Cities Montreal Island
Neighboorhood Statistics of the 15 Cities of Montreal.

Merging the Island of Montreal

The idea of uniting the Island of Montreal, that is the cities Montreal island and the suburbs under one municipal government was first proposed in the 1960s by Jean Drapeau (Parti civique), mayor of Montreal.

The idea, however, was strongly opposed in many suburbs.

In 2001, Lucien Bouchard of the Parti Quebecois (PQ) announced a plan to merge the major cities of the Island of Montreal with the suburbs. Unfortunately, the unsuccessful attempt of Pierre Bourque (Vision Montreal) at merging the 28 municipalities of Montreal into a “megacity” of 27 boroughs cost him his 2001 election.

In 2002, Bernard Landry of the PQ forcibly merged all the cities on the Island of Montreal into a single municipality.

In 2006 however, the decision was partially reversed by Jean Charest of the Parti Liberal du Quebec (PLQ).

In 2002, the entire island of Montreal as well as several remote islands were merged into a “megacity”. Some 27 suburbs and the former city of Montreal were merged into several boroughs named after their former cities or districts.

During the same time, Gerald Tremblay (Union Montreal) and his administration decentralized the city by giving more power to the boroughs and to their respective mayors and other elected officials.

Demerging the Island of Montreal

During the 2003 provincial elections, Jean Charest of the winning PLQ party promised to submit the mergers to referendums.

In 2004 some of the former cities voted to demerge from Montreal and to regain their municipal status although not with all the powers they once had. Some of the cities decided to demerge and the demergers came into effect in 2006.

There are now 16 municipalities on the Island of Montreal, the city of Montreal and 15 recreated cities. Yet, the 15 independent cities of today do not have as many powers as they did before the merger in 2002. Nowadays, the City of Montreal has the upper hand and many powers are under to the Agglomeration Council that covers the entire Island of Montreal.

Merging or Demerging...

The debate regarding municipal amalgamation could resurface any day.

The possibility of merging boroughs and cities Montreal Island, of reducing the number of elected officials and of adjusting boundaries is still open to discussion by many citizens and elected officials.

The possible reunifications of Outremont and Plateau-Mont-Royal, Anjou and Outremont, Anjou and RDP-PAT, Anjou and Saint-Leonard, Saint-Leonard and Montreal-Nord are often mentioned. Also mentioned is the potential merger of LaSalle and Lachine as well as the annexation of the western part of RDP-PAT to Montreal-Nord to simplify service delivery.

Some argue that the demerged cities are satisfied with their situation and that their finances are better managed while others believe that municipal mergers are a failure and that they have not resulted in any economies of scale. A debate that is far from being over.

---

Thank you for visiting Cities Montreal Island.

Exit Cities Montreal Island
and go to Montreal Business Kit Home Page.