In 2006 fifteen suburban municipalities of Montreal partially regained the autonomy they lost during the 2002 mergers. The fact that most of these were affluent suburbs did not go unnoticed. Supporters of the "one island, one city" project saw the demerged municipalities as fiscal and linguistic enclaves refusing integration into the wider metropolitan community, but for merger opponents they represented the last political institutions of Quebec's anglophone community, with long-established local identities and distinct political cultures. Harold Berube studies three of these "distinct...

In 2006 fifteen suburban municipalities of Montreal partially regained the autonomy they lost during the 2002 mergers. The fact that most of these were affluent suburbs did not go unnoticed. Supporters of the "one island, one city" project saw the demerged municipalities as fiscal and linguistic enclaves refusing integration into the wider metropolitan community, but for merger opponents they represented the last political institutions of Quebec's anglophone community, with long-established local identities and distinct political cultures. Harold Berube studies three of these "distinct...