Westmount, Quebec

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Westmount redirects here; for other uses, see Westmount (disambiguation)

Coordinates: 45°8′N 73°98′W
City of Westmount, Quebec (Ville de Westmount, Québec)
Motto: Robur meum civium fides (My strength is the faithfulness of my citizens)
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Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Founded	1874
Established	1908
Government
- City Mayor	Karin Marks
Area
- City	4.02 km² (2.50 sq mi)
Population (2001)
- City	19,727
- Density	4,902.8/km² (7,890.8/sq mi)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Postal code span	H
Area code = 514/438
Website: [1]

Westmount is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the Island of Montreal, an enclave of the city of Montreal; pop. 19,727; area 4.02 km²; (Statistics Canada, 2001).

Westmount was first incorporated as a city in 1874 and remained so until January 1, 2002 it was forced to become a borough of the City of Montreal. On June 20, 2004 it voted to "demerge" (see Quebec Demerger Movement) and became an independent city again on January 1, 2006. However, it will not truly regain its former status since the bulk of its municipal taxes will go to the newly created Agglomeration Council, which oversees activities common to all municipalities on the Island of Montreal (e.g. fire protection, public transit) even after the demerger.

1 Government
2 Community
3 Landmarks
4 Famous residents
5 Demographics
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Government

Since regaining its status as a city, Westmount is governed by a City Council made up of a mayor and eight "district" councillors. The current mayor of Westmount is Karin Marks. In addition to the local city council, Westmount is represented on the Montreal Agglomeration Council. On the federal level, Westmount is represented in the Westmount—Ville-Marie riding. The riding is currently held by Liberal MP Lucienne Robillard.

Provincially, the city is represented in the riding of Westmount—Saint-Louis by MNA Jacques Chagnon of the Quebec Liberal Party.

[edit] Community

Traditionally, the community of Westmount was an enclave of wealthy anglophones, having been at one point the richest community in Canada; it now competes with West Vancouver in British Columbia and Rosedale, Toronto for the title. It was this combination of affluence and anglocentricity that made the city one of several symbolic targets of FLQ terrorist bombings in the 1960s, culminating in the 1970 October Crisis. However, it is now mostly comprised of middle and upper-middle class families of multiple ethnic and linguistic backgrounds with the stereotype only partially existing at the very top of the mountain, around Summit Circle, a road which rings around its summit (one of the three peaks of Mount Royal), and on which some of Montreal's wealthiest families (including the Bronfmans and the Molsons) have built their homes as well as select avenues located off The Boulevard.

Westmount is mostly residential containing schools, an arena, a pool, a public library and a number of parks, including Westmount Park and King George Park . However, there are small commercial districts on the western part of Sherbrooke Street, around Victoria Avenue ("Victoria Village"), on Saint Catherine Street, on Greene Avenue and near the Atwater metro station.

There are three units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve in Westmount:

3rd Field Engineer Regiment
712 Communications Squadron
The Royal Montreal Regiment

Westmount is also home of the oldest active rugby club in North America, the Westmount Rugby Club.

[edit] Landmarks

The latter area includes Dawson College, Quebec's largest CEGEP; Plaza Alexis-Nihon mall and office towers; some of the most prestigious private schools in Quebec, including Miss Edgar's and Miss Cramp's School, Selwyn House School, Villa Sainte-Marcelline and The Study; and the Westmount Square residential towers and shopping complex designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and funded largely by Westmount resident Samuel Bronfman, the founder of the Seagram liquor empire.

[edit] Famous residents

Westmount is the residence of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Canadian media proprietor Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, Canadian automobile racing driver Jacques Villeneuve and the birthplace of:

William Shatner,actor of Star Trek fame and now Game Show Host and star of Boston Legal
Norma Shearer, motion picture actress
Douglas Shearer, multiple Academy Award winning film sound engineer
Leonard Cohen, author and musician

[edit] Demographics

As of the census of 2001, there were 19,727 people, 8,460 households, and 5,215 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,907.21/km² . There were 9,333 housing units at an average density of 2,321.64/km².

The linguistic makeup of the city was English as the first language of 59.5% of the population, French the first of 18.7%, 2.1% of the population learnt both English and French, and 19.6% first learnt other languages. 20.5% of the population can speak only English, 3.1% can speak only French, 76.3% can speak both English and French, and 0.2% cannot speak English nor French.

In the city the population was spread out with 15.7% under the age of 15, 11.9% from 15 to 24, 22.9% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 83.7 males. For every 100 females age 15 and over, there were 80.2 males.

There were 8,460 households out of which 26.2% had children living with them, 47.5% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female lone-parent as a householder, and 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average married-couple family size was 3.1.

Christians made up 58.0% of the population, or 31.0% Catholic, 21.5% Protestant, 3.7% Orthodox, and 1.9% other Christian. Other religions in the city include 23.2% Jewish, 2.7% Muslim, 2.1% Eastern religions, and 1.0% other religions. 14.9% of the population claimed to have no religious affiliation.

The median income for a household in the city was $78,611, and the median income for a family was $194,335 [2]. Males had an average income of $112,882 versus $42,245 for females. About 5.0% of the labour force was unemployed. The largest occupation categories were 24.0% employed in management occupations, 18.2% in business, finance, and administration occupations, and 17.4% in social science, education, government service and religion occupations.

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding of data samples.