Cantley, Quebec
Encyclopedia
Cantley, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, is a rural municipality north of the city of Gatineau
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
, east of the Gatineau River, located within Canada's National Capital Region
National Capital Region (Canada)
The National Capital Region, also referred to as Canada's Capital Region, is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec, and surrounding urban and rural communities....
approximately 15–20 minutes from Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
. The population in 2006 was 7,926. Between 2001 and 2006, Cantley had the largest population growth in the region with a 34.4% rise. French is the mother tongue of 87% of Cantley's residents.
Its roots are in farmland but recent housing projects are slowly changing the landscape into a suburb of Gatineau.
Gatineau's Limbour neighbourhood has reached the town's southern limits with the Les Escarpements de Limbour housing development.
Transportation
Cantley's main artery is Route 307Quebec Route 307
Route 307 is a provincial road located in the Outaouais region of Quebec. The road runs mostly parallel to the Gatineau River on the eastern side of it. It starts at the corner of Rue Jacques-Cartier and Boulevard Greber in the Gatineau sector of the city of Gatineau...
also known as Montée de la Source (formally known as la rue Principale) which is the extension of Rue Saint-Louis
Rue Saint-Louis
Rue Saint-Louis is a main street in Gatineau, Quebec that runs mostly along the north and east side of the Gatineau River in the old city of Gatineau. It starts at the boundaries of the city of Gatineau and the suburban town of Cantley, Quebec and ends at Boulevard Maloney...
in Gatineau. Major collector roads include Chemin du Mont-Cascades, Chemin Ste-Élisabeth, Montée des Érables and Montée St-Amour. Most of the roads in the town connect to Route 307 and most of them are dead-ends. There are very few that connect to secondary roads.
The Société de transport de l'Outaouais
Société de transport de l'Outaouais
Société de transport de l'Outaouais is the transit service of the Outaouais region of Quebec. It operates public transit routes in Gatineau, Quebec, including the Hull, Aylmer, Gatineau, Buckingham and Masson-Angers sectors, plus limited service to suburban communities such as Chelsea and...
(STO) bus routes 5 and 6 provides weekday rush hour service between Cantley and Ottawa via the Hull sector of Gatineau.
Recreation
Chemin du Mont-Cascades gives access to the Mont CascadesMont Cascades
Mont Cascades is a ski area, water park, and golf course located in Cantley, Quebec. The ski area was established in 1971 and has since grown to include the water park and golf course. The area is host to a terrain park and lit night skiing on 15 of its 20 runs....
Ski Resort, Waterpark and the Mont Cascades Golf Club. The waterpark is the largest in the Outaouais region while the Ski Resort offers 25 ski trails. Cantley is also home to Nakkertok, the largest cross country ski club in the National Capital Region
National Capital Region (Canada)
The National Capital Region, also referred to as Canada's Capital Region, is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec, and surrounding urban and rural communities....
. Residents have access to a second ski resort, Edelweiss Valley, which is located alongside Route 366 in Wakefield (La Pêche), just beyond Cantley's northern town limits.
History
The town of Cantley was founded in the 1830s by Colonel Cantley, a subordinate of Colonel John ByJohn By
Lieutenant-Colonel John By was a British military engineer, best remembered for supervising the construction of the Rideau Canal and, in the process, founding what would become the city of Ottawa....
during the period that included the birth of the city of Bytown
Bytown
Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. It was founded on on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod turning, and a letter from Governor General...
(now Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
). During this time, Colonel Cantley went north and set foot in land several kilometres from Bytown where he remained until his death. In the 1850s, the area started to develop with the construction of its post office in honour of Cantley and a mass arrival of Irish descendents. Education started to play a role in the same period when a Roman Catholic chapel and school were built as a result of the increasing number of residents in the area. Another school was built on a farmer's land in 1858.
In 1925, a new hydroelectric dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
was constructed along the Gatineau River
Gatineau River
The Gatineau River is a river in western Quebec, Canada, which rises in lakes north of the Baskatong Reservoir and flows south to join the Ottawa River at the city of Gatineau, Quebec...
, making it the biggest economic and industrial project of the town's history. This is now known today as the Rapides-Farmers Hydroelectric Station (Centrale Rapides-Farmers). However, the station is now within the city of Gatineau limits.
The Mont Cascades
Mont Cascades
Mont Cascades is a ski area, water park, and golf course located in Cantley, Quebec. The ski area was established in 1971 and has since grown to include the water park and golf course. The area is host to a terrain park and lit night skiing on 15 of its 20 runs....
resort opened during the 1960s and 1970s and represents a major part of the town's recreational and touristic assets.
Previously, Cantley was a rural village part of Touraine, then Hull-Est until the merger that created the original city of Gatineau
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
in 1975. As this move proved highly unpopular with Cantley's rural residents, they worked to petition the provincial government to recreate an independent municipality. In 1989, Cantley became an independent rural community.
On the outskirts of Cantley, is the Gatineau Landsat Satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
Tracking station for Natural Resources Canada
Natural Resources Canada
The Department of Natural Resources , operating under the FIP applied title Natural Resources Canada , is the ministry of the government of Canada responsible for natural resources, energy, minerals and metals, forests, earth sciences, mapping and remote sensing...
and is also an extension of CFS Leitrim
CFS Leitrim
Canadian Forces Station Leitrim, also referred to as CFS Leitrim, is an important Canadian Forces Station located in the neighbourhood of Leitrim near Ottawa, Ontario...
, of Project Echelon.
Cantley Dry Materials Dump issue
From 2005 to 2007 controversy arose concerning a dry materials dump located in the northern end of the town. Nearby residents complained about toxic pollutants generated by the dump that caused effects on their health. Many residents and mayor Steve Harris firmly requested the closure of the dump. In late 2005, a fire broke out underneath the material for several weeks and caused an evacuation from the nearby residents The fire was initially thought to be caused by combustible fuel, but according to the owners of the dump, a criminal handArson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
may have been involved.
Several lawsuits were planned by residents against the owner and on July 11, 2006, the town went to court against the dump for a compensation of over $55,000 for the fire and cover costs for the evacuation process and firefighters salary Tensions rose once more when the owner, Gilles Proulx
Gilles Proulx
Gilles Proulx is a historian, radio and television host in the province of Quebec, Canada. His radio career began in 1962, and he would retire as talk radio host on CHMP-FM forty-six years later on August 7, 2008...
, launched a $750,000 lawsuit against a local couple. Proulx claimed that the couple had made comments against his reputation.
The Quebec Ministry of Environment forced the owners to adopt measures to reduce the amount of toxic pollutants and gave them several delays to comply. About a year later, it received a second warning and was giving another 10-day notice to meet the Ministry's standards or it would be forced to shut down its operations.
On September 21, 2006, the Minister Claude Béchard
Claude Béchard
Claude Béchard was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as Quebec Liberal Party Member of the National Assembly for the riding of Kamouraska-Témiscouata in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region; as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as well as the Minister for Canadian Intergovermental...
ordered its closure but as the owners challenged the decision to court, it was re-opened occasionally. The site is currently not in operation as the case is still under study by a provincial court, but the Tribunal administratif du Québec supported in October 2007 the Minister's decision. An appeal to that decision did not lead to changes, and the landfill operator further appealed to the Quebec Superior Court
Quebec Superior Court
Quebec Superior Court is the highest trial Court in the Province of Quebec, Canada. It consists of 144 judges who are appointed by the federal government.Chief Justices : [partial listing]* Edward Bowen...
, to no avail.
Due to its closure, it created a significant waste problem across the region as only one landfill site remains in operation in Val-des-Monts. Many businesses are forced to travel longer for waste disposals while costs skyrocketed. In some occasions, various materials were dumped in many fields and lands.