Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality

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Vaudreuil-Soulanges
Regional county municipality
Vaudreuil-Soulanges forms a triangle (center right) west of the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence Rivers in this satellite image.
Vaudreuil-Soulanges forms a triangle (center right) west of the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence Rivers in this satellite image.
Location in province of Quebec.
Location in province of Quebec.
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Country  Canada
Province  Quebec
Region Montérégie
Effective April 14, 1982
County seat Vaudreuil-Dorion
Government[2]
 • Type Prefecture
 • Prefect Robert Sauvé
Area[2][3]
 • Total 1,019.70 km2 (393.71 sq mi)
 • Land 855.36 km2 (330.26 sq mi)
Population (2011)[3]
 • Total 139,353
 • Density 162.9/km2 (422/sq mi)
 • Pop 2006-2011 Increase 15.7%
 • Dwellings 55,203
Time zone EST (UTC−5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC−4)
Area code(s) 450 and 579
Website www.mrcvs.ca

Vaudreuil-Soulanges is a regional county municipality in Quebec, Canada. It is located on a triangular peninsula in the western Montérégie region of Quebec, surrounded by the Ottawa River to the north, the St. Lawrence River to the south, and Ontario to the west.

History

Prior to the British conquest, the region was divided into several seigeuries populated by French colonists. The seigneurial system was finally abolished in 1854.

  • Seigneurie de Vaudreuil (modern day Vaudreuil-Dorion, Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac, L'Île-Cadieux, Saint-Lazare and Hudson[4][better source needed]
  • Seigneurie de Rigaud (modern day Rigaud, Sainte-Marthe, Pointe-Fortune and Très-Saint-Rédempteur)[5][better source needed]
  • Seigneurie de Soulanges (modern day Saint-Clet, Coteau-du-Lac, Les Cèdres and Pointe-des-Cascades)[6][better source needed]
  • Seigneurie de Nouvelle-Longueuil (modern day Saint-Polycarpe, Saint-Télesphore, Saint-Zotique, Les Coteaux et Rivière-Beaudette)[7][better source needed]
  • Seigneurie de L'Île-Perrot (modern day L'Île-Perrot, Pincourt, Notre-Dame-de-L'Île-Perrot and Terrasse-Vaudreuil)[8][better source needed]

It is the only county in Quebec south of the Ottawa River, owing to the desire to keep the French-speaking population of the area within Lower Canada during the 1791 division of Upper and Lower Canada (precursors to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec). It is also geographically isolated from the Montérégie region, being its only county north of the St. Lawrence River.

Its name comes from the historical division of the area into two counties: Vaudreuil County -- (named after Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, governor of New France) for the communities along the Ottawa River, and Soulanges County -- (named after Pierre-Jacques Joybert de Soulanges from Soulanges, Marne, France) for the communities along the St. Lawrence, a name of Québécois derivation referring to its southerliness.

Since the RCM formation on 14 April 1982, the division of the county into "Vaudreuil" and "Soulanges" is still salient. The "Vaudreuil" area (consisting of the municipalities of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Saint-Lazare, Hudson, L'Île-Perrot, and others) is closer to Montreal and therefore more suburban, populous, and economically and ethnically diverse, compared to the Soulanges area (including the municipalities of Saint-Polycarpe, Saint-Zotique, Coteau-du-Lac, Rivière-Beaudette and Les Coteaux) which is solidly rural, agricultural, and ethnically French-Canadian.

Owing to its geographic isolation within Quebec and growing population as a suburb of the city of Montreal, Elections Canada gave the county its own electoral district in 1997.

Subdivisions

There are 23 subdivisions within the RCM:[2]

Demographics

Population

Historical Census Data - Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality, Quebec[11]
Year Pop. ±%
1991 84,503 —    
1996 95,318 +12.8%
Year Pop. ±%
2001 102,100 +7.1%
2006 120,935 +18.4%
Year Pop. ±%
2011 139,353 +15.2%

Language

Canada Census Mother Tongue - Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality, Quebec[11]
Census Total
French
English
French & English
Other
Year Responses Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop %
2011
137,590
93,300 Increase 9.0% 67.81% 30,380 Increase 22.7% 22.08% 2,465 Increase 62.7% 1.79% 11,445 Increase 50.0% 8.32%
2006
119,465
85,565 Increase 11.7% 71.62% 24,760 Increase 26.2% 20.73% 1,515 Increase 18.8% 1.27% 7,625 Increase 101.2% 6.38%
2001
101,290
76,610 Increase 8.4% 75.63% 19,615 Increase 1.7% 19.37% 1,275 Increase 9.4% 1.26% 3,790 Increase 17.3% 3.74%
1996
94,370
70,690 n/a 74.91% 19,285 n/a 20.44% 1,165 n/a 1.23% 3,230 n/a 3.42%

Transportation

Access Routes

Highways and numbered routes that run through the municipality, including external routes that start or finish at the county border:[12]

See also

References

  1. Reference number 141033 of the Commission de toponymie du Québec (French)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Geographic code 710 in the official Répertoire des municipalités (French)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "cp2011" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "cp2011" defined multiple times with different content
  4. fr:Seigneurie de Vaudreuil
  5. fr:Seigneurie de Rigaud
  6. fr:Seigneurie de Soulanges
  7. fr:Seigneurie de Nouvelle-Longueuil
  8. fr:Seigneurie de l'Île-Perrot
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
  12. Official Transport Quebec Road Map