Situated north of the Island of Montreal is Laval, which is technically a city in its own right but is part of the Greater Montreal Area. Laval includes 14 municipalities, with around 423,000 inhabitants in total. Of these, more than one quarter are immigrants. Laval It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in Canada with a population of 422,993 in 2016.
Laval is well served by transport links, including highways and two stations on the Montreal Metro system. While long seen as a collection of commuter towns, Laval has diversified its economy over recent years, with a local economy centred around the technology, pharmaceutical, industrial, and retail sectors. Laval has many pharmaceutical laboratories, but also stone quarries and a strong agricultural sector. Laval also has four different industrial parks. Laval residents have slightly higher median incomes than residents of the official city of Montreal.
The North Shore is the general term for the northern suburbs of Montreal. The North Shore is located in southwestern Quebec on the northern shores of the Rivière des Prairies and the Rivière des Mille Îles, opposite the Island of Montreal and the Island of Laval. It consists of twenty municipalities that belong to the Laurentides and Lanaudière administrative regions. While the city of Laval is commonly associated with the North Shore, it is not considered part of the North Shore because of its status as an island.
