Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec


Sainte-Thérèse is an off-island suburb northwest of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada, in the Thérèse-De Blainville Regional County Municipality.
The town is mostly known as a home for heavy industry, but it is also a centre of recreational and tourist activities. It is near the southern limit of a web of cross-country ski trails which meander through the Laurentides. Heading north, it is possible to undertake several nature-filled days of skiing towards major resort centres such as Mont-Tremblant.
During the summer, many of the ski trails are used as dedicated bicycle paths, making it possible to undertake day-long or week-long cycling excursions through unspoiled areas, from one resort area to another, without sharing the right of way with motorized vehicles.

Economy

The city was for several decades the home of Sicard Industries, the biggest maker of snow blowers in the world.
Form 1966 until 2002, it was also the home of General Motors' Sainte-Thérèse Assembly, the only Canadian automobile assembly plant outside Ontario.
There is also a Paccar plant that manufactures light and medium-duty Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks.
Home and garden company, Botanix, originate from Sainte-Thérèse. Founders and brothers, Guy and Wilfred Dion, started a business that would become Pavage Dion and Centre du Jardin Dion. Groupe Rona stepped in and expanded the company to become one of the largest landscaping and flower company in Québec.
Sainte-Thérèse formerly had a number of piano factories, including Pianos Lesage.
Before the General Motors plant arrival in 1966, Agricultural and equipment company Machineries Dion was the biggest employer of the region. Steel combines were design and produce from 1940 and beyond. Steel foundry, state of the art workshop, cast iron parts and ingenious thinking made Machineries Dion a leader in the equipment market. Inventors of the first pull type forage harvester in the world with macerating rolls for hay and corn. After the initial success, more divisions would emerge; concrete silos, maple syrup extraction equipment and agricultural technology development soon followed.

Transportation

Sainte-Thérèse is served by the Sainte-Thérèse commuter rail station on the Exo Saint-Jérôme line. Local bus service is provided by CIT Laurentides.

Demographics

According to the Canada 2001 Census:
The Commission scolaire de la Seigneurie-des-Mille-Îles operates Francophone public schools.
Some students are zoned to École Plateau Saint-Louis or to École de la Renaissance in Blainville and some are zoned to École secondaire Jean-Jacques-Rousseau in Boisbriand.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board operates Anglophone public schools:
There is a French-language private school, Académie Sainte-Thérèse, which has its primary school campus here.