Hudson, Quebec 5.28

Hudson, Quebec, Canada, is an off-island suburb of Montreal, with a population of 5,135 (2006 Census). It is located on the south-west bank of the lower Ottawa River, in Vaudreuil-Soulanges Regional County Municipality. Situated about 60km west of downtown Montreal, many residents commute to work on the Island of Montreal.Location and populationHudson is a municipality within Greater Montreal. An informal rural agglomeration since the early part of the 19th century, the Town of Hudson was formally created in June 1969 by merging the villages of Hudson, Hudson Heights and Como. A relatively wealthy town, Hudson is known for its large, turn-of-the century houses, many of which border the Lake of Two Mountains. A ferry from Hudson takes cars across the lake (a widening of the Ottawa River) to the village of Oka.Hudson has been dubbed "the leafy Anglo-enclave" because, unlike the surrounding mainly French-speaking municipalities, Hudson has a majority English-speaking population (65% according to 2001 Census), although many residents speak both languages.Hudson is near the edge of suburban Montreal to the east, but also surrounded by substantial farming and forest areas to the west. Large lot sizes, enforced by town by-laws, contribute to the relatively large number of trees in the residential areas. Zoning, infrastructure and building development are occasionally controversial subjects, such as when town residents voted against permitting Gheorghe Zamfir to build a concert hall near the edge of town in the 1980s. In 2001, the town won a victory in Canada's Supreme Court, upholding its by-law 207, which bans pesticide use on public and private property for cosmetic (purely aesthetic) purposes.