Kirkland, Quebec

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Kirkland within the Island of Montreal.

Kirkland is a municipality on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. As of October 2005, the population was 21,735. It is named after Dr. Charles-Aimé Kirkland, a Quebec provincial politician.

Originally incorporated as a municipality in 1961, it was merged with the City of Montreal on January 1, 2002, at the insistence of the provincial government, which was at the time administered by the Parti Québécois. Following the election of the Quebec Liberal Party, it was given the opportunity to hold a demerger referendum on June 20, 2004, and voted to be re-established as a separate city, which became effective on January 1, 2006.

The present mayor is John W. Meaney, who has been a member of the Kirkland City Council since the mid-1970s. Council members include Joe Sanalitro, Buck MacDonald, Paul Dufort, Dominic Zito, Michel Gibson, Andre Allard, John Morson and Brian Swinburne.

Kirkland is primarily a residential community, with a commercial core, and an industrial park straddling the Trans-Canada Highway (Autoroute 40). The city is comprised of mainly single-family residences, with some multi-unit facilities (apartments, town houses, and condos) available.

It is a full-service community, with a public works department, recreation department, engineering department, accounting, communications, human resources and administrative services operating for the welfare of its citizens.