Jonquière, Quebec

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Jonquière (2001 population 54,842[1]) (English pronunciation [ʒɑnˈkjɛɹ]; French [ʒɔ̃.kjɛʁ]) was a city on the Saguenay River in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, near Chicoutimi. In 2002, Jonquière became an arrondissement, or borough, of the merged city of Saguenay.

Jonquière itself was the result of the agglomeration of three cities: Kénogami, Jonquière, and Arvida.

Much of Jonquière's development owed its strength to the Price family, who ran a pulp and paper factory in Kénogami. Today that pulp and paper factory is owned by Abitibi-Consolidated. Arvida is the home of an aluminium plant owned by Alcan.

Jonquière is probably most well known in the United States because of its Wal-Mart store, which attempted to unionize and was closed down shortly thereafter. The official reason for this shutdown was labelled as "financial problems."

[edit] History

Jonquière was founded in 1847 by Marguerite Belley, who came from La Malbaie, Quebec, to settle on the Rivière aux Sables. It was named after the Marquis de La Jonquière, governor of New France from 1749 to 1752.

Growth came from the construction of pulp and paper mills at the beginning of the 20th century. Between 1925 and 1928, the world's largest aluminum plant was built along with the city Arvida (then a separate town). In 1942, to supply power to the plant, Alcan built a hydroelectric station at Shipshaw (a village on the Saguenay river) that was also the largest in the world at that time. Jonquière, Arvida, and Kénogami were amalgmated into a single city, Jonquière, in 1975.

Jonquière was the host city for the Quebec Games in the winter of 1976.

The Rivière aux Sables runs through the centre of Jonquière. In the summer of 1996, significant damage to the city's buildings was caused by extensive flooding.

[edit] Mayors

Jean Allard ( - January 20, 1868), (1872 - 1876) and (February 5, 1894 - August 26, 1895 Death)
...
Camil Gagné
Francis Dufour (1975 - 1985) (Arvida 1967 - 1975)
Gilles Marceau
Marcel Martel ( - November 7, 1999)
Daniel Giguère (November 7, 1999 - February 18, 2002)