Quebec, also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of 2011, the city has a population of 516,622,and the metropolitan area has a population of 765,706, making it the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about 233 kilometres (145 mi) to the southwest. The narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River proximate to the city’s promontory, Cap-Diamant (Cape Diamond), and Lévis, on the opposite bank, provided the name given to the city, Kébec, an Algonquin word meaning “where the river narrows”. Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in North America. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec) are the only remaining fortified city walls that still exist in the Americas north of Mexico, and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the ‘Historic District of Old Québec’.
According to the federal and provincial governments, Québec is the city’s official name in both French and English, although Quebec City (or its French equivalent, Ville de Québec) is commonly used, particularly to distinguish the city from the province. The city’s most famous landmark is the Château Frontenac, a hotel which dominates the skyline. The National Assembly of Quebec, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), and the Musée de la civilisation (Museum of Civilization) are found within or near Vieux-Québec.
Most jobs in Quebec City are concentrated in public administration, defence, services, commerce, transport and tourism. As the provincial capital, the city benefits from being a regional administrative and services centre: apropos, the provincial government is the largest employer in the city, employing 27,900 people as of 2007. CHUQ (the local hospital network) is the city’s largest institutional employer, with more than 10,000 employees in 2007. In 2008, the unemployment rate in Quebec City was 4.5%, well below provincial and national averages (7.3% and 6.6%, respectively).
Around 10% of jobs are in manufacturing. Principal products include pulp and paper, processed food, metal/wood items, chemicals, electronics and electrical equipment, and printed materials. The city hosts the headquarters of a variety of prominent companies, including: engineering firms BPR and Roche; investment fund Cominar; Industrial Alliance, La Capitale, Promutuel, SSQ, and Union Canadienne in the insurance sector; Beenox, Frima Studio, Sarbakan and Ubisoft in the computer games industry; AeternaZentaris and DiagnoCure in pharmaceuticals; Amalgame, Cossette and Vision 7 in marketing and advertising; Institut National d’Optique (INO), EXFO in technology not forgetting the Desjardins Group, the area’s largest employer in the financial sector. The security and defence industries are quite prominent, and have given birth to an industrial pole: Technopôle Defence and Security.
Université Laval is located in the western end of the city, in the borough of Sainte-Foy. However, the school of architecture of Université Laval is located in Old Quebec. The main campus of the Université du Québec system is also located in Quebec City, including its specialized schools École nationale d’administration publique, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, and Télé-université (TELUQ), the distance learning component of the Université du Québec à Montréal. Numerous CEGEPs are located in Quebec city, including Collège François-Xavier-Garneau, Cégep O’Sullivan, Cégep Limoilou, Cégep de Sainte-Foy and Champlain College St. Lawrence, as well as private institutions such as Collège Notre-Dame-de-Foy, Collège Mérici, Collège Bart, Collège CDI and Collège Multihexa. Quebec City has the oldest educational institution for women in North America, the Ursulines of Quebec monastery, located at 12 Rue Donnacona.
Two bridges (the Quebec Bridge and Pierre Laporte Bridge) and a ferry service connect the city with Lévis and its suburbs along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. The Orleans Island Bridge links Quebec City with pastoral Orleans Island. Quebec City is an important hub in the province’s autoroute system. Autoroute 40 connects the region with Montreal and Ottawa to the west and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and the Charlevoix region to the east. Autoroute 20 parallels the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, linking Quebec City with Montreal and Toronto to the west and Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, and the Maritime Provinces to the east. Autoroute 73 provides a north-south link through the metropolitan area, linking it with Saint-Georges, the Beauce region, and Maine to the south and Saguenay and the Lac-Saint-Jean region to the north.
Within the metropolitan region, Autoroutes 40, 73, and several spur routes link the city centre with its suburbs. Autoroute 573 (Autoroute Henri-IV) connects the city with CFB Valcartier. Autoroute 740 (Autoroute Robert-Bourassa) serves as a north-south inner belt. Autoroute 440 comprises two separate autoroutes to the west and east of the urban core. Originally meant to be connected by a tunnel under the city centre, the two sections are separated by a 6 kilometre (3.7 mi) gap. There are no current plans to connect them. The western section (Autoroute Charest) connects Autoroutes 40 and 73 with Boulevard Charest (a main east-west avenue) while the eastern section (Autoroute Dufferin-Montmorency) links the city centre with Beauport and Montmorency Falls.
The Réseau de transport de la Capitale is responsible for public transport in the region. The RTC operates a fleet of buses and has recently implemented articulated buses. The RTC is studying the return of a tram system to help ease overcrowding on its busiest lines as well as attract new users to public transit. The $900-million revitalization project needs approval from higher levels of government since the city does not have the financial resources to fund such an ambitious project on its own. Rail transport is operated by VIA Rail at the (Gare du Palais). The station is the eastern terminus of the railway’s main Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. An inter-city bus station, with connections to the provincial long-distance bus network, is adjacent to the train station.
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