In 1642, Chomedey de Maisonneuve established a French settlement on the island of Montréal undoubtedly because of its unique strategic position at a four way crossroads formed by the Ottawa river leading north towards James Bay and the nearby Richelieu river providing a waterway south of the great St-Laurence River that drains the great lakes into the Atlantic.

Montréal soon became the centre of the fur trade in the hands of French merchants until the 1760 invasion when British merchants took over. The French nobility and merchants returned to France leaving some 60 000 peasants dominated economically by their new British protestant masters and intellectually by their own catholic clergy that kept them subservient bearers of water and hewers of wood.

This typical alliance between the church and whoever holds power became more evident when the leaders of the 1837 rebellion were excommunicated in spite of the horrendous burning of the patriots trapped in the St-Etienne church by the British army.

In 1840 Lower Canada (Québec), was merged with Upper Canada (Ontario) to pay for the huge debt incurred by the latter in building the railroad west toward the Pacific. A few decades later, Confederation was declared in 1867 and Canada was born. Of course, there was no referendum, in those days ordinary people had little to say about their destiny.

In Québec, education was completely controlled by the clergy who shaped children's minds to suit their purposes. Québec became the most important exporter of catholic missionaries in the world.

It was still like that when I entered primary school in 1939. After 8 years of that I went to a catholic boarding school that favoured classical studies, latin and greek literature and shunned commerce and the sciences.

At that time the provincial government was controlled by the conservative Maurice Duplessis whose power rested on the tripod of his compliance with the interests of the local Anglophone business class, of mutual support with the catholic clergy and of unabashed corruption. He impeded progress in Québec for 34 years until his death in 1959.

With the departure of Duplessis pressures for change that had been accumulating for decades burst out in the open with the leit motif "Masters in our own land", causing radical changes in every aspect of life in Québec. It is in this period of rapid change from 1960 to 1965, later called "the quiet revolution", that modern Québec was born. Change had to be fast for there was so much to catch up.

Civil service rules and practices were completely reformed to eliminate corruption. Private electricity firms were nationalized giving birth to Hydro Québec, an industrial giant managed by Francophones. New financial institutions were created to finance industrial development (Caisse de Dépots, Société Générale de Financement etc.).

Responsibility for education was taken away from the church and given to a Ministry of Education. Church attendance fell from 95% to less than 10% in a few years.

The google interactive map of Montréal provides better detail than the map on the left.

The construction of the St-Laurence Seaway to give ocean going vessels access to the great lakes brought employment and prosperity. Montréal further benefited from huge investments to build its underground transit system (Métro on the left) and to prepare its infrastructures to host the 1967 World Fair.

During this time political movements promoting sovereignty merged to create the Parti Québécois (PQ), with the stated goal of an independent Québec.

In 1970, I returned from Paris where I had been working with Elf, to establish SOQUIP in Québec City, a state owned oil company setup to explore the hydrocarbon potential of Québec. (We found a little gas but no oil and I moved on to head Québec's energy board in Montréal in 1980).

The huge James Bay Hydro Project must also be mentioned as a source of prosperity and change. High rise construction went on non-stop in downtown Montréal with most of the new buildings linked to the Métro by underground passages lined with restaurants, bars and shops (seen in black and blue on the left).

Born and raised in Ottawa, I lived and worked in many places, the more important being Paris, Québec City and Montréal. I thoroughly enjoyed the stimulating, competitive intensity of Paris but I do love the more relaxed, friendly Montréal, especially in the summer when Montrealers exuberantly express their joy of seeing the sun again after hibernating underground through our endless winter.

For more background information, see Montréal's official website or this commercial Tourist website or this one.

Now I will try to show you what Montréal looks like hoping you will be tempted to visit us (in the summer of course). After an overview from the mountain we will have a peek at the Olympic Stadium and visit busy downtown during the formula one Grand Prix race, drive around and take pictures of the posh Outremont, Westmount and Town of Mount-Royal, take a walk in the friendly "Le Plateau" area to observe the passage of the gay parade and of cyclists on the "tour de l'ile", we will attend Montreal's Jazz Festival and visit two old markets before watching the twin's parade of the "Just for Laughs Festival" in the Latin Quarter.