Montreal, formerly called Ville-Marie or “City of Mary” and it is the most crowded region in the area of Quebec and the second-most crowded in Canada. The city has a distinctive four-season continental weather, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. Montréal is the greatest city in eastern Canada and after Paris, the second greatest French-talking city on the planet. It is one of the most multilingual cities where 59% of the population can speak both English and French.
Montreal plays an important role in the finance industry. The sector employs around 100,000 persons in the Greater Montreal Area. In March 2016, Montreal is placed in the 21st position in the Global Financial Centre’s Index, a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centers around the world. It was placed as 14th most competitive financial center in the world during the 2017 Global Financial Centre’s Index and second most economical in Canada after Toronto. Industries include electric goods, broadcastings, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, textile and apparel industrial, tobacco, petrochemicals and shipping. The service sector is also tough and contains civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education and research and development. In 2002, Montreal was the fourth-largest Centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
Toronto may be Canada’s commercial capital, but Montréal remains the country’s cultural juggernaut. The city is well-known for its cultural enthusiasm and different artistic communities from music to literature, fashion design and the visual arts. One of the most important factors in this regard is the city’s relatively low cost of living, which includes rent and mortgage costs, public transit passes, food prices and medical care.
Montreal has accommodated various international symposiums and events throughout its history, as well as the 1967 International and Universal Exposition and the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. It is the only Canadian city which will conduct the Summer Olympics. The city's main festival is the Montreal International Jazz Festival, which is the biggest jazz festival in the world. Some of the general festivals in Montreal are Just for Laughs (major entertainment festival in the world), Montreal World Film Festival, Les FrancoFolies de Montréal, Nuits d'Afrique, Pop Montreal, Divers/Cité, Fierté Montréal and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
