Montérégie Economic Highlights

Territory

• The Montérégie region encompasses 15 administrative divisions: the regional county municipalities (RCMs) of Brome-Missisquoi, Le Bas-Richelieu, Lajemmerais, La Vallée-du-Richelieu, Rouville, Roussillon, Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Beauharnois-Salaberry, Le Haut-St-Laurent, Les Jardins-de-Napierville, Le Haut-Richelieu, La Haute-Yamaska, Les Maskoutains and Acton, as well as Longueuil.

Population

• In 2004, the population was 1,352,349 inhabitants, 17.9% of Quebec's total population. Almost half the population is on Montreal's South Shore (Longueuil, Lajemmerais, Roussillon and La-Vallée-du-Richelieu RCMs).

Employment

• The 7.1% unemployment rate in 2004 was lower than the provincial average (8.5%). According to the most recent data, there are 687,000 jobs in the Montérégie, almost 20% of the total number of jobs in Quebec.

Geographic Location

• Because of its geographic location, the Montérégie is in an advantageous position: close to Montreal and the Ontario market, in the Montreal-Boston-New York triangle. It has a solid transportation infrastructure: a well developed road network, several airports, including Saint-Hubert and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (business and recreational aviation and links to industrial and aeronautics training activities) and four ports (8% of Quebec's total port handling), including those of Sorel-Tracy and Valleyfield.

Research and Development

•  The Montérégie has a solid base of high technology sectors, dominated by aerospace and aeronautics, the chemical industry and the production of radio and telecommunications equipment. The other manufacturing jobs are mainly in the food, metal products, plastics, paper and steel industries.

  There are about 20 research establishments in the Montérégie including the Canadian Space Agency, the Industrial Materials Institute (NRC), the Food Research and Development Centre, the Horticultural Research and Development Centre and the CANMET Energy Technology Centre (NRCan).

Please refer to the statistical profile ( PDF / HTM Version )  for more information.