Vaudreuil-Dorion and Its Neighbouring Towns, Compared

Of these five towns, Vaudreuil-Dorion is both the most populous and the fastest-growing between 2016 and 2021. It also stands out for its commercial corridor (Boulevard Harwood) and the ongoing residential densification near the intermodal train station - see this site's Neighbourhoods page for more on the city's different sectors.

An English-speaking village with a heritage character, historically majority English-speaking (about 65% per the 2011 census), known for large century-old homes on big lots. Hudson was the first Quebec municipality to ban cosmetic pesticide use, in 1991 - a ban upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2001 (114957 Canada Ltée (Spraytech) v. Hudson). The town is home to the Hudson Yacht Club, founded in 1909, and a ferry service to Oka that's operated since the same year.

Hudson has its own station - the western terminus of the Vaudreuil-Hudson line - but service is minimal: just 3 morning and 3 evening trips, weekdays only, no weekend service. Per Wikipedia, it's the least-used station on the exo network.

Worth clarifying: "L'Île-Perrot" refers both to the island itself (Île Perrot) and to one specific municipality on it. Four separate municipalities share the island: L'Île-Perrot, Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot, Pincourt, and Terrasse-Vaudreuil, with a combined population of about 39,900 (2021). The figures in the table above are for the municipality of L'Île-Perrot specifically, not the whole island.

The municipality of L'Île-Perrot is the most densely populated in this comparison (about 2,131 people per km², on just 5.46 km² of land) - a much smaller land area than Vaudreuil-Dorion. It has its own station (Île-Perrot) on the Vaudreuil-Hudson line, plus a CIT (Corporation intermunicipale de transport) La Presqu'Île shuttle bus connection.

The most rural and the largest by land area of the towns compared here (99.2 km², at a density of just 79.2 people per km²), and the slowest-growing between 2016 and 2021 (+1.0%). Rigaud is home to Mont Rigaud, with its own ski hill (Ski Mont Rigaud), the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, and Collège Bourget, a private secondary school.

Rigaud lost its commuter train service in 2010, when the municipality couldn't cover the roughly $300,000 annual fee required to keep it running. Transit service today is limited to the exo La Presqu'Île bus (route 61).

The second-fastest-growing town in this comparison (+12.2% between 2016 and 2021), after Vaudreuil-Dorion. Saint-Lazare shifted from a rural farming community to a fast-growing suburb starting in the 1990s. Unlike Vaudreuil-Dorion, L'Île-Perrot, and Hudson, it has never had a station on the current Vaudreuil-Hudson line (an old CP rail line once ran through it, but service was discontinued in 1960); transit service is limited to the exo La Presqu'Île bus (route 51), which terminates at the Vaudreuil station.

A July 2023 Néomédia article reported that a Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) densification target could nearly double Saint-Lazare's population, from about 22,800 to roughly 42,300. The town's then-mayor publicly opposed that target, citing water-resource and infrastructure constraints. This is a disputed projection from a regional planning debate, not an established fact - treat it as such.