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Moncton, with a metropolitan population of 126,424, is the most populous census metropolitan area (CMA) in New Brunswick . It is the second largest CMA in the Maritime Provinces, after Halifax, and the third largest in the Atlantic Provinces following Halifax and St. John's. Statistics Canada estimates Moncton's Census Metropolitan Area population at 133,900 as of July 1, 2009. The Moncton CMA has one of the top ten fastest growth rates amongst metropolitan areas in Canada and is also the fastest growing urban region east of Toronto. The CMA includes the neighbouring city of Dieppe and the town of Riverview, as well as adjacent suburban areas in Westmorland and Albert counties. Although the area was originally settled in 1733 , Moncton is considered to have been officially founded in 1766 with the arrival of Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants from Philadelphia. Initially an agricultural settlement, Moncton was not incorporated until 1855. It was named after Lt. Col. Robert Monckton, the British officer who had captured nearby Fort Beauséjour a century earlier. A significant wooden shipbuilding industry had developed in the community by the mid 19th century, allowing for incorporation, but the shipbuilding economy collapsed in the 1860s. The town subsequently lost its charter in 1862 but regained it in 1875 when the community's economy rebounded, mainly due to a growing railway industry. In 1871, the Intercolonial Railway of Canada chose Moncton to be its headquarters, and Moncton remained a railroad town for well over a century until the closure of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) locomotive shops in the late 1980s. Although the economy of Moncton was traumatized twice-by the collapse of the shipbuilding industry in the 1860s and by the closure of the CNR locomotive shops in the 1980s-the city was able to rebound strongly on both occasions. The city adopted the motto Resurgo after its rebirth as a railway town. At present, the city's economy is stable and diversified, primarily based on its traditional transportation, distribution, retailing and commercial heritage, but also supplemented by strength in the educational, health care, financial, information technology and insurance sectors. The strength of the economy has received national recognition and the local unemployment rate is consistently less than the national average. |
