History UsefulNotes / Montreal

* ''Series/NineteenTwo''

Montreal is Canada's second-largest city and the largest city in the province of UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}. It is also the second-largest French-speaking city in the world (after, of course, UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}).[[note]]A few argue that [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Kinshasa]] and [[UsefulNotes/CotedIvoire Abidjan]] come between Paris and Montreal, but those cities being in Africa, the locals only speak French as a lingua franca for administration, education, and sometimes trade, while various indigenous languages are spoken at home. In Montreal, French is unquestionably dominant, although English has a secondary role in government, business, and education.[[/note]] Its most (in)famous structure, Olympic Stadium, was home to the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBsaeball Montreal Expos]] baseball team until they became the Washington Nationals. The Bell Centre (formerly the Molson Centre) is the home of the Montreal Canadiens (who previously called the storied Montreal Forum home), the oldest hockey team in the NHL and the team that has won the most Stanley Cups (24 in all, one of which predates the UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague -- though they haven't been doing so well in the last two decades). While not as big a filming centre as UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}}, quite a few movies are still filmed in Montreal. Its wide range of architecture allows the city to act as a cheap stand-in for many European cities. Montreal is also the home of a few VideoGame design studios: Creator/{{Ubisoft}} Montreal (''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' series and ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed''); Creator/ElectronicArts Montreal (''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo''); [[Creator/SquareEnix Eidos Montreal]] (''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'') and the late Creator/{{THQ}} Montreal. The annual Just for Laughs Comedy Festival is the largest comedy festival in the world.

Montreal is Canada's second-largest city and the largest city in the province of UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}. It is also the second-largest French-speaking city in the world (after, of course, UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}).[[note]]A few argue that [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Kinshasa]] and [[UsefulNotes/CotedIvoire Abidjan]] come between Paris and Montreal, but those cities being in Africa, the locals only speak French as a lingua franca for administration, education, and sometimes trade, while various indigenous languages are spoken at home. In Montreal, French is unquestionably dominant, although English has a secondary role in government, business, and education.[[/note]] Its most (in)famous structure, Olympic Stadium, was home to the Expos baseball team until they became the Washington Nationals. The Bell Centre (formerly the Molson Centre) is the home of the Montreal Canadiens (who previously called the storied Montreal Forum home), the oldest hockey team in the NHL and the team that has won the most Stanley Cups (24 in all, one of which predates the NHL -- though they haven't been doing so well in the last two decades). While not as big a filming centre as UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}}, quite a few movies are still filmed in Montreal. Its wide range of architecture allows the city to act as a cheap stand-in for many European cities. Montreal is also the home of a few VideoGame design studios: Creator/{{Ubisoft}} Montreal (''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' series and ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed''); Creator/ElectronicArts Montreal (''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo''); [[Creator/SquareEnix Eidos Montreal]] (''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'') and the late Creator/{{THQ}} Montreal. The annual Just for Laughs Comedy Festival is the largest comedy festival in the world.

The city is located on an island in the Saint Lawrence River in the southwestern corner of the province, home to nearly 2 million people, with another 2 million living in the surrounding greater Montreal area on the mainland and the neighboring island of Laval. Until the advent of the Lachine Canal and the later St. Lawrence Seaway system, Montreal was the furthest navigable point up the St. Lawrence River, a factor that helped its economy boom. The island is connected to the mainland by a network of bridges, many of which, most notably the high-traffic Champlain Bridge, suffer from the city's notoriously poor road and infrastructure conditions, a target of a major corruption inquiry in recent years. Potholes are practically a feature rather than a bug on many of the roads, especially in the springtime. A peculiarity of Montreal geography is its directional orientation which uses the St. Lawrence River -- heading away from the river (roughly WNW) is heading north, heading towards the river (roughly ESE) is heading south, and Boulevard Saint-Laurent acts as the dividing line between East and West. Boulevard Saint-Laurent historically also acted as the cultural dividing line between the anglophone West Island and the francophone East Island (more on that below).

* ''Film/ScreamVI'', doubling for UsefulNotes/NewYork.

Montreal is Canada's second-largest city. It is also the second-largest French-speaking city in the world (after, of course, UsefulNotes/{{Paris}}).[[note]]A few argue that [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Kinshasa]] and [[UsefulNotes/CotedIvoire Abidjan]] come between Paris and Montreal, but those cities being in Africa, the locals only speak French as a lingua franca for administration, education, and sometimes trade, while various indigenous languages are spoken at home. In Montreal, French is unquestionably dominant, although English has a secondary role in government, business, and education.[[/note]] Its most (in)famous structure, Olympic Stadium, was home to the Expos baseball team until they became the Washington Nationals. The Bell Centre (formerly the Molson Centre) is the home of the Montreal Canadiens (who previously called the storied Montreal Forum home), the oldest hockey team in the NHL and the team that has won the most Stanley Cups (24 in all, one of which predates the NHL -- though they haven't been doing so well in the last two decades). While not as big a filming centre as UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}}, quite a few movies are still filmed in Montreal. Its wide range of architecture allows the city to act as a cheap stand-in for many European cities. Montreal is also the home of a few VideoGame design studios: Creator/{{Ubisoft}} Montreal (''Franchise/PrinceOfPersia'' series and ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed''); Creator/ElectronicArts Montreal (''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo''); [[Creator/SquareEnix Eidos Montreal]] (''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'') and the late Creator/{{THQ}} Montreal. The annual Just for Laughs Comedy Festival is the largest comedy festival in the world.

The city is located on an island in the Saint Lawrence River in the southwestern corner of the province, home to nearly 2 million people, with another 2 million living in the surrounding greater Montreal area on the mainland and the neighboring island of Laval. The island is connected to the mainland by a network of bridges, many of which, most notably the high-traffic Champlain Bridge, suffer from the city's notoriously poor road and infrastructure conditions, a target of a major corruption inquiry in recent years. Potholes are practically a feature rather than a bug on many of the roads, especially in the springtime.

Montreal is not an unequivocally French city despite the province's strong laws protecting its French heritage (which most obviously manifests itself in the rules regarding public signage in which the French words must be printed in bigger letters and more prominently than the English translation--sometimes people like to give an extra twist of the knife by printing the English in harder to read grayscale italics). Especially in the downtown area around Ste. Catherine Street even more so when approaching the largely English suburb of Westmount[[note]]an independent town entirely surrounded by Montreal[[/note]], quite a few of its inhabitants are native English-speakers (often [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Jewish]]), who often adopt a culture closer to American/Anglo-Canadian culture than their francophone compatriots. There are several enclaves of English speakers within the city: the predominantly Hasidic neighbourhood Outremont, the largely Jamaican and Iranian Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG), and parts of St. Henri. The communities of the suburban "West Island", though not part of Montreal politically[[note]]although they were amalgamated with the city briefly in the early 2000s[[/note]], are also heavily English-speaking, especially Côte-Saint-Luc and Montreal-West). The city also plays host to two predominantly English universities ([=McGill=] and Concordia) as well as two French ones (Université de Montreal and UQAM). On top of all this, the city attracts quite a few immigrants; overall, it's a cultural mosaic similar to other major North American cities.

* ''Film/{{Blades of Glory}}''

* ''Le Declin de l'Empire Américain'' (''Film/TheDeclineOfTheAmericanEmpire'') and its sequel ''Les Invasions Barbares'' (''Film/TheBarbarianInvasions'', winner of an Oscar for Best Foreign Picture). ''L'Age Des Ténèbres'' (''The Age of Ignorance'', by the same director) also took place in Montreal.
* ''J'ai Tué Ma Mère (I Killed My Mother)''

Parking is annoying and public transit much less so, so it may be a good choice to park your car close to an outlying metro station, get a day pass, and take transit in. Also, whatever you do, do ''not'' wear a Boston Bruins shirt. [[BerserkButton It will end very badly]]; "LES TABARNAK DE BRUINS!" is practically the city's motto. Also, good luck if you are spotted with a Toronto Maple Leafs shirt; they have long memories of rivalry with the aformentioned English-speaking city along with Boston.

Parking is annoying and public transit much less so, so it may be a good choice to park your car close to an outlying metro station, get a day pass, and take transit in. Also, whatever you do, do ''not'' wear a Boston Bruins shirt. [[BerserkButton It will end very badly]]; "LES TABARNAK DE BRUINS!" is practically the city's motto.