BROSSARD, QUEBEC

'Brossard' is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the island and city of Montreal. It is surrounded by five municipalities on the South Shore of Montreal: Saint-Lambert, Greenfield Park (Longueuil), Saint-Hubert (Longueuil), Carignan and La Prairie. Brossard is bordered by the Saint Lawrence River to the west and by the Saint-Jacques River to the south. ''(see Geographic location section below)''

Contents

History

Mayors

Geography and places of interest

Sports and culture

Demographics

Ethnicity

Visible minorities

Language

Transportation

Autoroutes and provincial routes

Other important roads

Public transit

Education

Primary

Secondary

Adult education

See also

Geographic location

Notes and references

External links

History

The city of Brossard was founded on February 14, 1958 and was known before then as « Municipalité de la Paroisse de La Prairie de la Magdeleine ». Later, the territory of Brossard was increased twice: a portion of land #121 from Greenfield Park was added on August 8, 1964. Furthermore, Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Cœur merged into Brossard on March 25, 1978 to form the current city.
In the 1970's, an attempt was made by René Désourdy to construct a cemetery in Brossard. The attempt failed due to the water table being too high in most of the city, and as of 2007 Brossard has no cemetery.
Brossard was merged into the city of Longueuil on January 1, 2002 as a result of municipal reorganization in Quebec. Opposition to this amalgamation, during the following years, was headed by Louise Brossard, Gilles Larin and Pierre Senécal^[1] and resulted in a municipal referendum that took place on June 20, 2004. 38.70% of the 50,539 qualified voters voted YES for demerger,^[2] which met the requirements (35% or more of total voting population) needed for de-amalgamation. As a result, Brossard would continue to be a borough of the city of Longueuil only until the end of 2005.
On January 1, 2006, Brossard was reconstituted as a city and Jean-Marc Pelletier was elected as the new mayor. However, Brossard still remains part of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and thus, Brossard sits on the agglomeration council (''conseil d'agglomération'') which determines certain powers of reconstituted cities.

Mayors

Geography and places of interest

Brossard is a suburb of Montreal which is subdivided into many smaller sections. Many of these sections are characterized by having street names that all start with the same letter. The residential sections of Brossard contain some 14-floor residential towers as well as smaller units. There are also large commercial zones such as Taschereau Boulevard, Mail Champlain, Place Portobello, Quartier DIX30) and an industrial zone. The commercial areas house largest vehicle purchase center in Quebec, "Le Complexe de l'Auto Rive-Sud".
Many parks are scattered throughout the city of Brossard, including Parc écologique des Sansonnets. The parks are connected to the other areas of the city by about 37 km of biking paths.
^[5]. The city also has a municipal library building connected to its city hall building via an indoor passageway.

Sports and culture

Brossard Hosted the 2004 Canadian Little League Baseball Tournament. NHL Hockey Hall of Fame member and Team Canada hockey player Jean Ratelle made his home in Brossard during his career with the New York Rangers.

Demographics

Ethnicity

Source: [1]

Brossard is a multi-ethnic city; more than 47% are foreign-born. It is the only official multi-cultural city in Québec.

Visible minorities

From Canada 2001 Census

★ Chinese: 6,375 (9.8% of population)

★ Black: 2,615 (4.0% of population)

★ South Asian: 2,590 (4.0% of population) Over 60% of them are East Indian and the other 60% are mostly Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Afghan)

★ Arab: 1,660 (2.6% of population)

★ Southeast Asian: 1,535 (2.4% of population)

★ Latin-American: 1,320 (2% of population)

★ West Asian: 680 (1% of population)

★ Filipino: 450 (0.7% of population)

★ Korean: 160 (0.2% of population)

Language

From Canada 2001 Census

Transportation

Autoroutes and provincial routes

Brossard is serviced by Autoroutes 10 (Autoroute des Cantons-de-l'Est), 15, 20 (Autoroute Jean-Lesage), and 30 (Autoroute de l'Acier), as well as Routes 132 and 134 (Taschereau Boulevard). Autoroute 30 runs along the west side of Brossard. Along the Saint Lawrence River on the east side of the city, Autoroutes 15 and 20 overlap with Route 132; 15 to the south and 20 to the north. At the the Champlain Bridge interchange, Autoroutes 15 and 20 overlap 10 and feed into the Champlain Bridge, which crosses over into Montreal. Autoroute 10 also meets with Route 134 at the Taschereau Interchange which runs north south through heart of Brossard.

Other important roads

★ Rome Boulevard

★ Milan Boulevard

★ Matte Boulevard

★ Pelletier Boulevard

★ Lapinière Boulevard

★ San Francisco-Tisserand-Stravinski Avenues loop

★ Panama Avenue

★ Provencher Boulevard

★ Chemin des Prairies

★ Auteuil Avenue

Public transit

The Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL), one of the larger public transit carriers in the Montreal metropolitan region, services much of Brossard's territory as well as the rest of the South Shore. Terminus Brossard-Panama and Chevrier Park-n-Ride incentive parking lot are two of RTL's heavily used bus terminals located in Brossard.

Education

Primary

★ Good Shepherd Elementary School

★ Harold Napper Elementary

★ Ecole Primaire Charles-Bruneau

★ Ecole Primaire Georges-P.-Vanier

★ Ecole Primaire Guillaume-Vignal

★ Ecole Primaire Marie-Victorin (Brossard)

★ Ecole Primaire Sainte-Claire (Brossard)

★ Ecole Primaire Saint-Laurent

★ Ecole Primaire Samuel-De Champlain (Brossard)

★ Ecole Primaire Tourterelle

Secondary

★ Ecole Secondaire Antoine-Brossard

★ Ecole Secondaire Pierre-Brosseau

Adult education

★ ACCESS Career Centre

★ CEA Antoine-Brossard

See also

★ Municipal reorganization in Quebec

★ Montreal

★ Longueuil, Quebec

★ La Prairie, Quebec

Geographic location

Notes and references

1.

2.
Referendums of June 20, 2004

3.

4. There was no mayor of the city of Brossard from 2002 until the end of 2005 because it was merged into the city of Longueuil and remained a borough during this period. The mayor of Longueuil at the time was Jacques Olivier while Nicole Carrier was in charge of Brossard as the president of the borough.

5. http://ville.brossard.qc.ca/asp/attachements/MESSAGES-FICHIER-7641-3.PDF
6. ''Brossard, de 1958 à 1983 : la création et l'évolution d'une banlieue'', p.28


★ Brossard, de 1958 à 1983 : la création et l'évolution d'une banlieue, , Yvon-André, Lacroix, Ville de Brossard, ,

★ ''Dictionnaire historique de Brossard''

External links

★ Official website of the city of Brossard

★ Statistics Canada 2001 Community Profile - Brossard, Quebec, Canada