Bromont, Quebec

Bromont
City
Mont Brome overlooking the city.
Motto: Ville Branchée
Location within Brome-Missisquoi RCM.
Bromont Location in southern Quebec.
Coordinates: 45°19′N 72°39′W / 45.317°N 72.650°W / 45.317; -72.650Coordinates: 45°19′N 72°39′W / 45.317°N 72.650°W / 45.317; -72.650[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Montérégie
RCM	Brome-Missisquoi
Constituted	January 27, 1973
Government[2][3]
• Mayor	Pauline Quinlan
• Federal riding	Brome—Missisquoi
• Prov. riding	Brome-Missisquoi
Area[2][4]
• Total	116.10 km2 (44.83 sq mi)
• Land	114.42 km2 (44.18 sq mi)
Elevation	139 m (456 ft)
Population (2011)[4]
• Total	7,649
• Density	66.9/km2 (173/sq mi)
• Pop 2006-2011	26.5%
• Dwellings	4,293
Time zone	EST (UTC−5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC−4)
Postal code(s)	J2L
Area code(s)	450 and 579
Highways A-10	Route 139 Route 241
Website	www.bromont.com

Bromont is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada, at the base of Mount Brome; it is in the Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality. The Bromont area and its resort, Ski Bromont, is well known as a tourist destination for its downhill skiing, mountain biking, water slides, golf as well as equestrian events. Bromont also boasts a high tech industrial park, which includes IBM,^[5] General Electric, and Dalsa, with an airport that serves the region.

In the southern portion of the city lies Lac Bromont, the largest lake within the city limits, and the smaller Lac Gale, near which is built BALNEA Spa, the largest bathhouse resort in Quebec.

On June 9, 2014, the FEI chose Bromont as the site of the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games.^[6] The main venue for the games was supposed to be the Bromont Olympic Equestrian Park.^[7][8] On July 22, 2016, Bromont was forced to withdraw from hosting the event because of financial problems.^[9]

Geography

Located between Montreal and Sherbrooke in proximity of Granby, the territory known as Bromont is characterized by a mountain with several summits, called mount Brome (or Bromont), mount Gale, and a smaller top, almost a hill, mount Soleil (literally mount Sun); the terrain around this mountainous mass is flat and has hills and vales sparsely distributed; this is crossed by the Yamaska river, flowing in from Fulford arriving from its source lake Brome, separated from Bromont by Iron Hill and Fulford (both parts of Lac-Brome), and definitely leaving into Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby. Two lakes: Bromont and Gale, are pooling between the mountaintops of mount Brome; Gale lake, on mount Gale sources from the mountain. The surface of the territory is naturally covered by mixed forest and grasslands, sometimes exploited as grazing grounds or grow space.

Another portion is exploited for human ends. In fact, much of Bromont's surface is crisscrossed by roads and trails, including a section of highway 10 (which connects Montreal and Sherbrooke) that gives access to Bromont at two exits (74 and 78); this network has many touristic crossroads, a vintage village, many neighborhoods occupied by housing and shops, as well as an impressive technological park. Many spaces that aren't covered by woodland are cultivated, others serve to sustain large herbivorous domestic animals: cows, horses, and alpacas. A natural domain instated on mount Gale includes a protected area, uniting private owned lands for conservation and hiking. In spite of these conservation efforts, a large part of mount Brome is exploited intensively, transformed into Bromont, mountain of experiences, a mega touristic complex including alpine skiing facilities, a water park, holiday housing and residential habitations.

Demographics

Population

Language

Canada Census Mother Tongue - Bromont, Quebec[12]
Census		Total		French				English				French & English				Other
Year		Responses		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %		Count	Trend	Pop %
2011		7,635		6,960	30.1%	91.16%		435	3.6%	5.70%		100	185.7%	1.31%		140	41.7%	1.83%
2006		6,045		5,350	25.4%	88.50%		420	16.7%	6.95%		35	12.5%	0.58%		240	84.6%	3.97%
2001		4,795		4,265	14.5%	88.95%		360	6.5%	7.51%		40	57.9%	0.83%		130	550.0%	2.71%
1996		4,225		3,725	n/a	88.17%		385	n/a	9.11%		95	n/a	2.25%		20	n/a	0.47%

Government

List of Mayors

• Germain Désourdy 1964 to 1977,
• Robert Leboeuf 1977 to 1978,
• Pierre Jacob 1978 to 1982,
• Pierre Bellefleur 1982 to 1996,
• Robert Désourdy 1996 to 1998,
• Pauline Quinlan 1998 to present.

History

Bromont was envisioned by Roland Désourdy (1917-2011), who in 1963 became the first French Canadian Master of the Montreal Hunt.

Bromont was created in 1964, as a model community, out of Brome County, as an ideal resort community.^[13][14] In 1966, Bromont annexed the town of West Shefford, Quebec, which had been founded in 1792 and was a stop on the stagecoach route between Montreal and Sherbrooke, Quebec.^[15]

Hyundai plant

In 1989, Hyundai Auto Canada Inc. opened a stamping and assembly plant in Bromont, employing 800. The 150,000 m² (1,600,000 sq ft) plant was situated on an 850,000 m² (9,100,000 sq ft) site, with body, paint and trim shops as well as a pumping station for the plant, a paint residue treatment plant, and administrative offices. The plant cost $387.7 million, with Quebec and Canadian federal government subsidies of $131 million.^[16]

The plant was designed to manufacture approximately 2,000 Hyundai Sonatas per week.^[16] Subsequently, Chrysler and Hyundai considered a joint venture that would have Chrysler rebranding the Sonata manufactured at Bromont, only to later announce the deal had failed.^[17] The Bromont plant was operational for four years before it closed in 1994, with Hyundai's sales unable to support the plant.^[18] Hyundai subsequently sold the plant to Olymbec Inc.,^[18] which, in turn, subdivided the plant leasing the former paint and assembly plant to Goodyear from February 2007 and, later, the former metal stamping portion of the plant to AAER Inc., a manufacturer of wind turbines based in Quebec.

Biodiversity

The environment present within Bromont limits allowed special ecosystems to develop; indeed, mountainous terrain, the presence of water in the form of lakes, creeks, and the river, the blend of trees and the expanse of prairies permit various flora and fauna to flourish there. On mount Gale, it is possible to observe species of amphibians that only thrive at higher elevations; the lakes harbor many species of fish, amphibians, water birds, turtles, and aquatic mammals such as muskrat. Humans having encroached in the area have kept many species of domestic animals that populate the fields and roam wild just the same, house cats, dogs, and horses are among the most common in the municipality. Fields and forests serve as breeding grounds for many species of birds, some of which remain all year, though a large portion migrates south during the colder months; Canada geese, European starling, American crows and black-capped chickadees to name a few. Many animals coveted by hunters and trappers also inhabit the land, red fox, white-tailed deer, wild turkey; raccoon and deer are often victim of roadkill. Covering most of the territory, vegetation of many kinds thrives; a majority of Bromont is forest covered, though plants occur in grasslands and urban developments alike. Biodiversity is a pride and Bromont aims to respect it.^[19]

See also

• List of cities in Quebec

References

External links

Media related to Bromont, Quebec at Wikimedia Commons

• City of Bromont Site
• Bromont Equestrian Site
• Ski Bromont Page

Adjacent Municipal Subdivisions

		Granby	Shefford
	Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby
		Bromont
	Brigham		Brome Lake

Subdivisions of Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality
Cities & Towns	Bedford Bromont Cowansville Dunham Farnham Brome Lake (Lac-Brome) Sutton
Municipalities	Brigham East Farnham Frelighsburg Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge Pike River Saint-Armand Saint-Ignace-de-Stanbridge Sainte-Sabine Stanbridge East Stanbridge Station West Bolton (Bolton-Ouest)
Townships	Bedford
Villages	Abercorn Brome
Regional County Municipalities in Montérégie: Acton Beauharnois-Salaberry Brome-Missisquoi La Haute-Yamaska La Vallée-du-Richelieu Le Haut-Richelieu Le Haut-Saint-Laurent Les Jardins-de-Napierville Les Maskoutains Marguerite-D'Youville Pierre-De Saurel Roussillon Rouville Vaudreuil-Soulanges Urban Agglomerations: Longueuil (TE) Native Reserves: Akwesasne Kahnawake