Montreal Economy

Economy

Montreal’s economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP and the largest in Quebec. The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.

Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.

The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain,sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of theCanadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.

The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.

Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world’s largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.

The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, mainly because video game jobs have been heavily subsidized by the provincial government.

Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices ofBank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada,Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.

Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, Air Transat, CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar,Jean Coutu Group, Uniprix, Proxim, Domtar,Power Corporation, Bell Canada, Standard Life, SNC-Lavalin, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin Group, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world.^[110] It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.

The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.