Montréal - geography.

« requires children of immigrants to be educated in French.

As a result, French-language schools became increasingly multiethnic. With four universities, Montréal is one of the leading centers of higher education in Canada.

There are two English-language institutions: McGill University (1821) andConcordia University (1974).

Their French-language counterparts are the Université de Montréal (1876) and the University of Québec at Montréal (1969).

Both private andstate universities are funded by the province on a similar footing.

The metropolitan area also has 16 public community colleges and 15 private institutions that offer somecollege-level training. Prominent among the city’s museums is the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, with significant collections of European and Canadian paintings and other specialized collections.The works of 20th-century Québec artists are well represented at the Musée d’Art Contemporain (Museum of Contemporary Art).

The Canadian Center for Architecture is a world-class museum and research center for the study of architecture.

Pointe-à-Callière Museum is devoted to Montréal’s history and archaeology.

The McCord Museum ofCanadian History has substantial holdings in ethnology.

History is also the main feature of Château de Ramezay.

The Biodôme has an environmental focus—it replicates fourecosystems of the Americas.

La Biosphère focuses on water and the Saint Lawrence River/Great Lakes ecosystem.

Many other smaller, specialized museums operate in thecity.

The Cosmodôme, a space museum, is located in suburban Laval. The Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec (National Library of Québec) is in Montréal and holds the largest collection of printed works by Québec authors.

The Library of the City of Montréal has branches throughout the city and is noted for its collection of works on Canada.

There are many other libraries, including the Jewish Public Library and thosein the universities. Numerous dance companies and French-language theater companies perform in Montréal.

The Montréal Symphony Orchestra has an international reputation, and the cityalso has the Montréal Metropolitan Orchestra.

Place des Arts is the main performing arts center and boasts the largest concert hall in the city. Summertime is a festive season, with one major event after another.

The biggest is the International Jazz Festival in late June, but the Just for Laughs Festival of comedyshows in July and the Francopholies (a French-language song and music festival) and Montréal World Film Festival in August also attract substantial crowds. V RECREATION Facilities for a variety of winter and summer sports and recreation are provided by Montréal’s numerous municipal parks, including Mount Royal, Maisonneuve, Lafontaine,Sainte-Hélène, and Angrignon parks.

Montréal also has four regional parks—Cap Saint-Jacques, Bois de Liesse, Île de la Visitation, and Rivière des Prairies.

The LachineCanal linear park has a 13-km (8-mi) cycle path.

Montréal Botanical Garden, the largest of its kind in North America, features large collections of exotic plants; amagnificent Chinese garden; a Japanese garden; and the Insectarium, a comprehensive museum and zoo of insect life.

Olympic Stadium, the scene of the 1976 SummerOlympic Games, hosts various shows and exhibitions.

It was also the longtime home of the Montréal Expos major league baseball team, but because of financial difficultiesthe team moved to Washington, D.C., in 2005.

The Montréal Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League and play at the Bell Centre.

The Blue Bonnets horse racingtrack and the Montréal Casino are also popular attractions.

The Montréal Grand Prix Formula One automobile race is held every year on Sainte Hélène Island. VI ECONOMY Montréal has a highly diversified economic base.

It is the metropolis of French-speaking Québec, and most of the large Francophone-owned corporations have headquartersthere.

About one-fifth of the metropolitan workforce is employed in manufacturing.

As with many other eastern North American cities, Montréal’s traditional industrial basehas been profoundly shaken since the 1960s, although the decline was less pronounced than in most places.

Remaining factories have been moving from the city to thesuburbs.

Textiles and garment making remain the major types of manufacturing in Montréal, but are declining each year.

Next most important are the food, beverage, andtobacco industries.

The most significant change has been the growth of new industries such as aerospace, drug research and manufacturing, electronics, and computerprogramming.

The metropolitan industrial base also includes metal products, machinery, paper products, printing, automobiles, furniture, chemicals, and petroleumproducts. In Montréal as elsewhere, most employment is in the services sector.

In finance, the city hosts the head offices of the first and third largest Canadian banks, the Royal Bankand the Bank of Montréal (although most of their activities take place in Toronto), and of the two Francophone banks, the National Bank of Canada and the Laurentian Bank.Various other financial institutions are headquartered in Montréal: insurance and trust companies, brokerage houses, and investment firms.

Toronto-based firms usuallyhave their eastern Canada regional offices in Montréal.

The Montréal Stock Exchange specializes in options and derivatives trading; it also lists a limited number of small-capitalization local enterprises. Some 40 countries have a consulate in Montréal, and a similar number have an honorary consulate.

A number of worldwide organizations also have offices in Montréal.

Itsbilingual character has helped make Montréal a favored meeting place for European and North American cultures and a leading site for large international conventions.

Eachyear, conventions attract more than 500,000 delegates to Montréal. Montréal thrived as a port city when Canada’s economy was closely linked to Britain.

Although it has lost some importance in recent decades, its harbor remains very busy.Montréal offers the shortest route from Europe to central Canada, the Midwestern United States, and the Northeastern states.

The harbor handles a great variety of goods.Bulk cargo is dominated by grain, minerals, and petroleum.

Montréal is Canada’s leading port for containerized cargo and one of the leading container ports on the Atlanticseaboard of North America.

In summertime it also attracts many cruise ships. Once the railway hub of Canada, Montréal is still the rail center for eastern Canada.

It is served by Canada’s two transcontinental systems, the Canadian Pacific Railway andCanadian National Railways, as well as by American railways.

Major freeways converging on the city were built during the 1960s and 1970s, connecting it with the Trans-Canada Highway and with the freeway system of the United States. Two major airports serve Montréal.

Trudeau takes care of domestic and international scheduled passenger flights, whereas international charter and cargo flights go toMirabel. VII GOVERNMENT Montréal is governed by a mayor and a council, the members of which are elected by popular vote for four-year terms.

The council is the city’s legislative body and includes51 councilors in addition to the mayor.

The executive branch consists of an executive committee made up of the mayor and nine councilors who are chosen by the mayorand approved by majority vote of the council. Since 1970 the regional government, the Montréal Urban Community, has had full responsibility for services such as police, property assessment, environmental protection,and regional planning.

The cities and municipalities are still responsible for the remaining powers normally held by local authorities, such as fire protection, water treatmentand distribution, sewers, garbage collection, traffic, zoning, building regulations, and libraries. The Urban Community is governed by a council, an executive committee, and a president.

The council consists of the mayor and councilors of the city of Montréal, alongwith the mayors of the other 28 municipalities.

The executive committee is made up of the five presidents and five vice presidents of the council’s five standing committees;five of them must come from the city and five from the suburban municipalities.

The president is selected from the council, at that body’s recommendation, and is appointedby the provincial government.

Upon appointment, the president is required to quit his or her elective position.

When the Urban Community was created, its territory housedabout 70 percent of the metropolitan population.

However, due to ongoing urban sprawl, it now has only about 50 percent.

This trend has given rise to much debate about. »