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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 the Canadian 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, THQ, mainly because of the quality
of local specialized labor. Recently, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a
division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, announced that it would open
a brand new video game studio in Montreal. Relatively new to the video game
industry, it will be Warner Bros. first studio opened, not purchased, and will
develop games for such Warner Bros. franchises as Batman and other games from
their DC Comics portfolio. The new studio will create 300 jobs for the Montreal
economy.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official
legal corporate head offices of Bank 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, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, Tembec,
Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, 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. 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. However, Shell has decided to close the
refining centre in 2010, throwing hundreds out of work and causing an increased
dependance on foreign refineries for eastern Canada.
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