It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, transport, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, art, culture, tourism, food, fashion, video game development, film, and world affairs. Historically the commercial capital of Canada, Montreal was surpassed in population and in economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 57.4% of the population able to speak both English and French.

Still in 2016, 87.4% of the population of the city of Montreal considered themselves fluent in French while 91.4% could speak it in the metropolitan area. In the larger Montreal Census Metropolitan Area, 71.2% of the population spoke at least French at home, compared to 19.0% who spoke English. 9.4% spoke a mix of French, English and a foreign language at home. French is the city's official language and in 2016 was the only home language of 53.7% of the population, while 18.2% spoke only English and 18.7% spoke neither French nor English at home. The city is 196 km (122 mi) east of the national capital Ottawa, and 258 km (160 mi) southwest of the provincial capital, Quebec City.Īs of 2021, the city had a population of 1,762,949, and a metropolitan population of 4,291,732, making it the second-largest city, and second-largest metropolitan area in Canada. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal, which obtained its name from the same origin as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard. Founded in 1642 as Ville-Marie, or 'City of Mary', it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill around which the early city of Ville-Marie is built.

Montreal ( / ˌ m ʌ n t r i ˈ ɔː l/ ( listen) MUN-tree- AWL officially Montréal, French: ( listen) Mohawk: Tiohtià꞉ke) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec.

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