West Island
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see West Island (disambiguation).
The West Island (in French, l'Ouest de l'île) is the unofficial name given to the western cities of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. The name probably originated from the geolinguistic division of the island into French and English, with francophones typically inhabiting the eastern portion of the island and anglophones typically inhabiting the western half. The West Island's population is approximately 250,000 and, although most of its residents are today bilingual, anglophones still make up the majority of the West Island's population.
The West Island consists of the following cities:
- Baie-D'Urfé
- Beaconsfield
- Dollard-Des-Ormeaux
- Dorval
- Kirkland
- L'Île-Dorval
- Pierrefonds
- Pointe-Claire
- Roxboro
- Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue
- Senneville
- Sainte-Geneviève
- Île-Bizard
The cities were merged into Montreal in 2002, but most voted to demerge, effective January 1, 2006, when the opportunity was given. Pierrefonds, Roxboro, Sainte-Geneviève and Île-Bizard remain in Montreal, as the boroughs of Pierrefonds-Roxboro and L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève, respectively. Although not part of the list, The Gazette's West Island section includes the boroughs (former cities) of:
The West Island is sometimes derogatorily referred to as the "Waste Island", because urban Montrealers tend to see it as a "hick-town" wasteland devoid of culture, and most of its residents go to downtown Montreal for such activities. This was used as an argument for amalgamation, as West Islanders enjoyed lower taxes than the old city of Montreal, but still used its theatres, concert halls, and museums. With amalgamation, tax rates were harmonized across the island.
West Islanders in general were very unhappy with the forced mergers, and in the 2004 referendums, nine municipalities voted to separate from the megacity. There are hardly any differences at all between the towns, they all have both wealthy and poor areas; but in many cases, the amalgamations had resulted in tax hikes of more than 20 per cent with no increase in services.
The region is home to the Montréal/Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (formerly Montreal-Dorval), John Abbott College, and the Macdonald College of McGill University.
