Mount Royal, Quebec

Mount Royal (French: Mont-Royal, officially Town of Mount Royal, French: Ville de Mont-Royal, abbreviated TMR, French: VMR) is an affluent on-island suburban town located on the northwest side of the eponymous Mount Royal, northwest of Downtown Montreal, on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is completely surrounded by Montreal. The population was 20,276[5] as of the Canada 2016 Census. In 2008, most of the Town of Mount Royal was designated a National Historic Site of Canada, as a "[remarkable] synthesis of urban renewal movements of the early 20th century, reflecting the influence of the City Beautiful, Garden City and Garden Suburb movements".[6] The town celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012.

This article is about the town. For the mountain, see Mount Royal. For other uses, see Mount Royal (disambiguation).
Mount Royal
Mont-Royal
Ville[1][2]
Town of Mount Royal
Ville de Mont-Royal
Connaught Park
Motto(s): 
Regium Donum
(Latin for "Royal gift")
Location on the Island of Montreal.
(Outlined areas indicate demerged municipalities).
Mount Royal
Location in southern Quebec
Coordinates: 45°30′58″N 73°38′35″W[3]
Country Canada
Province Quebec
RegionMontreal
RCMNone
Founded1912
ConstitutedJanuary 1, 2006
Government
 • MayorPeter J. Malouf
 • Federal ridingMount Royal
 • Prov. ridingMont-Royal–Outremont
Area
 • Total7.6 km2 (2.9 sq mi)
 • Land7.6 km2 (2.9 sq mi)
Population
 (2016)
 • Total20,276
 • Density2,652.2/km2 (6,869/sq mi)
 • Pop 2011-2016
 4.0%
 • Dwellings
7,375
Time zoneUTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)
H3P to H3R
Area code(s)514 and 438
Highways
A-15 (TCH)
A-40 (TCH)
A-520
Websitewww.town.mount-royal.qc.ca
[4]

History

Town of Mount Royal, or TMR, was founded in 1912. It was created at the initiative of the Canadian Northern Railway. The town was designed by Frederick Todd, a planner who was heavily influenced by the likes of Ebenezer Howard and incorporated many aspects of the Garden City Movement as well some elements of the earlier City Beautiful movement into his design.[7] The plan was to build a model city at the foot of Mount Royal. The company bought 4,800 acres (1,900 ha) of farmland, and then built a rail tunnel under Mount Royal connecting their land to downtown Montreal. The profits from the venture helped finance the development of Canadian Northern's transcontinental railroad, which eventually became a significant constituent of the Canadian National Railway system. The town was designed by Canadian Northern's chief engineer, Henry Wicksteed, based loosely on Washington, D.C.

The garden city’s coat of arms is composed of several significant elements:[8] • The royal crown, of French origin, is enclosed in the top panel and blazoned with fleurons. • Two heraldic roses, of English origin, are stylized wild roses with two rows of five petals separated by pointed sepals. • The stylized mountain refers to the Town’s geographic situation at the foot of Mount Royal. • The outline of the shield ending in a point recalls the shape of the shields of ancient Greece and Rome. • Inscribed on the scroll beneath the shield, the motto, Regium Donum, means “gift of the king.” • Town of Mount Royal’s official signature includes the coat of arms as well as the Town’s name in French and English. The coat of arms has evolved over the years; the current version dates from 1993.

Plan of "Model City" and of the Mount Royal Tunnel

One notable feature of the town is the naming of some of its streets, and also its occasionally idiosyncratic numbering system. Some streets which pass through the town may thus bear two names (in whichever language). For example, Jean Talon Street, a large East-West thoroughfare crossing Montreal for kilometres (miles), goes a few hundred metres (yards) through TMR under the name of Dresden Avenue, only to recover its Montreal name on the other side of the town. This situation has been recently addressed by putting the two names on the street signs. On these few hundred metres, TMR uses a house civic numbering totally different from that of Montreal on either side. This sort of change in the numbering system also occurs on smaller streets shared by both Montreal and TMR (for example, Trenton, Lockhart and Brookfield avenues, where the TMR numbering system decreases from East to West, only to jump from 2 to 2400 on the few metres (yards) of the street that still belong to Montreal.

In the beginning, the Town was a small farming community, known for its melons. The Daoust family farm grew the celebrated Montreal melon, also called the Montreal nutmeg melon. Green-fleshed and uniquely flavourful, the melons weighed up to 9 or 11 kg. So special was the Montreal melon that it was exported to New York, Chicago and Boston, where, in 1921, people paid as much as $1.50 a slice to taste it. Farming was abandoned over the years, with the gradual urbanization of the Town.[9]

Geography
The former Mont-Royal station served many commuters to Downtown Montreal. Work is now underway to convert it to an REM station.

Two main thoroughfares, Laird Boulevard and Graham Boulevard, cut across the borough diagonally and meet at Connaught Park, a green space located in the centre. Mount Royal Train Station, a commuter train station on the Exo Deux-Montagnes line is located to the east of this park. This line is now undergoing construction to upgrade it for the new REM network. Trains going through the Mount Royal Tunnel link the station to downtown Montreal in eight minutes. Both avenues end at Jean Talon Street and close to the highway.

TMR is surrounded on three sides by a highway, a fence and a rail line.

The highway is Metropolitan Boulevard, a major constituent of Autoroute 40. It was built as an elevated highway throughout, except when it passes through TMR (between Sainte Croix Avenue and L'Acadie Boulevard), since the Town council requested that it be built on the ground, in order to separate the town from the industrial area to the north.

A fence runs along the eastern border with Park Extension at L'Acadie Boulevard, a six lane thoroughfare. The stated purpose of the fence is to prevent children and house pets from running into the busy thoroughfare but some have contended that it was built to keep residents of the working-class Park Extension neighbourhood out of the town.[10]

The rail line is the last portion of Canadian Pacific's Adirondack subdivision. It originally ran through the northern part of the district of Côte-des-Neiges. However, when the town became part of Montreal on Jan 1, 2002, the part of Côte-des-Neiges north of rail line was incorporated into the Mount Royal borough. When the town demerged on Jan 1, 2006 this part, known as Glenmount, reverted to Côte-des-Neiges.

Government
Mont-Royal Town Hall

MUNICIPAL

Mayor Peter J. Malouf[11] was elected 7 November 2021 defeating former municipal councillor Michelle Setlakwe, the first mayoral election in 16 years.

In 2020, TMR was divided from six into eight electoral districts to reflect its growing population of 22,000 residents.[12] The Town mayor sits on the Agglomeration Council of Montreal.[13]

2021-25 MUNICIPAL COUNCIL (100% new slate of elected officials)[14]

• MAYOR: Peter J. Malouf – 55.47% (3710 votes)[15]

  • COUNCILLOR, district No. 1: Antoine Tayar - 54.89% (578 votes)
  • COUNCILLOR, district No. 2: Maryam Kamali Nezhad - 53.85% (385 votes)
  • COUNCILLOR, district No. 3: Daniel Pilon - 57.42% (511 votes)
  • COUNCILLOR, district No. 4: Maya Chammas - 53.48% (430 votes)
  • COUNCILLOR, district No. 5: Julie Halde - 51.97% (408 votes)
  • COUNCILLOR, district No. 6: Caroline Decaluwe - 51.60% (387 votes)
  • COUNCILLOR, district No. 7: Sébastien Dreyfuss - 50.74% (448 votes)
  • COUNCILLOR, district No. 8: Sophie Séguin - 66.43% (550 votes)

Voter Participation :48.7%. Despite the COVID pandemic, 6,779 residents voted by mail or in person [16]

Previous mayors

The first mayor of the Town of Mount-Royal was Thomas S. Darling, elected in 1913.[17]

Rockland Road in Mount-Royal at dusk
  • MAYOR THOMAS S. DARLING (1913-1934)
  • FREDERICK (FRED) JOHNSON (1934–1935)
  • SAMUEL (SAM) H. HANSON (1935)
  • JOHN ARTHUR DAKIN (1935​ ​– 1937)
  • ROBERT SMITH (1937 – 1941)
  • MAYNARD ALBERT METCALF (1941–​ 1945)
  • RICHARD EARLE SCHOFIELD (1945–1951)
  • REGINALD JOHN PARTRIDGE DAWSON (1951–1987
  • VERA MYSTIC DANYLUK (1987–1994)
  • HARRY SCHWARTZ (1994–1999)
  • PIERRE BRISEBOIS (1999 Élu par intérim)
  • RICARDO HRTSCHAN (1999 – 2001)
  • SUZANNE CARON (2002 – 2005)
  • VERA MYSTIC DANYLUK (2005 – 2010)
  • PHILIPPE ROY (2010 –2021)
  • PETER J. MALOUF​ (2021 –​ )

Some highlights –

MAYOR John A. Dakin was Town of Mount Royal’s fourth mayor. A contractor by profession, he owned Dakin Construction Co. Ltd and built many houses in the Town.

MAYOR Mayor Richard E. Schofield inaugurated the present Town Hall in 1948 and the main community hall bears his name.[18]

MAYOR Reginald J. P. Dawson was reelected 10 times, (9 times by acclamation) and set a record by remaining in office for more than 36 years – the longest Mayor in office in Canada. The municipal library was named the Reginald J. P. Dawson Library[19]

MAYOR VERA (Mystic) DANYLUK served four mandates and was involved in TMR politics for 30 years. She was School Commissioner at the Sainte-Croix School Board (1976-1982), Municipal Councillor (1983-1987), and finally multi-term Mayor of TMR. In 1994, she left her mayoralty post to assume the prestigious position of Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Montreal Urban Community and CEO of this same organization (1994-2002). She was awarded the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case for her contribution to equality for women in Canada. Shortly after being elected for her fourth mandate, she was given a diagnosis for a rare disease that forced her to step down in July 2010. In October, Mayor Danyluk died at the age of 66.[20] In 2016, Town of Mount Royal Recreation Centre Park, the Town’s largest green space, changed its name to Danyluk Park.[21]

MAYOR PHILIPPE ROY (2010-2021)[22]

Lawyer and Town councillor(2005-2010) Philippe Roy was nominated at the death of former Mayor Vera Danyluk, and in the absence of opposition, was re-elected by acclamation in 2013 and 2017. His Action Mont Royal[23] team of councillors served together for 15–20 years.[24] During his eleven year term, his Council initiatives focused on environmental sustainability and urban density,[25] and his efforts culminated in the ambitious 2021-25 sustainable development plan.[26] He also prioritized commercial development and the preservation of low taxes.

During his mandate, he attempted 3 major files. The first was a new sport center for the town that began in 2016 at $33M and resulted in a divisive 2020 referendum[27] over a ballooned budget of $48M. The project was ultimately suspended following construction bids of $88–94M.[28]

The second initiative commenced in 2015 to mitigate the impact of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM)[29] that would bring 550 electric trains through the center of town (increase from 62 suburban trains). Ultimately the town secured an arrangement with the REM to eliminate a critical pedestrian crossing at Jasper and Lazard and eliminate a sound barrier from the plan, in exchange for the town paying $6.5M to develop a concrete platform between Laird and Cornwall bridges and pay an additional $2M + to develop a green space.[30] This was controversial because the funds could have been applied to the underfunded sport center being considered at the same time.

The third was the commercial and residential development of Town of Mount Royal's Royalmount industrial sector that occupies about 40% of the Town’s surface area.[31] After years of strong resistance from neighbouring municipalities and citizens to the social impact that would be caused by increased traffic and controversial residential density in the area,[32] the project was also suspended for residential consideration. However in 2015, Roy was able to assure rezoning in the area from industrial to commercial to permit developer Carbonleo to develop its commercial project.[33]

Federal and Provincial

The entire borough is located within the federal riding of Mount Royal, whose best-known MP for nearly 20 years was Pierre Trudeau, and within the smaller provincial electoral district of Mount Royal. The Mount Royal riding has been a Liberal stronghold since 1940.

The riding encompasses Côte St. Luc, Hampstead, Côte des Neiges and the Town of Mount Royal.[34] Since 2015, Mr. Anthony Housefather has served as Member of The House of Commons - Mount Royal[35]

Demographics[36]

TMR has always been an upper-income community, and until the 1960s its population was majority Anglophone. This began to change after the Quiet Revolution, as francophones gained access to better-paying careers. The town became popular and today the community is 46% francophone and home to a growing Arab and Asian Canadian population.

On January 1, 2002, as part of the 2002–2006 municipal reorganization of Montreal, it was merged into Montreal and became a borough. However, after a change of government and a 2004 referendum, it was re-constituted as an independent town on January 1, 2006.

Historical populations
YearPop.±%
196621,845—    
197121,560−1.3%
197620,514−4.9%
198119,247−6.2%
198618,350−4.7%
199118,212−0.8%
199618,282+0.4%
200118,682+2.2%
200618,933+1.3%
201119,503+3.0%
201620,276+4.0%
Home language (2016)
Language Population Percentage (%)
French 9,345 51%
English 5,585 30%
Other languages 3,560 19%
Mother tongue (2016)
Language Population Percentage (%)
French 8,740 46%
English 3,705 19%
Other languages 6,635 35%
Visible Minorities (2016)
Ethnicity Population Percentage (%)
Not a visible minority 14,965 75.3%
Visible minorities 4,900 24.7%

Education

The Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) operates Francophone public schools.[37]

Secondary schools:

  • École secondaire Mont-Royal
  • École secondaire Pierre-Laporte

Primary schools:

  • École primaire Académie Saint-Clément
  • École primaire Saint-Clément Ouest
  • École primaire Saint-Clément Est

The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) operates Anglophone public schools in the town.

  • Carlyle Elementary School[38]
  • Dunrae Gardens Elementary School[39]

The Town has its own library, Reginald J. P. Dawson Library, which is independent from the Montreal Library Network.

See also

References
  1. "List of the official municipalities of Québec". Gouvernement du Québec. 2012. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  2. "Ville de Mont-Royal - Town of Mount Royal (Homepage)". Town of Mount-Royal. 24 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  3. Reference number 388468 of the Commission de toponymie du Québec (in French)
  4. http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/MTL_STATS_FR/MEDIA/DOCUMENTS/PROFIL_SOCIOD%C9MO_MONT-ROYAL%202016.PDF
  5. Statistics Canada (2017). "Mont-Royal, V [Census subdivision], Quebec. Census Profile. 2016 Census". Retrieved 2018-04-16.
  6. "Model City of Mount Royal". Directory of Designations of National Historic Significance of Canada. Parks Canada. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
  7. Sewell, John. "The Shape of the City: Toronto Struggles with Modern Planning" page 52 University of Toronto Press Inc. 1993
  8. "History | A garden city".
  9. "Town of Mont Royal - Québec".
  10. Kristian Gravenor, "Segregation fence to live on." Montreal Mirror, November 8, 2001. Archived July 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Peter J. Malouf | A garden city".
  12. "By-Law No. 1461 to Divide the Town's Territory into Eight Electoral Districts | A garden city".
  13. "Town Council | A garden city". www.ville.mont-royal.qc.ca. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  14. "Town Council | A garden city".
  15. "Élection municipale du 7 novembre 2021".
  16. "2021 Municipal Election: Preliminary Results Now Known | A garden city".
  17. Kalbfleisch, John (2013). Le cadeau royal : histoire de la ville de Mont-Royal = The royal gift : a history of Town of Mount Royal. Town of Mount Royal, QC: Town of Mount Royal. p. 4. ISBN 9782980472732. OCLC 846793989.
  18. "Town of Mont Royal - Québec".
  19. "Reginald J. P. Dawson Library".
  20. "An historic figure, recognized as such during her lifetime, Vera Danyluk passes away and leaves in mourning a municipality that she deeply marked | A garden city".
  21. "Recreation Centre Park becomes Danyluk Park | A garden city".
  22. https://www.ville.mont-royal.qc.ca/en/news/conseil-municipal/mayors-column-ten-years-later
  23. "Action Mont-Royal - Our team".
  24. "Philippe Roy par acclamation".
  25. "" J'ai fait le tour du jardin "".
  26. https://www.ville.mont-royal.qc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/dev_durable_eng.pdf
  27. "2020 Referendum: Results | A garden city".
  28. "Construction of the Sports and Community Centre: Both Bids Rejected | A garden city".
  29. Réseau express métropolitain
  30. https://www.stele-medias.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jmr_2021-06-30.pdf
  31. https://www.ville.mont-royal.qc.ca/en/news/conseil-municipal/mayors-column-our-industrial-sector-valuable-asset
  32. https://www.ville.mont-royal.qc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/royalmount_etude_urb_vmr.pdf
  33. https://www.ville.mont-royal.qc.ca/sites/default/files/documents/1440_purb.pdf#page=81
  34. "Profile".
  35. "Profile".
  36. http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/MTL_STATS_FR/MEDIA/DOCUMENTS/PROFIL_SOCIOD%C9MO_MONT-ROYAL%202016.PDF
  37. "ÉCOLES ET CENTRES." Commission Scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys. Retrieved on December 7, 2014.
  38. Carlyle Elementary School
  39. École Dunrae Gardens School
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