Vaudreuil-Soulanges () is a regional county municipality in Quebec, Canada. It is located on a triangular peninsula in the western Montérégie region of Quebec, formed by the confluence of the Ottawa River to the north, and the St. Lawrence River to the south. Ontario is located west of here.

Geography Vaudreuil-Soulanges is part of the St Lawrence Valley. Two million years ago the region was subject to a series of glaciations that covered much of North America. The last in the series was the Wisconsin glaciation. The ice sheet weighed down the landscape. This created the depressions in the land that created the basins for Lake Saint-Louis, Lac des Deux-Montagnes and Lake Saint-Francis. As the ice sheet eroded, the region was mostly submerged 12,000 years ago by an inland saltwater sea known as the Champlain Sea. Once the glacier was melted, the land rose again, pushing the saltwater into the sea. 10,000 years ago the body of water, now a fresh water lake, has been named by scholars as Lake Lampsilis.

History During the French colonial period, the region of New France was divided into several seigneuries populated by French colonists.

Seigneurie de L'Île-Perrot founded on October 29, 1672 (modern day L'Île-Perrot, Pincourt, Notre-Dame-de-L'Île-Perrot and Terrasse-Vaudreuil):fr:Seigneurie de l'Île-Perrot Seigneurie de Vaudreuil founded on October 12, 1702 (modern day Vaudreuil-Dorion, Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac, L'Île-Cadieux, Saint-Lazare and Hudson:fr:Seigneurie de Vaudreuil Seigneurie de Soulanges founded on October 12, 1702 (modern day Saint-Clet, Coteau-du-Lac, Les Cèdres and Pointe-des-Cascades):fr:Seigneurie de Soulanges Seigneurie de Rigaud founded on October 29, 1732 (modern day Rigaud, Sainte-Marthe, Pointe-Fortune and Très-Saint-Rédempteur):fr:Seigneurie de Rigaud Seigneurie de Nouvelle-Longueuil founded on April 21, 1734 (modern day Saint-Polycarpe, Saint-Télesphore, Saint-Zotique, Les Coteaux et Rivière-Beaudette):fr:Seigneurie de Nouvelle-Longueuil Canton Newton founded in August 1791 (modern day Sainte-Justine-de-Newton, not part of the seigneurie system, was modeled after British township system):fr:Sainte-Justine-de-Newton

The seigneurial system was finally abolished in 1854, nearly a century after Great Britain took over the territory after defeating France in the Seven Years' War.

It is the only county in Quebec that lies both south of the Ottawa River and north of the St. Lawrence River. Great Britain wanted to keep most of the French-speaking, ethnic French population of the area within Lower Canada during the 1791 division of Upper and Lower Canada (precursors to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec). It is geographically isolated from the Montérégie region south of the St. Lawrence.

The name relates to the historical division of the area into two counties: Vaudreuil County -- (named after Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, governor of New France) for the communities along the Ottawa River, and Soulanges County -- (named after Pierre-Jacques Joybert de Soulanges from Soulanges, Marne, France) for the communities along the St. Lawrence. Soulanges is a name of Québécois derivation, referring to its southerliness.

Since the RCM formation on 14 April 1982, the division of the county into "Vaudreuil" and "Soulanges" is still salient. The "Vaudreuil" area (consisting of the municipalities of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Saint-Lazare, Hudson, L'Île-Perrot, and others) is closer to Montreal. It is more suburban, populous, and economically and ethnically diverse. By contrast, the Soulanges area (including the municipalities of Saint-Polycarpe, Saint-Zotique, Coteau-du-Lac, Rivière-Beaudette and Les Coteaux) is predominantly rural, agricultural, and ethnically French-Canadian.

Owing to the county's geographic isolation within Quebec, and its growing population as a suburb of the city of Montreal, Elections Canada assigned the electoral district to the county in 1997.

Subdivisions There are 23 subdivisions within the RCM:

Cities & Towns (10) Coteau-du-Lac Hudson L'Île-Cadieux L'Île-Perrot Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot Pincourt Rigaud Saint-Lazare Saint-Zotique Vaudreuil-Dorion

Municipalities (11) Les Cèdres Les Coteaux Pointe-Fortune Rivière-Beaudette Saint-Clet Saint-Polycarpe Saint-Télesphore Sainte-Justine-de-Newton Sainte-Marthe Terrasse-Vaudreuil Très-Saint-Rédempteur

Villages (2) Pointe-des-Cascades Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac

Demographics Population

Population History by County (1855–1981)

+ Population History by County, 1855-1981a.b.c. d.e. Municipality 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 Comté de Vaudreuil Comté de Soulanges Vaudreuil-Soulanges

Population History by Municipality + Population History by Municipality, 1986-2021a. Statistique Canada, Recensement de la population de 1996, Profil des divisions et subdivisions de recensement : Vaudreuil-Soulanges, produit 95F0181XDB96001 au catalogue de Statistique Canada. Consulté le 20 juillet 2017.b. Statistique Canada. 2002. Profils des communautés de 2001. Vaudreuil-Soulanges (Code 2471), Ottawa. No 93F0053XIF au catalogue de Statistique Canada. Diffusé le 27 juin 2002; modifié le 30 novembre 2005. Consulté le 20 juillet 2017.c. Statistique Canada. 2007. Profils des communautés de 2006, Recensement de 2006 (Code 2471) (Hiérarchie)., produit nº 92-591-XWF au catalogue de Statistique Canada. Ottawa. Diffusé le 13 mars 2007. Consulté le 20 juillet 2017.d. Statistique Canada. Profil du recensement, produit nº 98-316-XWF au catalogue de Statistique Canada. Ottawa. Vaudreuil-Soulanges (Code 2471) Géographie hiérarchie. 2011, diffusé le 24 octobre 2012. Consulté le 20 juillet 2017.e. Statistique Canada. 2017. Hiérachie, Vaudreuil-Soulanges, MRC (Division de recensement 2471). Profil du recensement, Recensement de 2016, produit nº 98-316-X2016001 au catalogue de Statistique Canada. Ottawa. Diffusé le 3 mai 2017. (site consulté le 20 juillet 2017). Municipality 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021 Vaudreuil-Dorion Saint-Lazare Pincourt L'Île-Perrot Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot Saint-Zotique Rigaud Coteau-du-Lac Les Cèdres Les Coteaux Hudson Rivière-Beaudette Saint-Polycarpe Terrasse-Vaudreuil Pointe-des-Cascades 640 691 910 981 Saint-Clet Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac 675 876 928 964 Sainte-Marthe Très-Saint-Rédempteur 480 570 622 598 733 863 898 978 Sainte-Justine-de-Newton 860 926 934 888 929 973 922 947 Saint-Télesphore 780 772 805 809 769 762 759 754 Pointe-Fortune 400 413 451 429 507 542 580 582 L'Île-Cadieux 115 140 121 127 128 105 126 120 Vaudreuil-Soulanges

Language Canada Census Mother Tongue - Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality, QuebecStatistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2021 census Census Total Year Responses Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % 94,820 1.6% 58.87% 37,135 7.1% 23.05% 5,180 84.02% 3.21% 20,640 36.5% 12.81% 96,365 3.3% 64.85% 32,525 14.17% 21.89% 2,815 14.2% 1.89% 15,120 32.1% 10.17% 93,300 9.0% 67.81% 30,380 22.7% 22.08% 2,465 62.7% 1.79% 11,445 50.0% 8.32% 85,565 11.7% 71.62% 24,760 26.2% 20.73% 1,515 18.8% 1.27% 7,625 101.2% 6.38% 76,610 8.4% 75.63% 19,615 1.7% 19.37% 1,275 9.4% 1.26% 3,790 17.3% 3.74% 70,690 n/a 74.91% 19,285 n/a 20.44% 1,165 n/a 1.23% 3,230 n/a 3.42%

Transportation Public Transportation The region is served by the Exo La Presqu’Île and Exo Sud-Ouest bus services as well as the Vaudreuil-Hudson commuter rail line.

Access Routes Highways and numbered routes that run through the municipality, including external routes that start or finish at the county border:Official Transport Quebec Road Map

Autoroutes

Principal Highways Developed in the future

Secondary Highways

External Routes

See also List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec

References