Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

A typical suburban area of Rivière-des-Prairies

Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles is a borough of the City of Montreal, Quebec.

1 Geography
2 Ancestry
3 Politics
4 Additional information
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Geography

The borough is located at the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal. It is composed of the districts of Rivière-des-Prairies and Pointe-aux-Trembles, which were part of the City of Montreal prior to the 2002 municipal mergers. From January 1, 2002 to January 1, 2006, the borough included the town of Montreal East, which has now demerged from Montreal.

The borough's name lists the two neighbourhoods according to their date of annexation to Montreal (Rivière-des-Prairies joined in 1963 and Pointe-aux-Trembles in 1982). It has a population of 102,457.

Rivière-des-Prairies is mainly composed of suburbs, as well as multiple forested areas and fields. The Saint Lawrence River surrounds Montreal.

[edit] Ancestry

The borough is known for its high concentration of Italians in most of the neighborhoods, and Haitians in the others.. Maurice Duplessis Boulevard was closed to traffic on July 9th 2006 when Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup due to the great amount of fans celebrating in the street.

[edit] Politics

A view of the Saint Lawrence River from the North of Rivière-des-Prairies

The borough is divided into three districts -- La Pointe-aux-Prairies, Pointe-aux-Trembles and Rivière-des-Prairies -- and has seven elected representatives since the November 2005 municipal election: one borough mayor, three city councillors, and three borough councillors.

The borough's current elected officials, since January 1, 2006 are:

Borough mayor: Cosmo Maciocia (political affiliation: Montreal Island Citizens Union)
City councillor, Rivière-des-Prairies district: Joe Magri (Montreal Island Citizens Union)
Borough councillor, Rivière-des-Prairies district: Maria Calderone (Montreal Island Citizens Union)
City councillor, La Pointe-aux-Prairies: Nicolas Montmorency (Vision Montreal (until November 2006) / independent (November 2006 to present))
Borough councillor, La Pointe-aux-Prairies: Joseph (Joe) Di Pietro (Vision Montreal)
City councillor, Pointe-aux-Trembles: André Bélisle (Vision Montreal (until November 2006) / independent (November 2006 to present))
Borough councillor, Pointe-aux-Trembles: Suzanne Décarie (Vision Montreal)

On Wednesday, November 22, 2006, councillor Montmorency announced he was leaving Vision Montreal to sit as an independent. On Monday, November 27, Vision Montreal announced it was kicking councillor Bélisle out of its ranks due to Bélisle's allegedly stating his intention to leave the party.

From November 2001 to November 2005, the borough was divided into four districts and their representatives were:

Marc-Aurèle-Fortin district: Cosmo Maciocia (Montreal Island Citizens Union)
Rivière-des-Prairies district: Michel Plante (Vision Montreal (until March 2005)/ Montreal Island Citizens Union (March 2005 to election day))
Pointe-aux-Trembles district: Marius Minier (Vision Montreal (until November 2001) / independent (November 2001 to December 2003) / Montreal Island Citizens Union (December 2003 to summer 2005) / Team Ville Marie (Fall 2005 to election day))
Bout-de-l'Île district: Colette Paul (Vision Montreal (until Nov. 2001) / independent (Nov. 2001 to summer 2005) / Vision Montreal (summer 2005 to election day))

[edit] Additional information

From 2002 to 2006, borough headquarters were located in Montreal East's town hall, which benefitted from a $5 million expansion voted in 2003 and completed in September 2005. Since the town's demerger, the borough's services have been relocated in both Rivière-des-Prairies and Pointe-aux-Trembles, but a recent proposal to build a new borough hall next to the planned Rivière-des-Prairies Maison de la Culture (cultural centre) has been adopted despite the ire of the Pointe-aux-Trembles councillors.

The borough is covered by three weekly newspapers, two in French ("L'Avenir de l'Est" in Pointe-aux-Trembles and "L'Informateur" in Rivière-des-Prairies) and one in English ("The East End Suburban", which covers only Rivière-des-Prairies).