Baie-Comeau () is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in the

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (Region 09) (, ; ) is an List of regions of Quebec, administrative region of Quebec, on the Quebec-Labrador peninsula, Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, Canada. The region runs along the St. Lawrence River and then the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ...

region of the province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It is located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, and is the seat of Manicouagan Regional County Municipality. It is near the mouth of the

Manicouagan River The Manicouagan or Manicuagan River, often clipped to Manic, is a river in Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. The river originates in the Manicouagan Reservoir and flows approximately south, emptying into the Saint Lawrence River near Baie- ...

, named after the adjacent Comeau Bay. It has a population of 20,687 in the

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

, and the census agglomeration population is 26,643. Baie-Comeau is the birthplace of

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

, former

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada () is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons ...

Toponymy

Although the city is officially named in honour of Napoléon-Alexandre Comeau, the origin of the name actually comes from his father Antoine-Alexandre Comeau, who was an employee of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

and had a camp there. Travelers would spontaneously think of “the bay of the Comeau camp”, perpetuated by word of mouth until the employees of the Geography Commission wrote ''Anse à Comeau'' (Comeau Cove) on plans. When Baie-Comeau was founded however, the authorities were unaware of the origin of this name, and specified that it honored Napoléon-Alexandre Comeau (1848-1923).

History

The oldest part of Baie-Comeau is the area known as ''Vieux-Poste'' (Old Post) near the mouth of the Amédée River where in 1889, the Saint-Eugène-de-Manicouagan Mission was founded by Eudists. In 1898, the first sawmill in the Côte-Nord region was built there by the brothers Damase and Henri Jalbert, but it closed in 1907 after their timber stock was swept into the St. Lawrence. In 1916, Route 138 was extended to Saint-Eugène-de-Manicouagan and in 1929, its post office opened with the English name of ( francized in 1936). Baie-Comeau itself (the eastern part of the current town) was founded in 1936 when a paper mill was constructed by Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''. Arthur A. Schmon oversaw the project, which included a power station and housing. Experiencing remarkable growth, the Town of Baie-Comeau was incorporated on May 20, 1937. Coinciding with the completion of the mill, the

opened a store on September 15 of that same year. It was the first HBC small department store in Quebec. The area continued to see economic development with the establishment of the hydro-electric power stations on the Manicouagan and Outardes Rivers beginning with the Chutes-aux-Outardes Station in 1952, an aluminum smelter in 1958, and grain warehouses (the largest in Canada) in 1959. In 1950, the village of Saint-Eugène-de-Manicouagan was incorporated as the Municipality of Hauterive. In June 1982, Hauterive was merged into Baie-Comeau, taking effect on January 1, 1983. The HBC closed its Baie-Comeau store in 1986. Baie-Comeau is the seat of the judicial district of Baie-Comeau.

Geography

Baie-Comeau is located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, about northeast of

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and southwest of Sept-Îles. There are two

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

population centres within the city limits: Baie-Comeau proper, with a population of 9,100, and Hauterive, with a population of 11,147, in an area of and a density of , as of the

. Baie-Comeau is crossed by five rivers: the

, the Amédée River, the Petit-Bras River, the Chasse River, and the English River. These rivers are fed by around thirty lakes.

Climate

Although at the same latitude as

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Baie-Comeau has a borderline

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb''), just above the

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

. The cold Labrador Current makes the Gulf of St. Lawrence very cold and tends to cool the weather during summer much more than the marginal warming of the winters resulting from its maritime location. With the moist northeasterly winds coming in from the Icelandic Low, snowfall is very heavy, averaging around per year with a greatest average depth of around in March. The extreme snow depth was on January 10, 1969.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Baie-Comeau had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Knowledge of official languages from 2016 (multiple answers were possible): * English: 4,415 * French: 20,840 * Other languages: 550

Economy

The region is a major forestry centre for the pulp and paper industry, owned by Abitibi Consolidated as of October 2006. Alongside hydro-electricity and the paper industry, an aluminum plant has fed employment for decades. Cargill has a large elevator there that is used to transfer grain from Great Lakes boats to ocean-going ships.

Local government

The Baie-Comeau city council consists of the mayor of Baie-Comeau and eight elected city councillors, four from each of the two sectors of town. One recent mayor of Baie-Comeau was Yves Montigny, who was elected to the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (, ) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; ). The lieutenant governor of Que ...

in the 2022 Quebec general election; Michel Desbiens became mayor in 2023. List of former mayors: * Ivo Di Piazza (...–2009) * Christine Brisson (2009–2013) * Claude Martel (2013–2017) * Yves Montigny {2017–2022) * Serge Deschenes (interim, 2022) * Carole Deschênes (deputy mayor, 2022) * Michel Desbiens (2023–present)

Sports

Para-Cyclists at the 2019 UCI Para-Cycling World Cup

The 1993 Quebec Winter Games were played in Baie-Comeau. Many different

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

are played in Baie-Comeau:

Hockey

Baie-Comeau is home to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team playing in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League since 1997. The team plays in the Centre Henry-Leonard located in the eastern sector of the town.

Skiing

The is an

alpine ski ''Alpine Ski'' (アルパイン・スキ一) is an alpine skiing arcade video game released by Taito in 1981. The player controls a skier on a vertically scrolling video game, vertically scrolling course who can move left, right, or increase for ...

centre located a few kilometers north of the town where it offers twelve slopes.

Cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

is also popular. Students often frequent Mont-Tibasse as part of their school programs.

Golf

An 18-hole

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

course is available in the western sector of the town. It is a semi-private golf club and is open for most of the summer.

Swimming

The two major high schools of the city each offer an indoor

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

and are open to the public year-round. Two outdoor swimming pools are also available to the public. These are open from the end of June until the middle of August each summer. Some beaches are also available in the summer. There are other beaches are along the shore of the St. Lawrence river such as the and the , among others.

Tennis

Several outdoor

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

courts are available to the public in the different parks across town. They are open for most of the summer.

Football

The Baie-Comeau Vikings represent the Polyvalente des Baies in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean League. The team won championships in the eastern Quebec circuit in 2003, 2004 and 2006, and were finalists in 2005.

Transportation

The town is along Route 138 about east of Forestville and about west of Sept-Îles. A

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service of the Société des traversiers du Québec and rail ferry service of the COGEMA

Trains A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

February 2009 p9 also links the town to Matane on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. The town is the southern terminus of Route 389, which leads to the Daniel-Johnson Dam, the town of Fermont, and the

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

region of the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

. The Baie-Comeau Airport, located in neighbouring Pointe-Lebel, has scheduled flights from Air Liaison and Pascan Aviation.

Education

Baie-Comeau is home to several French-language

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s, two French-language public

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s and one

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

public school that includes both the elementary and high school levels of education. The town is also home to one French-language CEGEP called the Cégep de Baie-Comeau. List of schools in Baie-Comeau: {, class="wikitable" ! School name ! Level ! Sector , - , École Bois-Du-Nord , Elementary , Western , - , École Boisvert , Elementary , Eastern , - , École Leventoux , Elementary , Eastern , - , École Mgr-Bélanger , Elementary , Western , - , École Saint-Cœur-de-Marie , Elementary , Western , - , École Serge-Bouchard , High School , Western , - , École Trudel , Elementary , Western , - , Polyvalente des Baies , High School , Eastern , - , Baie-Comeau High School , Elementary and high school , Eastern

Notable people

* Yves Bélanger, ice hockey player * Jean-Claude Bergeron, ice hockey goaltender * Sylvie Drapeau, actress * Andrea Jourdan, author * Pierre-Cédric Labrie, ice hockey player *

, 18th prime minister of Canada * Dave Morissette, ice hockey player

References

External links

*
City of Baie-ComeauCommission scolaire de l'Estuaire
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Quebec Quebec populated places on the Saint Lawrence River Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Populated places established in 1936 1936 establishments in Quebec