Québec (city)

Quebec (French: Québec or Ville de Québec) is the capital of the province of Quebec, located in eastern Canada. Founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. Its historic center, a French-style walled enclosure from the XVIII century (which receives the name de Vieux-Québec, Old Quebec in Spanish), was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.

With a population of 531,902 in 2016 according to Statistics Canada and 2011 census data, the city is the ninth largest in the country, the second in the province of the same name by population and the 50th.º Canadian municipality by area. In addition, its metropolitan area — the Metropolitan Community of Quebec — encompasses 27 municipalities that reach &&&&&&&&&0752000.&&&&&0752,000 inhabitants spread over an area of 3,347.12 km² The city celebrated its 400th anniversary of its founding in 2008.

It is the second most populous city in the province of Quebec after Montreal.

It is located on the banks of the St. Lawrence River around a hill where the Château Frontenac hotel (Hotel Frontenac) rises. The climate is quite rainy, with an average of 178 rainy days per year, 1207.7 mm of total precipitation, of which 337 mm are snow. The average annual temperature is 4.0 °C, with January being the coldest month with average temperatures of -12.5 °C (-7.7/-17.3) and July the warmest with average temperatures of 19, 1°C (24.9/13.2°C).

Quebec is a purely French-speaking metropolis, since 97.4% of the population of the Québec metropolitan area only use the French language, compared to only 1.5% of the Anglophone population, who are in need of learn French to be understood. There is a minimum bilingual population of 0.4% (not necessarily English and French), and the rest belong to linguistic minorities that do not reach 1%, the most numerous being Spanish-speaking.

Toponymy

The narrowing of the river between the cities of Quebec and Lévis, on the opposite bank, gave the city its name, Kebec, a word of Algonquian origin meaning "where the river narrows". ». Another theory, although less well known than the previous one, affirms that the name of the city could be due to the confusion of Samuel de Champlain, when the natives invited him to come down (Kepec) he took this word as the name of your region. Another hypothesis relates that the city bears the name of the natives who lived near the region, the "ebik", currently known as "mountainers".

Two other names for the city were considered over time. A few years after its foundation, Champlain named it Ludovica, in honor of King Louis XIII, French sovereign at the time. It was also called by the Amerindian word Stadacona when the Canadian confederation was created in 1867, to avoid ambiguity with the name of the new province of Quebec.

Early French spellings of the name were: Quebecq (Levasseur, 1601); Kebec (Lescarbot, 1609), Quebec (Champlain, 1613). In the same way, the demonym has historically taken the following forms: Kébécois (1935), Québeccois (1835), Quebecois (1754), Québécois (1775), Québecquois (1825), Québécuois (1910), Quebequois (1754), Québéquois, even Stadaconien, which recalls the Amerindian name for Quebec, Stadaconé.

Name

In Spanish, to differentiate between the city and the province, we speak of the city of Quebec and the province of Quebec. In French, the province is called 'le Québec' while the city is simply Québec without the article 'le'. Officially and according to the Quebec Toponymy Commission, the city is called "Québec" (with acute accent, without any mention of "city") at the provincial and federal levels in both English and French. However, the use of Quebec City and Quebec City in English.

History

Origins

Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in Canada. When Jacques Cartier arrived in the area in 1535, the site of present-day Quebec was a Huron town called "Stadaconé". It is this location to which the name of Canada seems to refer. "Kanata" is an Iroquois word meaning "town" and that it was used by the Hurons to refer to Stadaconé, as heard by Jacques Cartier.

However, it was not until 1608 that the explorer Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec in the vicinity of the abandoned Huron town. In the Iroquois language, Kebec means "where the river narrows", alluding to the narrowing that occurs in the Saint Lawrence River, when it reaches the height of present-day Quebec (left bank).) and Lévis (right bank).

French rule

Quebec was taken over by the English in 1629, who remained in the city until 1632. Since then, Quebec has become the heart of New France. More than a century later, the city would change hands again, this time for good. In the course of the Seven Years' War, which had begun in 1754, the war spread to the North American theater. During the first phase of the war, French troops, commanded by General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, achieved several victories. However, the arrival in America of the British general James Wolfe (1757) meant a change of tables. In 1759, English troops under Wolfe's command appeared before the walls of Quebec, subjecting it to siege (June 26). On September 13, a bloody battle broke out outside the city walls, lasting barely thirty minutes, the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Although General Wolfe was killed, the French troops were defeated and Montcalm withdrew, dying to Quebec, dying within hours. Five days later, the city surrendered to the British. It was the end of the French presence in Quebec. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763), France formally ceded sovereignty over New France to Great Britain.

Quebec in 1700.

British Rule

During the American Revolutionary War, the British garrison in Quebec was attacked by American troops in the Battle of Quebec. The defeat of the Americans ended their hopes that Canada would join the rebellion.

Quebec City was the capital of Canada from 1859 to 1865. After the formation of the Province of Canada, the capital was moved successively to Kingston and Montreal. With the creation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, the capital was moved to Ottawa. In Quebec, the Quebec Conference (1844) took place, one of the conferences in the series of talks that led to the enactment of the British North America Act and the creation of the Canadian Confederation (1867).

20th and 21st centuries

During World War II, two conferences were held in Quebec. The first in 1943 with Franklin Delano Roosevelt (President of the United States), Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada) and Tse-ven Soong (Minister of Foreign Affairs of China). The second was held in 1944 and Churchill and Roosevelt were present. These were kept in the buildings of the Citadelle and the nearby Palais de Frontenac.

In April 2001, the city hosted the Summit of the Americas to discuss the Free Trade Area of the Americas; It was also the scene of massive anti-globalization demonstrations, sparked by the summit and the decision to install a wall around a large portion of the historic city with a four meter high fence during the summit. Police forces were widely accused of excessive use of force during these demonstrations.

On January 1, 2002, Quebec City and twelve other municipalities of the Quebec Urban Community joined the new Quebec City ("megacity"), which was divided into eight boroughs and since 2009 in only six.

The historic military building from the 19th century belonging to the 22nd Royal Regiment — one of the most emblematic in this city Canadian — was nearly reduced to ashes after a raging fire on Sunday, April 6, 2008 on the eve of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City. The building, built in 1884 and housing a museum, collapsed two hours after the fire started, leaving only the outer walls standing.

Systemic Racism

With the aim of civilizing and Christianizing the aboriginal populations in Quebec City, in the 19th century the a system of 'industrial schools' that combined academic studies with "more practical questions" and schools for natives began to appear in the 1840s throughout the city. Beginning in 1879, these schools were modeled after the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, whose motto was 'Kill the Indian in him and save the man'. The most effective weapon for & #34;kill the Indian" in them was to remove children from their villages and, therefore, native children were taken away from their homes, their parents, their families, friends and communities. Depriving them of their ancestral languages, subjected to forced sterilization and exposing many of them to physical and sexual abuse by staff members.

Systemic racism in Quebec City is evidenced by racist attitudes in Quebec society, as well as government negligence in failing to comply with United Nations human rights policies and standards. In 2020, in a video recorded by the victim herself, staff at a hospital in the city of Joliette were shown taunting and making sexist comments at Joyce Echaquan, an indigenous Atikamekw woman who eventually died. Aboriginal leaders have described the video as exposing the grim realities of systemic racism that have long been ignored or suppressed across Canada.

Islamophobia has manifested itself as vandalism of mosques, assassinations and physical assaults against Muslims, including violence against Muslim women wearing the hijab or niqab. In January 2017, six Muslims were killed in a shooting at a Quebec City mosque. The number of Islamophobic incidents has increased significantly between 2015 and 2017.

The immigrant community from Latin America has been the victim of racism, discrimination, and attacks. Some immigrants have reported employment discrimination based on accents, and difficulties in holding senior positions. As open racism is prohibited by law, it has transformed into a more subtle, institutional type of racism that translates into the difficulty for the Latino community in finding employment, work spaces and respectful education. Different members of the community Latinas from Quebec City have reported difficulties accessing health services, housing loans and any procedure that involves being cared for by a person, such as transportation letter, social security, driver's license, among others.

National Capital

Quebec has historically been the capital of several territories:

• From 1608 to 1627 and from 1632 to 1763 it was the capital of New France;
• From 1763 to 1791 it was the capital of the province of Quebec;
• From 1791 to 1841 it was the capital of Lower Canada;
• From 1852 to 1856 and from 1859 to 1866 it was the capital of the United Province of Canada;
• Today is still the national capital of Quebec.

Geography

Satellite view of the city of Quebec on the banks of the San Lorenzo River.

Quebec is located on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River, and its territory has extended to both sides of the mouth of the St. Charles River. The region is lowland and flat. The river valley has fertile and arable land, which makes this region the most fertile in the province. The Laurentian Mountains lie to the north of the city. To the northeast is the island of Orleans (Île d'Orléans).

The city center is divided into two parts: the upper town (haute-ville) and the lower town (basse-ville), which are separated by a steep slope and are connected by an elevator and a system of stairs. The lower city also houses the old port of the city. The city center and suburbs are divided into six districts enclosing three municipalities: the city of L'Ancienne-Lorette, the parish of Notre-Dame-des-Anges and the Amerindian reservation of the Wendake Huron community.

Topography

The topography of the city constitutes, at one end, the Quebec Hill, where the municipalities of Sainte-Foy - Sillery - Cap-Rouge and La Cité-Limoilou (partly) meet, and at the other end, the Beauport hillside, which strongly influenced the occupation of the territory.

The Quebec hill and the slope have undergone very diverse successive developments from the beginning of colonization to recent times. At the top of the hill, the succession of neighborhoods from Old Quebec to the west not only reflects different periods of urbanization, but also allows us to understand the progressive constitution of Upper Town. This denomination finds all its strength and meaning in contrast to the Lower City, which developed at the foot of Cape Diamant and in direct contact with the San Lorenzo and San Carlos rivers.

The demarcation between the upper city and the lower city has always been as sociological as it was topographical, the plateau home to the wealthiest families (apart from the working class district of Saint-Jean-Baptiste) while the working classes and underprivileged they lived mainly at the bottom of the city, both on the south side (Cap-Blanc) and on the north side (Saint-Roch, Saint-Sauveur and Limoilou).

Hydrography

In addition to the Saint Lawrence River, a huge waterway that shapes the lives of Quebecers, Quebec City has other notable hydrographic accidents and five hydrographic zones or basins (all flowing into the Saint Lawrence River): The Saint Charles River (whose hydrographical basin is the most populated in the province of Quebec and the largest in the city) rises in Lake San Carlos (Lac Saint-Charles) and crosses the geographic center of the city; the Beauport River and Montmorency River basins to the east and northeast of the city; the Cap-Rouge and Jacques-Cartier river basins to the west-northwest of the city.

Climate

With an annual rainfall of 1,230 mm, Quebec City lies in the province's humid continental climate zone, which belongs to the temperate domain. Its climate has a more oceanic influence than Montreal's, coming from the Greater lakes. It is also characterized by four well-defined seasons. The annual average temperature difference is 32°C, -12.8°C in January, 19.2°C in July (day/night average). Summers are hot and humid, with temperatures as low as 35°C (during hot summer days humidity makes the heat more extreme) and extremely cold winters, with minimum temperatures as low as -35°C with abundant snowfall.

The highest temperature recorded, 38.6 °C, was observed on July 15, 2013 at the Beauport weather station. The lowest recorded temperature was observed on January 14, 2015 at -36.7 °C. Keep in mind that in the northern suburbs of the city and in Beauce, on the south bank of the river, regions much more sheltered from the wind that frequently blows in the Saint Lawrence valley, the temperature can exceptionally drop to extremes -45 °C and rising to 35 °C during the summer season, passing the 30 degree mark up to twenty times during the summer, the city watches as this record is broken fifteen times during the summer season. In these same regions, far from the river, we can see the thermometer running and often pushing the mercury 8 °C higher than in the city center (during spring), when the St. Laurent Valley is swept by northeasterly winds.. They bring cold air from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the waters are up to 15 degrees cooler than the river between Montreal and the Isle of Orleans, east of Quebec.

Meteorologists often describe the temperatures felt in Quebec by taking into account wind chill rates and humidity rates. The strongest wind was reached on February 12, 1967, which registered -52.4 °C. As for the highest humidity index, it reached the value of 49.3 on August 1, 1975 and 50 on July 2, 2002. Between the two seasons, there is autumn and spring, with frequent rains and some snowfalls.

In summer, the weather is generally sunny, but when the air is warm and humid, severe thunderstorms are unleashed by passing cold fronts. The first snowfall usually arrives suddenly in October or November, with continuous snowfall generally starting on or after November 22 and ending around April 16 (data from Environment Canada).

During the winter of 2006-2007, Quebec experienced long periods of well-above-average temperatures and did not begin its steady snowfall until mid-January. In the winter of 2015-2016, the cold showed its teeth only from February 15, but it lasted until the end of April, December 2015, just like September of the same year, after having been the hottest in a century.. By contrast, the winter of 2007-2008 saw an increase in the number of snowstorms and the snowfall record was broken, with more than 550 cm received.

One of the most notable winter storms to hit Quebec was that of March 1971 and was dubbed "the storm of the century." She saw an aftershock the following year, on March 22 and 23, 1972, the latter having not affected southern Quebec, it went unnoticed by statistical enthusiasts. In the memorable storms, we must not forget the one from February 20 to 22, 1997 (52 cm), December 16, 2003 (55 cm), without forgetting December 3 and 16, 2007 (43 cm each) and finally on March 8 and 9, 2008 with its 45 cm. It should be noted that the last three tables mentioned are from the famous 2007-2008 season that saw Quebec receive 558 cm of snow. Average snow depth on the ground generally peaks (80 cm on average) towards the end of February, even early March. The thickest layer reached 165 cm on February 23, 1976.

Average Quebec climate parameters
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	10.0	11.7	17.8	29.9	33.0	33.9	35.6	34.4	33.9	28.3	20.0	13.9	35.6
Average temperature (°C)	-7.9	-6.1	0.1	7.8	17.1	22.2	25.0	23.4	17.7	10.7	2.9	-4.8	9.0
Average temperature (°C)	-12.8	-11.1	-4.6	3.3	11.2	16.5	19.2	17.9	12.5	6.2	-0.7	-9.1	4.0
Temp. medium (°C)	-17.6	-16.0	-9.4	-1.3	5.3	10.6	13.4	12.4	7.2	1.7	-4.3	-13.4	-0.9
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-35.4	-36.1	-30.0	-18.9	-7.8	-0.6	3.9	2.2	-4.8	-10.0	-24.0	-32.3	-36.1
Total precipitation (mm)	89.8	70.6	90.3	81.2	106.1	114.2	127.8	116.7	125.5	101.7	102.0	104.4	1230.3
Rains (mm)	26.1	12.6	39.0	59.5	105.5	114.2	127.8	116.7	125.5	99.5	67.9	29.5	923.8
Nevadas (cm)	72.9	63.2	49.0	17.6	0.4	0	0	0	0	1.9	33.2	77.7	315.9
Precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)	18.5	14.9	14.3	13.3	14.3	13.7	13.8	13.9	14.2	15.1	16.4	19.5	181.9
Rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)	3.6	2.3	5.5	10.4	14.3	13.7	13.8	13.9	14.2	14.8	10.3	4.4	121.1
Days of snowfall (≥ 0.2 cm)	17.5	13.9	11.4	5.2	0.29	0	0	0	0	0.96	9.0	18.1	76.4
Hours of sun	100.3	123.6	149.4	168.6	215.9	232.0	251.7	225.2	155.5	119.8	81.6	81.1	1904.8
Relative humidity (%)	72.1	71.9	73.8	74.0	73.9	78.6	82.9	84.3	85.3	81.4	80.5	77.5	78.0
Source: Environment Canada

Districts

On January 1, 2002, the 12 old towns were annexed by Quebec City. This was one of several municipal mergers that took place on this date. Following a split referendum, on January 1, 2006 L'Ancienne-Lorette and Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures were reconstituted as independent municipalities, but the other former municipalities remain part of Quebec City. On November 1, 2009, the city reorganized its municipalities, reducing the number from 8 to 6. As of 2011 the city has thirty-five boroughs in six counties. In most cases the name of the district is similar to a historic city or town it replaced. The districts elect their own council, and are part of the public consultations with the city government.

Districts of Quebec after 1 November 2009.

Demographics

As of the 2016 census, there were 531,902 people residing in Quebec City, 800,296 in the metropolitan area. Of the population registered in the census in 2011, 48.2% were men and 51.8% women. Children under the age of five represented approximately 4.7% of the resident population in the city. This compares to 5.2% in the province of Quebec and 5.6% for Canada overall.

Quebec City and its surrounding region are mostly French-speaking. The vast majority of the city's residents have French as their mother tongue. The Anglophone community peaked in relative terms during the 1860s, when 40% of the city's residents were English-speaking. Today, Anglophones make up just 1.5% of the city's population. and its metropolitan area. However, Quebec's annual carnival attracts both Francophone and Anglophone tourists alike, so the Anglophone population increases considerably during the duration of the event.

According to the website "Statistics Canada", 94.55% of the population of Quebec City speak French as their native language, although more than one third speak French and English.

In 2001, 13.0% of the city's resident population was of retirement age (65 years for men and women). The mean age is 39.5 years old.

In the five years between 2006 and 2011 the city's population increased by 6.5%, compared with a 4.9% increase in the province of Quebec. The average population density is 228.6 inhabitants per square kilometer.

According to the 2001 census, more than 90% of the population is Catholic. The city also has small communities of Protestants, Muslims, and Jews.

Economy

Most of the jobs in the city are concentrated in public administration, defense, services, commerce, transport and tourism. As the provincial capital, the city benefits from being a regional center of administration and services: thus, the provincial government is the largest employer in the city, employing 27,900 people as of 2007. CHUQ (the local hospital network) is the largest institutional employer, with more than 10,000 employees in 2007. In 2008, the unemployment rate was 4.5%, well below the provincial and national averages (7.3% and 6.6%, respectively). In 2011 this rate stood at 5.8%. Despite rising unemployment, Quebec was the fourth-lowest city in Canada.

About 10% of jobs are provided by the manufacturing sector. Major products include pulp and paper, processed foods, metal, lumber, sundries, chemicals, electrical and electronic equipment, and printed materials. The city is home to the headquarters of a number of prominent companies including: fashion retailer La Maison Simons, engineering firms BPR and Norda Stelo, real estate investment fund Industrial Alliance, La Capitale, Promutuel, SSQ Financial Group, Union Canadienne in the insurance sector, renowned developer Ubisoft Quebec in the video game industry, AeternaZentaris and DiagnoCure in the pharmaceutical industry, Amalgame, Cossette and Vision 7 in marketing and advertising, and Institut National d' Optique (INO), EXFO and OptoSecurity in technology. It is also home to the only factory of the cigarette maker Rothmans, Benson & Hedges.

Shopping centers

Several major shopping centers are located in the city: Galeries de la Capitale (with 280 boutiques and an amusement park inside); Laurier Québec (350 boutiques), is the most important shopping center in eastern Canada and the second most important tourist attraction in Quebec City; Place Sainte-Foy (135 boutiques and shops); and Place Fleur-de-Lys (220 boutique shops). It should be noted that Laurier Québec, Place Sainte-Foy and Place-de-la-Cité are three shopping malls built next to each other forming a larger shopping complex.

Attractions

The old city (Vieux Québec), a World Heritage Site since 1985, is the most interesting part of the city. It is located to the east of the walls and reaches the San Lorenzo river. The part located on top of the cliffs of Cap Diamant is called Haute Ville (Upper Town), while the part at its foot, between the cliffs and the river, is known as as Basse Ville (Lower Town).

The outline of Vieux Québec is dominated by the massive Château Frontenac, perched atop Cap Diamant. The building faces the Terrasse Dufferin, a boardwalk along the edge of the cliff, offering beautiful views of the St. Lawrence River. Skirting the cliff, the Terrasse Dufferin leads to the Plains of Abraham, the site of the battle that sealed the fate of New France in 1759, when English troops defeated the French and took the French. Quebec City, leaving behind the Citadel (La Citadelle), a fortress that stands on the highest point of Cap Diamant and is currently a site of the Canadian Forces (Canadian Armed Forces) and secondary residence of the Governor General of Canada. The National Assembly, Quebec's provincial legislature, is also near the Citadel.

Near Château Frontenac is the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Quebec, cathedral of the Catholic Archbishopric of Quebec. It is the first cathedral built in northern Mexico and the first elevated to the rank of basilica in America, as well as the primate church of Canada.

The Upper Town is connected to the Lower Town by a steep street (Côte de la Montagne), which offers a shortcut in the form of stairs (the Escalier Casse-Cou, literally the Breakneck Staircase) and also with a funicular. The Lower City includes places such as the old church of Notre-Dame des Victoires, the oldest church in Canada, the historic district of Petit Champlain, the Place-Royal, cradle of the founding of Quebec, the port, and the Musée de la Civilization (Museum of Civilization).

The origins of La Basse-Ville date back to the early days of the colony, despite its respectable age, it is brimming with activity (from 10 am to 5 pm), in this place you will find art and craft shops, numerous restaurants and pubs.

Laval University is located on the western edge of the city, in the Sainte-Foy district. Its origins lie in the Seminary of Quebec, founded by the first bishop of New France, Saint Francis de Laval, in 1663. The Faculty of Architecture is located in the old city, in the building of the old seminary.

Quebec is also known for its Winter Carnival and for its celebrations on the feast of Saint John the Baptist. Also noteworthy is the view of the city from Lévis, a city on the other side of the Saint Lawrence River.

Among the tourist attractions located in the immediate vicinity of the city are the Montmorency Waterfalls and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.

Parks and gardens

Quebec has numerous parks and gardens on its territory. In fact, there are more than a hundred, among which the Plains of Abraham, the Bois-de-Coulonge, the banks of the San Carlos river, the Montmorency Waterfalls park, the Latin America park and the Samuel-De promenade stand out. Champlain on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, inaugurated in June 2008. It was the gift of the Quebec government to its national capital on the 400th anniversary of its founding.

Panoramic view of the center of Quebec from the Cartier-Brébeuf Park and the banks of the San Carlos River.

Museums

Among the most significant museums in the city are the following:

• Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec)
• Musée de la Civilisation (Museum of Civilization)
• Musée de l'Amérique française (Museum of French America)
• Musée d'Art Inuit (Inuit Art Museum)
• Musée des Ursulines (Museum of Ursulins)
• Musée du Fort (Museum of Fort)

Transportation

Road network

The Quebec Bridge (left) and the Pierre-Laporte Bridge (right) over the San Lorenzo River.

There are two bridges —the Quebec Bridge (Quebec Bridge or Pont de Québec) and the Pierre Laporte Bridge or Pont Pierre-Laporte)—as well as a ferry that connects the city with the town of Lévis and its surroundings through the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River. The Island of Orleans is linked to Quebec City by another bridge.

Quebec City acts as an important hub for the region's highway network. The Trans-Canada Highway (Autoroute 40) links the city with Ottawa and Montreal to the west and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and Charlevoix to the east. In addition to Route 40, it is worth mentioning Autoroute 20, which runs parallel to the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River and connects Quebec with Montreal, Toronto and the Canadian Maritime Provinces, as well as Autoroute 73. , which forms a major north-south axis through the metropolitan area, links the city with the Quebecois towns of Saint-Georges, Saguenay and Lac-Saint-Jean as well as the Beauce region and the state Maine American. All these routes, together with a network of secondary roads, are the main communication routes between the city and its metropolitan area.

The Autoroute 573 or Autoroute Henri-IV links the city to the Valcartier air base. The Autoroute 740 or Autoroute Robert-Bourassa functions as a connecting route in a north-south direction. The Autoroute 440 is made up of two different highways, running from east to west encircling the city. Originally, a tunnel was to be built under the city to join them —there is a six-kilometre separation between the two tracks— but the infrastructure was never built and there are currently no plans to do so. The western section connects Highways 40 and 73 with Charest Boulevard, a large avenue that runs through the city from east to west, while the eastern section links downtown to Beauport and Montmorency Falls. The two sections of Highway 440 are connected by the same boulevard.

Public transport

Gare du Palais, station located in the center of the city of Quebec.

The Capital Transport Network (Réseau de transport de la Capitale) is the public body responsible for public transport in the Quebec region. RTC operates the city's urban bus fleet and has repeatedly announced its intention to reinstate a tram system, thus decongesting the current network and attracting new users. The project has a cost of nine hundred million Canadian dollars, so as it is an action with a high cost, its approval or disapproval depends on the central government, since Quebec does not have those powers.

As far as railways are concerned, it is worth mentioning the Palacio station (Gare du Palais), which was reopened in 1985 after having been closed since 1976, and is the eastern terminus of the important Quebec-Windsor rail corridor. The railway operator is the same throughout the country, VIA Rail. In addition to train services, the station has an intercity bus terminal, which connects Quebec with the main cities of the region.

Airport

Quebec is connected by air through Québec's Jean-Lesage International Airport (YQB), which is located in the Sainte-Foy district. The companies that operate there are Air Transat, Air Inuit, Air Canada, Canjet, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Porter Airlines, United Airlines, Sunwing Airlines, US Airways and WestJet, which offer international destinations —United States (8), Mexico (1), Dominican Republic (3), Cuba (5), Jamaica (1), Panama (1) and France (2)— and nationals. In 2008, the airport registered air traffic of around one million passengers.

Port

The city has a large port on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, which runs along the shoreline of the La Cité-Limoilou, Beauport and Sainte-Foy-Sillery-Cap-Rouge districts. From Since 2002, the port has been visited every year by large cruise ships and to date has received more than 500,000 tourists, with 2008 being the busiest year for the port. Indeed, that year the port received more than 100,000 tourists and handled a load of about 27.2 million tons of merchandise.

Administrative organization

Municipal

Between 2007 and 2021 the mayor was Régis Labeaume. The main opposition party, the Renovation Party of the Municipality of Quebéc (in French Renouveau municipal de Québec), was reportedly defeated in the elections on November 1, 2009; no candidate was elected. The single opposition would then be made up of only two independent deputies, Yvon Bussières and Anne Guérette. The mayor's ruling party, Équipe Labeaume, reportedly won the other 25 seats on the Municipal Council. The youth party Défi vert would also have won at least one seat in the Municipal Council. At the end of 2010, Jean Guilbault, a deputy for Équipe Labeaume, reportedly left the party to run independently. In the Quebéc general election in September 2012, two other MPs, Patrick Paquet and Ginette Picard-Lavoie, broke away from the party to also run as independents. In the same way, they harshly criticize themselves for having worked on Mayor Labeaume's team. On May 3, 2013, Marc Simoneau, Member of Parliament for Équipe Labeaume and well-known sports commentator, died of bone marrow cancer.

In the elections of November 3, 2013, the number of districts went from 27 to 21. Régis Labeaume is elected with 74% of the vote and his party, Équipe Labeaume, would have won 18 candidates out of 21. Démocratie Québec, a new opposition party founded in 2013, would run in the elections. Its leader, David Lemelin, would have been defeated as mayor, obtaining only 24% of the votes and three of its candidates were elected: Anne Guérette, Yvon Bussières and Paul Shoiry. David Lemelin's deputy, Conrad Verret, was defeated, thus preventing the Démocratie Québec leader from gaining access to the Municipal Council.

Bruno Marchand is the mayor of Quebec elected as the leader of the party "Québec forte et fière", taking office as of November 14, 2021.

Social welfare

Education

Quebec has vocational, intermediate, and university education institutions that complement the compulsory elementary and secondary schools.

Professional

At the professional level of education, the École de cirque de Québec (Quebec circus school) stands out, and the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec (governmental) - Conservatory of music and dramatic art of Quebec.

Intermediate Education

Quebec has:

• Four cégeps publics (general and vocational schools): the Cégep Limoilou, the Cégep de Sainte-Foy, the Cégep Garneau, Collège régional Champlain St. Lawrence (English speaking);
• Two. cégeps specialised audiences: the Centre d'enseignement et de recherche en foresterie inc. (CERFO or Forest Research and Education Centre) and École nationale en divertissement interactif (national interactive entertainment school);
• One cégep private general: Collège Mérici;
• eight cégeps the Collège Bart, the Collège O'Sullivan de Québec, the Collège CDI, the Collège Aviron, the Collège radio télévision de Québec (CRTQ), the Collège Multihexa, and the Collège d'enseignement en immobilier inc.

University education

Université Laval, Pavillon Louis-Jacques-Casault

The most important university in the city is Laval University (Université Laval), known for being the oldest French-speaking university in the Americas. In Quebec, there is also the administrative headquarters of the University of Quebec (University of Quebec).

Other universities

• École nationale d'administration publique (ÉNAP - Escuela Nacional de Administración Pública);
• Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS - Instituto Nacional de Investigación Científica);
• TÉLUQ or Télé-Université (distance union);

Security

Quebec City is protected by the Quebec City Police Service (Service de police de la Ville de Québec), which has four police stations spread across the various districts into which the city is divided. Fire-fighting is the responsibility of the Quebec Fire Protection Service (Service de protection contre les incendies de Québec), created in 1765 and has eight stations in the city, to which must be added another nine throughout the region. The city has one of the lowest crime rates in Canada. In 2007, no murders were committed in the city, since the last previous one corresponded to December 31, 2006. By 2017, the city had been without murders for nearly two years; however, on January 29 there was a shooting at an Islamic religious center in which six people died and eight others were injured.

Sports

Sporting events

• World Championship Red Bull Crashed Ice; it is an extreme skating competition held biennially.

• Grand Prix of Quebec; annual road biking competition, part of the UCI WorldTour.

• Bell; also called Quebec Tournament, is a women's tennis tournament that takes place every November or October, where the top 50 female tennis players in the world compete.

• Transat Quebec Saint-Malo; sailing competition held every four years, crossing the river San Lorenzo and the Atlantic Ocean, from Quebec to Saint-Malo in France.

• Hockey Peewee Quebec International Tournament; it is the world's most important hockey tournament for senior players between 11 and 12 years old.

Quebec City has long been sought to have a franchise in the Canadian Football League (CFL), but to make it possible requires permission from the province's professional team, the Montreal Alouettes, as they they have exclusivity throughout Quebec, granted by the CFL, to develop Canadian soccer at a professional level in the region. Likewise, there is no stage in the city suitable for the professional practice of this sport and the one that exists, the PEPS Stadium, does not have the capacity required by the CFL (the stadium has a capacity for 12,000 spectators, and the CFL requires a minimum of 20,000). However, it is the usual scenario for the Laval University team, the Laval Rouge et Or.

In the past, Quebec had professional teams in the National Basketball League (Quebec Kebs, between 2006 and 2012) and the National Hockey League (Quebec Nordiques, between 1972 and 1995, when they moved to the United States in Denver, forming the Colorado Avalanche). In terms of infrastructure, it has the Center Videotron, an arena with a capacity of 18,000 spectators for ice hockey and other sports, cultural and musical activities.

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