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Moncton

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Template:Canadian City

For the parish, please see Moncton, New Brunswick (parish)

Moncton is one of the eight cities in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The metropolitan area includes the city of Dieppe and the town of Riverview. Moncton was named after Robert Monckton, a British military officer who oversaw the deportation of the Acadians from the local area.

Geography

Moncton is located in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada; in the Petitcodiac River valley, along the north bank of a section of the river where it bends from a west-east flow to a north-south direction. As such, the early settlers in the region named the area "The Bend" (in French le Coude). Moncton is located at the geographic center of the Maritime Provinces. Moncton is nicknamed the "Hub City", partly for this reason and also because it historically was the railway "hub" for the Maritime Provinces.

Climate

For a city located less than 50 km from the Bay of Fundy and less than 20 km from the Northumberland Strait, Moncton has a climate which is surprisingly continental in character. These continental influences are most pronounced in the summer and in the winter. Maritime influences tend to temper the transitional seasons of spring and autumn somewhat.

Winter is usually cold but surprisingly sunny with the solar radiation making the air seem warmer than it really is. There are usually one or two prolonged cold snaps with temperatures falling to the range of -15 to -25 celsius. Most snowfalls occur due to nor'easter storms moving up the coast from the United States. Sometimes the snowfalls can be massive as a result of counterclockwise winds picking up moisture from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and dumping it on southeastern New Brunswick as the storm passes to the east. In February 1992, a nor'easter blizzard lasting two days dumped 162 cm (65 inches) of snow on Moncton, paralyzing the city for nearly a week. Snowfalls of 20-30 cm are more typical and are frequently mixed with rain or freezing rain.

Spring is usually late in arriving and this is because the bodies of water surrounding southeastern New Brunswick require time to warm up. Snowfalls in late April and early May are not unheard of. Trees are not usually fully in leaf until the end of May.

Summers in contrast reveal a return of continental influences and are usually quite hot and humid. Summertime temperatures are frequently in the mid to high 20's with temperatures in the low to mid 30's occurring up to 6-10 times per year. Rainfall is usually modest and periods of drought are not uncommon. The heaviest rainfalls tend to occur during thunderstorms.

Autumn tends to be a long and pleasant season. Again, this is due to a heat resevoir effect from the nearby ocean. Temperatures remain warm until at least mid October and the first snowfall of the season usually does not occur until mid November. Consistent snow cover on the ground does not happen until the end of December. Both October and November tend to be very wet months. Southeastern New Brunswick frequently will feel the after effects of remnant hurricanes during the fall season.

History

The area now known as Moncton began as an Acadian settlement called "Le Coude." The Acadians first settled the area in 1733. After the deportation of the Acadians in 1755, the settlement lay empty until a group of eight immigrant families arrived from Pennsylvania in June 1766. They were armed with a land grant issued by the Philadelphia Land Company, one of the principal investors of which was Benjamin Franklin. A township gradually grew on the site and the new community was named after Lt.-Colonel Robert Monckton, the British military officer who led the capture of nearby Fort Beausejour in 1755 and then subsequently oversaw the deportation of the Acadians from the Petitcodiac and Beaubassin regions. The new community of Moncton flourished as a centre for ship-building and was incorporated as a town in 1855. However, the arrival of the age of steam and iron ships brought a quick end to local prosperity and Moncton surrendered its civic charter in 1862. A second era of prosperity came to the settlement when Moncton was chosen as the site for the headquarters of the Intercolonial Railway in 1871. Moncton was reincorporated in 1875 with the motto "Resurgo" (I rise again). Moncton achieved city status on April 23rd, 1890. The municipal coat of arms illustrates Moncton's agricultural, industrial and railway heritages, along with the world famous Tidal Bore, an ever popular tourist attraction.


Language & demographics

While Moncton is a majority English-speaking community, the city has an active French-speaking Acadian minority population (35%), many of whom speak the Chiac variant of Acadian French. The city hosted the Francophonie Summit in August of 1999. This was the largest conference ever held in the city with heads of state and delegates from 54 countries around the world in attendance.

The growth rate of the city of Moncton is 0.7% annually, which is greater than the provincial average. The greater metro area boasted a population of 117,727 people as of 2001 national census, but the current population is estimated to be well over 120,000. This makes Moncton the 30th largest urban community in Canada. Historically, the population of the city has been racially very homogenous with almost all residents originating from northwest Europe (Great Britain, France and Ireland). This is slowly changing but it still remains a challenge to attract visible minorities as new immigrants to the city.

Racial composition

  • White: 97.3%
  • All others: 2.7%

Religious composition

Linguistic composition

  • Anglophone: 65%
  • Francophone: 35%

A large portion of the population of the city (40%) is bilingual. The only other cities in Canada that approach this level of linguistic duality are Ottawa and Montreal.

Culture & recreation

For a relatively small sized city, Moncton is actually quite blessed with cultural and recreational facilities. The Capitol Theatre is an 800 seat, meticulously restored 1920's era vaudeville house on Main Street that serves as the centre for cultural entertainment for the city. The theatre routinely hosts live stage productions (TNB), as well as symphony orchestra and dance performances. The smaller Empress Theatre, located immediately behind the Capitol provides a cozier venue for smaller productions and performances. A school for the performing arts is currently being organized by the Capitol Theatre. The Atlantic Ballet Theatre is based in Moncton and has recently been garnering national attention. Theatre l'Escaouette is a francophone live theatre company that has its own auditorium and performance space on Botsford Street. . The Aberdeen Cultural Centre, an Acadian cultural cooperative containing multiple studios and galleries, is also located on Botsford Street close to Theatre l'Escaouette. There are two main museums in the city, The Moncton Museum on Mountain Road and Le Musée Acadien at Université de Moncton.

Moncton is home to the Northrop Frye Literary Festival, a bilingual literary celebration in honour of world renowned literary critic and favorite son Northrop Frye. This celebration attracts authors from around the world and takes place in the month of April. The World Wine and Food Exposition is the largest event of its kind in eastern Canada and takes place every November. The annual Atlantic Nationals Automotive Extravaganza, held each July, is also one of the largest events of its kind in Canada. Other notable events include the Atlantic Seafood Festival every August ,the Hubcap Comedy Festival in the Spring and "Le 15 Aout des Fous", celebrating Acadia's National holiday.

The Moncton Coliseum, a 7,000-seat arena, serves as a venue for major concerts and trade shows and is the home of the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The CN Sportsplex is a major recreational facility built on the former CN Shops property. It includes nine ballfields, six soccer fields and an indoor rink complex with four ice surfaces (the Tim Horton's 4-Ice Centre). An indoor air supported multi-use building (the Dundee Sports Dome) is also being constructed at the sportsplex this year. This building will allow for year round football, soccer and golf activities. A newly constructed YMCA near the CN Sportsplex has extensive cardio and weight training facilities as well as three indoor pools. The CEPS at Université de Moncton contains an indoor track and a 50 metre swimming pool with diving towers. The only velodrome in Atlantic Canada is located in Dieppe.

Moncton has hosted major sporting events in the past, such as the Brier (the Canadian national mens curling championship) and Skate Canada's national figure skating championship. Moncton will host the Memorial Cup (the Canadian national major junior A hockey championship) in 2006. Moncton is also one of only two cities in the world left in the running for the 2008 World Junior Track & Field Championship. Hosting this event would necessitate the construction of a 15-25,000 seat outdoor stadium. This undoubtably would bolster the city's ambition to land a CFL (Canadian Football League) franchise.

There are five 18 hole golf courses in the metro area, two of which are residential courses and two more of which are in the process of being converted to residential courses. These courses include:

  • The Moncton Golf and Country Club (Riverview)
  • Fox Creek Golf Club (Dieppe)
  • Royal Oaks Golf Club (Moncton)
  • Magnetic Hill Golf Club (Moncton)
  • Lakeside Golf Club (Moncton)

There are two major urban parks located in Moncton, Centennial Park in the city's west end and Mapleton Park adjacent to the Trans Canada Highway in the northwest section of the city. Both of these parks are in excess of 250 acres (1 km²) and contain numerous walking trails and recreational facilities. Mapleton Park is under pressure from commercial and residential development in adjacent lands, however the city and local developers understand the park's importance and are making every effort to maintain the existing 300 acres (1.2 km²) of park.

In addition to these two parks, The Irishtown Nature Park in the north end of the city and the St. Anselme Park in Dieppe also constitute major urban green spaces.

Transportation

Moncton is serviced by a newly expanded international airport, the Greater Moncton International Airport (YQM). The GMIA is the second busiest airport in the Maritime provinces and handles more traffic than all other airports in New Brunswick combined. Yearly passenger volume is in the vicinity of 500,000. Regular carriers serving the GMIA include Air Canada Jazz, WestJet, CanJet, Air Labrador and Continental Express. Scheduled destinations include St. John's, Halifax, Magdalen Islands, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Calgary, New York City and in the winter Sarasota Florida. Charter airlines including Corsair (France), Air St. Pierre (France), Condor (Germany), Air Transat (Canada) and Skyservice (Canada) also fly into the GMIA with direct connections to St. Pierre and Miquelon, the Caribbean, and Europe. The Moncton Air Traffic Control Center, located in Riverview controls all high level air traffic over the Maritime Provinces. All flights between North America and Europe pass through Moncton airspace.

Moncton is serviced by railway companies VIA Rail Canada, Canadian National Railway and the New Brunswick East Coast Railway. VIA Rail provides daily rail passenger service to Halifax & Montreal.

Moncton is a major hub for the Acadian Lines interprovincial bus service. The Greater Moncton Area is also serviced by Codiac Transit.

Moncton is located on the Trans Canada Highway, at the junction of all major road routes in the Maritime Provinces. None of the other major Maritime cities is more than a three hour drive from Moncton. Because of all these attributes, Moncton has developed as a major transportation, distribution, commercial and retailing center.

Attractions

The Moncton area has several major attractions:

  • Champlain Place - The largest single story shopping mall in Atlantic Canada with over 150 stores and services, located in Dieppe. Major tenants include Sears, Wal Mart, Sobeys, Future Shop, Sports Chek, Toys R Us, Gap, Eddie Bauer and the Disney Store.
  • Crystal Palace - An indoor amusement park adjacent to Champlain Place that also includes a hotel, restaurant, eight cinema multiplex and a Chapters bookstore.
  • Tidal Bore - A phenomenon created by the extreme tides of the Bay of Fundy which actually reverses the downstream flow of the Petitcodiac River. A causeway built across the river to Riverview in the 1960s has significantly diminished the effects of the bore, although efforts are underway to have the causeway replaced by a bridge in order to restore the river flow.
  • Magnetic Hill - An optical illusion created by local topography, is also the site of a major tourism development, including the nationally recognized Magnetic Hill Zoo and a water theme park called Magic Mountain. Magnetic Hill also features a major outdoor concert site. Pope John Paul II held a papal mass there in 1984. The Rolling Stones held a concert there on the 3rd of September,2005 before 85,000 fans.

Moncton is well situated as a tourism destination. There are two national parks (Fundy National Park and Kouchibouguac National Park) within a one hour drive of the city. The warm water beaches of the Northumberland Straight are only 15 minutes away in nearby Shediac and the Hopewell Rocksare only a half hour's drive down the Petitcodiac river valley. The Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island is only a one hour's drive east of the city. Other nearby attractions include the Cape Jourimain National Wildlife Preserve (at the base of the Confederation Bridge), La Dune de Bouctouche (ecotourism site, longest remaining unspoiled barrier dune system on the eastern seaboard), Cape Enrage (historic lighthouse, fossils and adventure tourism) and La Pays de la Sagouine (Acadian cultural theme park).

Education

Moncton is home to two universities: Université de Moncton, the largest French language university in Canada outside of Quebec,and Atlantic Baptist University, a small Christian liberal arts and science institution. In addition, the University of New Brunswick offers health sciences degree courses in Nursing and Medical X-ray Technology based out of the Moncton Hospital. Mount Allison University, consistently ranked as one of the best undergraduate universities in Canada is located in the nearby town of Sackville.

There are two campuses of the New Brunswick Community College located in the region; NBCC Moncton campus is anglophone while CCNB Dieppe is francophone. These institutions specialize in training for trades and technology. There are also a number of private colleges in the city including the Moncton Flight College, one of Canada's oldest and most prestigious flight schools.

There are 33 public schools in greater Moncton which are administered by seperate anglophone and francophone school boards. District One is francophone and administers nine schools. District two is anglophone and administers 24 schools.

High Schools in the greater Moncton area include

  • Moncton High School, (Moncton, anglophone)
  • Harrison Trimble High School, (Moncton, anglophone)
  • Dr. L. Bernice MacNaughton High School, (Moncton, anglophone)
  • Riverview High School, (Riverview, anglophone)
  • Ecole Secondaire Matthieu Martin, (Dieppe, francophone)
  • Ecole Secondaire l'Odyssee, (Moncton, francophone)

Health facilities

There are two major regional referral and teaching hospitals in Moncton; The Moncton Hospital (principally anglophone, 400 beds, affiliated with Dalhousie University Medical School, tertiary services in neurosciences, vascular surgery, orthopedics, trauma, burn unit, medical oncology, neonatal intensive care,) and the Hopital Georges-L. Dumont (principally francophone, 350 beds, affiliated with Université de Sherbrooke Medical School, tertiary services in oncology (including radiation oncology) and nephrology). Between these two institutions, Moncton serves as the main medical referral centre for the central Maritime region.

Media

Moncton has two daily newspapers; the Times & Transcript (anglophone—New Brunswick's largest circulation daily newspaper), and l'Acadie Nouvelle (the provincial francophone newspaper).

There are two television stations in the city; CBAFT-TV, (The regional CBC French service) and CKCW-TV, the New Brunswick/PEI affiliate of the CTV television network. In addition, both the CBC English and Global television networks maintain news bureaus in the city and also have broadcast repeaters located in the city. Rogers cable has its provincial headquarters located in Moncton and also its main provincial television production facilities.

There are a total of 13 broadcast radio stations (nine English and four French) in the city. There is an additional anglophone radio station in the planning stages. These stations include:

  • CBA 1070 AM - (CBC Radio One, News & Information)
  • CBAF 88.5 FM - (Radio-Canada, French News & Information)
  • CKNI 91.9 FM - (Rogers Classical) (not yet on air)
  • CKUM 93.5 FM - (Universite de Moncton)
  • CKCW 94.5 FM - (K94.5, Contemporary Rock)
  • CBA1 95.5 FM - (CBC Radio Two, Classical)
  • CJXL 96.9 FM - (XL96, Country & Western)
  • CBAL 98.3 FM - (Espace Musique, French Classical)
  • CHOY 99.9 FM - (Choix 99, French Contemporary)
  • CIRM 101.9 FM - (Moncton Information Radio)
  • CJMO 103.1 FM - (C103, Classic Rock)
  • CFQM 103.9 FM - (Magic 104, Light Rock)
  • CITA 105.9 FM - (Religious programming & Christian music)
  • CKOE 107.3 FM - (Xtreme Radio, Christian Rock)

Buildings

  • Aliant Tower- A 127 metre concrete microwave communications tower which is the tallest structure in New Brunswick.
  • Blue Cross Centre- Although only 8 stories tall, this building is architecturally distinctive and encompasses a full city block. It is the headquarters of Medavie Blue Cross Insurance.

Economy

After twice going bankrupt, the city of Moncton was incorporated successfully in 1890, with the motto Resurgo ("I rise again").

The Intercolonial Railway and National Transcontinental Railway were major employers during Moncton's early years. These companies merged to form part of Canadian National Railways, and CNR then became the largest employer in the region with major railway yards and locomotive shop facilities located throughout the city. In 1988 CNR closed its locomotive shops in Moncton, throwing thousands out of work and forcing the federal and provincial governments to step in with economic restructuring packages to diversify the Moncton economy. Moncton was so despondent that at one point in the late 1980s, prior to the changes having a positive impact, the city's official motto was Moncton - We're OK.

Diversification in the 1990s saw the rise of information technology, led by call centres which made use of the city's bilingual workforce. Retail, manufacturing and service expansion began to occur in all sectors and within a decade of the closure of the locomotive shops, Moncton had more than off-set this loss of employment. Moncton is expected to become New Brunswick's largest city within the next 5-10 years.

A number of regionally prominent corporations have their head offices in Moncton including Atlantic Lottery Corporation, Assumption Mutual Life Insurance, Medavie Blue Cross Insurance, Pizza Delight Corporation, Major Drilling International, Rogers Communications and Co-op Atlantic. There are a number of major call centres in the city including Asurion, Exxon Mobil, Royal Bank of Canada, UPS Courier, Fairmont Hotels, Rogers Communications, America Online and OAO Technologies. A burgeoning high tech sector includes companies such as Whitehill Technologies and Spielo Manufacturing ULC (Spielo is a leading provider of video lottery machines and related products, software and services to the global gaming industry). Several arms of the Irving corporate empire have their head offices in Greater Moncton. These include Midland Transport, Majesta/Royale Tissues, Irving Personal Care, Master Packaging and Cavendish Farms. A number of transportation companies are located in Moncton, the largest and most important of which is Armour Transportation Group. Molson Breweries has recently announced that they will construct a new brewery in the Caledonia Industrial Park.

Major planned development projects in the city's central core include a new courthouse, 160+ room hotel, convention center, expansion of the Blue Cross Centre, new retail including an expansion to Highfield Square (the main downtown mall), and a four lane bridge to Riverview, across the Peticodiac River. The bridge will dramatically reshape the traffic flow and layout of the downtown area, as Vaughan Harvey Boulevard, a major artery, is to be re-aligned and extended to accommodate traffic flow onto the bridge. CN Rail plans to construct a railroad bridge over this extension. Furthermore, Albert Street, Bridge Street, and Assumption Boulevard will all be realigned and/or expanded.

Once completed, the current Gunningsville bridge will be demolished.

The retail sector in Moncton is increasingly becoming one of the most important aspects of the local economy. Major retail projects such as the Moncton Power Center, located on Trinity Drive and now Plaza Boulevard, have quickly become major destinations for locals and tourists alike. Major tenants of this development include Atlantic Superstore, Costco, Winners, Wal-Mart, Kent, Sears,Staples, Old Navy, Pier One Imports, Empire Theatres and the Home Depot.

Government

Municipal government consists of a mayor and ten city councillors elected to four year terms of office. The council is non partisan with the mayor serving as the chairman, casting a ballot only in cases of a tie vote. There are four wards electing two councillors each with an additional two councillors selected at large by the general electorate.

The current mayor of Moncton is Lorne Mitton (elected May 2004).

Councillors:

  • Kathryn M. Barnes - At Large
  • Norman Crossman - Ward 1
  • Merrill A. Henderson - Ward 2
  • Brian A.Q. Hicks - Ward 3
  • Chris Collins - Ward 4
  • Pierre Boudreau - At Large
  • Steven Boyce - Ward 1
  • Doug Robertson - Ward 2
  • Steve Mitton - Ward 3
  • René (Pepsi) Landry - Ward 4


Provincially, six ridings (out of 55 in the legislative assembly) are located in the greater Moncton area. Elected MLA's (and party affiliations) include:


Moncton is located in the federal riding of Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, the current representative of which is Claudette Bradshaw, (Liberal). She currently serves as the Minister of State (Human Resources Development) in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Famous Monctonians

Although not everyone in this list was born in Moncton, they all live or have lived in Moncton and have had significant connections to the community.

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