Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality

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.

Location in province of Quebec.
Coordinates: 45°21′N 74°13′W / 45.350°N 74.217°W / 45.350; -74.217Coordinates: 45°21′N 74°13′W / 45.350°N 74.217°W / 45.350; -74.217[1]
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.

Geography

Vaudreuil-Soulanges is part of the St-Lawrence Valley. Two million years ago the region was subject to a series of glaciations that covered much of North America. The last in the series was the Wisconsin glaciation. The ice sheet weighed down the landscape. This created the depressions in the land that created the basins for Lake Saint-Louis, Lac des Deux-Montagnes and Lake Saint-Francis. As the ice sheet eroded , the region was mostly submerged 12000 years ago by an inland saltwater sea known as the Champlain sea. Once the glacier was melted the landscape rose again and pushed the saltwater into the sea. 10000 years ago the body of water, now a fresh water lake, has been named by scholars as Lake Lampsilis.

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.

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]

Cities & Towns (8)
Municipalities (12)

Villages (3)

Demographics

Population

Historical Census Data - Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality, Quebec[11]
YearPop.±%
1991 84,503—    
1996 95,318+12.8%
YearPop.±%
2001 102,100+7.1%
2006 120,935+18.4%
YearPop.±%
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]
  • Principal Highways
    • None

See also

References

  1. ↑ Reference number 141033 of the Commission de toponymie du Québec (French)
  2. 1 2 3 Geographic code 710 in the official Répertoire des municipalités (French)
  3. 1 2 3 "2011 Community Profiles". Canada 2011 Census. Statistics Canada. July 5, 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
  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. ↑ "2006 Community Profiles". Canada 2006 Census. Statistics Canada. March 30, 2011. Retrieved 2013-05-18.
  10. ↑ "2001 Community Profiles". Canada 2001 Census. Statistics Canada. February 17, 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-18.
  11. 1 2 Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
  12. ↑ Official Transport Quebec Road Map


Adjacent Counties & Equivalent Territories
Ontario Prescott and Russell, Ontario Ottawa River
Argenteuil RCM / Deux-Montagnes RCM
Ontario Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry, Ontario Ottawa River
Montréal TE
   Vaudreuil-Soulanges RCM  
Saint Lawrence River
Le Haut-Saint-Laurent RCM / Beauharnois-Salaberry RCM


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