Concept
Montréal is one of the administrative regions of the Canadian province of Quebec. It is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and a census division (CD), for both of which its geographical code is 66. Prior to the merger of the municipalities in Region 06 in 2002, the administrative region was co-extensive with the Montreal Urban Community. Located in the southern part of the province, the territory includes several of the islands of the Hochelaga Archipelago in the Saint Lawrence River, including the Island of Montreal, Nuns' Island (Île des Sœurs), Île Bizard, Saint Helen's Island (Île Sainte-Hélène), Île Notre-Dame, Dorval Island (Île Dorval), and several others. Only the first three of these islands are inhabited. The region is the second-smallest in area () and most populous (2,004,265 as of the 2021 Canadian Census) of Quebec's seventeen administrative regions. The region consists of the 2002–2005 territory of the city of Montreal, and is coextensive with the Urban Agglomeration of Montreal (French: Agglomération de Montréal). Following merger of the municipalities of the agglomeration on January 1, 2002, sixteen of its municipalities were reconstituted on January 1, 2006. The urban agglomeration is governed by the Montreal Agglomeration Council (French: Conseil d'agglomération de Montréal), which is composed of the Mayor of Montreal as the ex-officio leader, the 14 mayors of the reconstituted cities, and 15 city councillors. The executive of the council is the Montreal Executive Committee, which can be headed by the Mayor of Montreal or a councillor the mayor appoints. The weighting of votes for the council breaks down to 87% for the City of Montreal, and 13% for the other municipalities of the Island of Montreal. The agglomeration council is granted responsibility over: Municipal assessment public transportation Arterial road planning Local water resource management Water supply Public safety, including law enforcement, firefighting & paramedic services.
