Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Quebec
Saint -Basile -le- Grand is a city in the southwest of the Canadian province of Quebec. It is located in the Montérégie administrative region, about 22 kilometers east of Montreal. The city is part of the regional county municipality ( municipalité régional du comté ) La Vallée- du- Richelieu, has an area of 36.10 km ² and has 16,736 inhabitants ( 2011).
Geography
Saint -Basile -le- Grand is located in the region Rive- Sud in the valley of the Rivière Richelieu. This tributary of the St. Lawrence River forms the eastern city limits. The city center itself is located approximately four miles from the river bank, at the foot of the 218 meter high and towering Mont Saint- Bruno. Neighboring communities are Saint -Mathieu -de- Beloeil in the north, Belœil and McMasterville in the Northeast, Saint -Mathias -sur -Richelieu in the east, Carignan in the south, Saint- Bruno -de- Montarville in the West and Sainte -Julie in the northwest.
History
To set a breakpoint at the 1848 opened railway line Longueuil, Saint- Hyacinthe developed east of Mont Saint- Bruno a settlement. Since the nearest church was quite far away, called the farmer Basile Daigneault with a petition to establish a new parish, which the diocese in 1870 approved. A year followed by the establishment of the civil parish, named after Daignaults patron saint Basil the Great. 1876 demanded in the petition church was consecrated. The town grew rapidly, so that you can 1893 the breakpoint replaced by a railway station. In 1969 the municipality the city status. On August 23, 1988, a PCB warehouse burned down completely; due to the toxic fumes had to be temporarily evacuated over five thousand inhabitants. The city is a member of the administration union Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal since 2000.
Population
According to the 2011 census counted Saint -Basile -le- Grand 16,736 inhabitants, which corresponds to a population density of 463.6 inh. / Km ². 93.7 % of the population reported French as the main language, the proportion of English was 2.7 %. As a bilingual ( French and English) is designated 0.9%, to other languages and multiple responses accounted for 2.7%. Only 51.0 % spoke French. In 2001, 92.6 % of the population were Roman Catholic, 2.5% Protestant, and 3.9% non-denominational.
Traffic
Main thoroughfare in Saint -Basile -le -Grand is the route 116 west extended the city limits to the highway-like part. This supra-regional main road connecting Longueuil with Victoriaville and Lévis. Parallel to Route 116 runs the main railway line between Montreal and the provincial capital of Quebec. On this run AMT commuter trains to / from Mont -Saint -Hilaire. The city is accessible by several bus lines of the company CIT Vallée du Richelieu.