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Province of Québec - Introduction
The Province of Québec and Québec City
Although Québec City lies in the Province of Québec, the two are very different. The Province of Québec is far, far larger than Québec City. It is therefore important to clearly distinguish between the two. This page is about the Province of Québec.
Area
594,858 square miles. This figure includes 71,000 square miles of inland freshwater lakes. 2nd largest province or territory of Canada.
Furthest North to Furthest South
1200 miles.
Furthest East to Furthest West
1000 miles.
Population Density
12 per square mile.
Official Abbreviation
The old abbreviation for the Province of Québec of PQ has been officially replaced by QC.
Licence Plate
Background: White.
Image: A fleur-de-lis (a heraldic representation of a lily, associated with French patriotism).
Text: "Québec - Je Me Souviens" (which I think means "I Remember" in English).
Provincial Highway Marker Shield Design
A green shield. Three fleur-de-lis appear at the top.
Autoroute (limited access highway, freeway, motorway) Highway Marker Shield Design
A shield.
At the top is a red strip with a white border, with a white drawing of a motorway bridge.
The lower part is blue with a white border, and a fleur-de-lis appears below the road number.
Derivation of Name
From an Algonquian Indian word meaning "place where the river narrows", referring to the Saint Lawrence River near Québec City.
Nickname
The Storied Province.
Climate
Montréal: Jan/Feb high -12C, Mar/Apr high 7C, May/Jun high 19C, Jul/Aug high 25C, Sep/Oct high 17C, Nov/Dec high -6C.
Official Provincial Tourism Office
Tel (Canada): 1-800-363-7777
Checked Jul-99.
Highway Conditions
Tel (Canada): 1-418-643-6830 or 1-514-873-4121.
Checked May-00.
Departments of Transportation etc for each US state and Canadian province
Provincial Parks
Official site. Checked Jan-97.
Other Comments
In other Canadian provinces official signs, including road signs, are in both English and French. In the Province of Québec they are only in French.
In the Province of Québec commercial signs must either be entirely in French, or the French language version must be considerably more prominent than that in any other language (at least twice as large, according to one source).
When we visited, the staff on duty at the Province of Québec Welcome Centre on the road along the north shore of the St Lawrence River (the continuation of Ontario Highway 401 into Province of Québec Highway 20) only spoke French and refused or were unable to speak English, which seems a somewhat inappropriate policy for the majority of visitors to the province entering via this highway.
It is now legal to turn right on a red traffic light in the Province of Québec, except in Montreal Island.
In Québec the GST sales tax is called TPS and the PST sales tax is called TVQ. These are the initials of the French language equivalent phrases.
Province of Québec
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Most recently modified 26-Mar-06