Longueuil is a city in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from Montreal, of which it is a suburb.

The city was merged on January 1, 2002 with the communities of Boucherville, Brossard, Greenfield Park, LeMoyne , Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Saint-Hubert, and Saint-Lambert. These cities have become boroughs of the new city. Saint-Lambert and Le Moyne became one borough, and the former city of Longueuil became the borough of Vieux-Longueuil. On June 20, 2004, the boroughs of Boucherville, Saint-Lambert, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and Brossard voted to demerge from Longueuil and reconstitute themselves as municipalities, having obtained 10 % of signatures at a registry requesting a referendum and 35 % or more majority yes votes at the referendum out of the total voting population on electoral lists. Locals refer to the borough of Vieux-Longueuil as "Longueuil proper" to distinguish it from the part of the borough known as "Old Longueuil".

In 2001, the population of the components of the current city of Longueuil totalled 348,091, making it the third largest city in Quebec and 11th largest in Canada. The current city has an area of 273.52 sq.km. Residents of Longueuil are called Longueuillois.

Most of the community's residents commute to Montreal to work. This generates major traffic problems; owing to the width of the Saint Lawrence River between the Island of Montreal and the south shore, there are only five automobile crossings (the Honoré-Mercier, Champlain, Victoria, and Jacques-Cartier bridges and the Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine tunnel), and they are severely congested. (See List of Montreal bridges.)

The city is also served by the Longueuil metro station, connected to downtown by the yellow line of the metro. The Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) bus lines almost all terminate either at Longueuil metro station or cross over the Champlain bridge to arrive at the Terminus Rive-Sud in downtown Montreal (under the 1000 de la Gauchetière office tower, Bonaventure metro). The Mont-Saint-Hilaire commuter train line also serves the south shore.

There are several explanations for the origin of the city's name. According to Abbé Faillon, Charles Le Moyne (1626-1685), lord of the area starting in 1657, named it after a village which is today the seat of a canton in the district of Dieppe in his homeland of Normandy.

Education

• Collège Édouard-Montpetit
• École nationale d'aérotechnique
• CDI College
• Champlain Regional College
• Collège Info-Technique
• Université de Montréal Campus
• Université du Québec à Montréal Campus
• Université de Sherbrooke Campus
• Pierre-Dupuy Professional Formation Centre

Economy

• Aerospace engineering: Bombardier, Héroux-Devtek, Pratt & Whitney Canada,
• Rive-Sud Industry Chamber of Commerce

Transportation

• Autoroutes 10, 15, 20 and 30
• Highways 112, 116 and 132
• Jacques Cartier Bridge; Champlain Bridge; Victoria Bridge; Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel
• Terminus de Longueuil
• Public transport: Réseau des transports de Longueuil (RTL)
• Local Airport: Saint-Hubert
• Train: Montreal-Mont Saint-Hilaire line for the Agence métropolitaine de transport

Health

• Charles-Lemoyne Hospital
• Pierre-Boucher Hospitality Centre

The Community

• Saint-Jean-Longueuil Diocese

Media

• Le Courrier du Sud
• Les Hebdos montérégiens

Famous people

• Arlette Coustur
• Conrad Kirouac
• Guy Laliberté Cirque du Soleil founder
• Pauline Marois Taillon deputy
• Jacques Olivier the mayor
• Robert Rumilly historian

External links

• Ville de Longueuil