, most having immigrated since 1991. Visible minorities constitute 11% of the population (Arab 3.5%, Chinese 1.5%, Black 1.4%, South Asian 1.1%). Residents declared their religions as Catholic (31.0%), Jewish (23.2%), Protestant (21.5%) Protestant, Christian Orthodox (3.7%), Muslim (2.7%) and other Christian (1.9%).
In the city the population was spread out with 15.7% under the age of 15, 11.9% from 15 to 24, 22.9% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 83.7 males. For every 100 females age 15 and over, there were 80.2 males.
There were 8,460 households out of which 26.2% had children living with them, 47.5% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female lone-parent as a householder, and 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average married-couple family size was 3.1.
''Note: Percentages may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding of data samples.''

Landmarks

The latter area includes Dawson College, Quebec's largest CEGEP; Plaza Alexis-Nihon mall and office towers; some of the most prestigious private schools in Quebec, including Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's School, Selwyn House School, Villa Sainte-Marcelline and The Study; and the Westmount Square residential towers and shopping complex designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and funded largely by Westmount resident Samuel Bronfman, the founder of the Seagram liquor empire.

Famous residents

Westmount is the residence of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Canadian media proprietor Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, Canadian automobile racing driver Jacques Villeneuve and the birthplace of:

★ William Shatner, actor of Star Trek fame and now Game Show Host and star of Boston Legal

★ Norma Shearer, motion picture actress

★ Douglas Shearer, multiple Academy Award winning film sound engineer

★ Leonard Cohen, author and musician

★ Olivier Setlakwe, scholar at Dalhousie University

Amalgamation controversy

While trying to prevent Westmount, Quebec from being amalgamated into greater Montreal, Westmount Mayor Peter Trent and city council asserted that the city was a designated anglophone institution and should not be merged into francophone greater Montreal. In response to this opposition, Municipal Affairs Minister Louise Harel said that Westmount's resistance "reeked of colonialism" and that the opposition was an "ethnic project", statements for which she would refuse to apologize.^[2] When asked for comment, Quebec Premier Bernard Landry said the minister had his full support and that the opposition was little more than Quebec bashing.^[3] Several public figures criticized Landry's statement: Jean Charest called it insulting to the intelligence of the citizens of Quebec; Joseph Gabary, president of the Quebec Chapter of the Canadian Jewish Congress, called the language "crude"; Alliance Quebec also criticized the premier for singling out the city for special criticism. ^[4]

See also

★ List of former boroughs

★ Montreal Merger

★ Municipal reorganization in Quebec

References

1. [1]
2. refuses to apologize for colonialism comment". ''CBC News''. June 21 2001.
3. "Landry calls opposition to merger Quebec-bashing" ''Globe and Mail'' June 22, 2001
4. "PQ brass gang up on Westmount"; Nicolas van Praet. ''The Gazette''. Montreal, Que.: Jun 22, 2001. pg. A.1.

External links

★ Statistics Canada website about Westmount

★ Official site for the City of Westmount

★ Westmount Public Library

★ Westmount Rugby Club

★ 712 Communication Squadron

★ Westmount High School