Ottawa
Population:
Total: 45,965
Economy:
Cornwall is a port-of-entry into Canada (Canada Border Services abandoned the Cornwall Island post May 31, 2009, but resumed service on July 13, 2009 at temporary facilities on the city's southern edge). The city is connected to the United States at Roosevelttown, near the municipalities of Massena, New York and Malone, New York, via the Three Nations Crossing (Canada, Mohawk, and U.S.A.) which traverses the St. Lawrence River and Cornwall Island, located within the Ontario portion of Akwesasne.
Cornwall was once home to a thriving cotton processing industry. Courtaulds Canada Inc.?s rayon manufacturing mill operated until 1992 at one point employing almost 3,000. Domtar, a Quebec-based company operated a paper mill in the city for nearly one-hundred years, ceasing operations on March 31, 2006. At its peak, Domtar employed nearly 1,500 employees. In addition, Canadian Industries Limited (C.I.L.), now Pioneer Chemicals, has operated a plant in Cornwall since 1935.
Cornwall's industrial base has now shifted to a more diversified mix of manufacturing, automotive, high tech, food processing, and contact centres. The City hosts the largest SCM distribution centre in Canada, its massive 1,500,000-square-foot (139,000 m2) facility employing nearly 1000 people. Furthermore, StarTek and Teleperformance both operate call centres in Cornwall, each of which provides in excess of 300 jobs. In late 2008, Shopper's Drug Mart announced the construction of a 500,000 sq.ft. distribution facility in Cornwall's Business Park. Construction started on the new facility in the summer of 2009. Over 130 new jobs will be created. Service Canada has announced the establishment of a new contact centre, to open in 2010. Over 170 new jobs will be created. Cornwall's unemployment rate is estimated at around 7%.
On April 16, 2009 Cornwall City Council agreed to increase property taxes by 2.5% per household based on property assessments calculated in 2008.
On February 18, 2009 the United Counties council (surrounding the city of Cornwall) tabled a draft budget that would see a 2.7% decrease in property taxes. On February 19, 2009 the United Counties council voted 7 - 4 for a 4.5% tax rate decrease. Larger than the 2.7% that was tabled as a draft.
MoneySense magazine rated Cornwall as Canada's 86th best city in 2009 (out of 154).
Demographics:
According to the 2006 census, Cornwall has a population of 45,965. This represents a 0.7% increase from the 2001 Census, which gave the city a population of approximately 45,640, but is still 3% below the 1996 census figure of 47,403.
The 2001 census indicates that English is the first language learned by approximately 65% of the population, while 27% count French as their native language and the remainder have any of a number of mother tongues, including (among others) Mohawk, Greek, and Ital
(Source: Statistics Canada 2006 Census Profile)