Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles

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

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.

Demographics

The Rivière-des-Prairies part of the borough is known for its high concentration of Italians in most of the neighborhoods, and Haitians in the others. On July 9th, 2006, after Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Maurice Duplessis Boulevard was closed to traffic due to the great number of fans celebrating in the street. Pointe-aux-Trembles remains predominantly French-Canadian and blue-collar.

Rivière-des-Prairies is for the most part federalist and Liberal, while Pointe-aux-Trembles is sovereigntist and has consistently voted for the Parti and Bloc Québécois over the last fifteen years.

These linguistic, political and demographic differences, coupled with geographical isolation, have led to a terse climate of opposition between Rivière-des-Prairies and Pointe-aux-Trembles, exacerbated by the recent decision to build a new borough hall on a park in a distant section of RDP.

Politics

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: Union Montreal)
*City councillor, Rivière-des-Prairies district: Joe Magri (Union Montreal)
*Borough councillor, Rivière-des-Prairies district: Maria Calderone (Union Montreal)
*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 (until January 2008) / Union Montreal (January 2008 to present))
*City councillor, Pointe-aux-Trembles: André Bélisle (Vision Montreal until November 2006 / independent from November 2006 to September 3, 2008 / Union Montreal since September 3, 2008)
*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))

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).

ee also

* Boroughs of Montreal
* Districts of Montreal
* Municipal reorganization in Quebec

External links

* [http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/url/page/arr_rdp_fr/accueil Borough website] (in French)
* [http://www.avenirdelest.com L'Avenir de l'Est (French)]
* [http://www.linformateurrdp.com/ L'Informateur de Rivière-des-Prairies (French)]
* [http://www.thesuburban.com/ The East End Suburban]