Country Canada Constituted January 16, 1886 Postal code(s) J0X 3B0 Area 7.4 km² Area code Area codes 819 and 873 Local time Friday 8:49 AM | Region Outaouais Time zone EST (UTC−5) Highways Route 148
Route 317 Population 2,455 (2011) Province Québec RCM Outaouais | |
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Weather 1°C, Wind E at 23 km/h, 62% Humidity | ||
Thurso is a city in Papineau Regional County Municipality in the Outaouais region of western Quebec. It is located on the Ottawa River, and is within Canada's National Capital Region. Its population was 2,455 as of the Canada 2011 Census.
Contents
- Map of Thurso QC Canada
- Demographics
- Transportation
- Industry
- Earthquake
- Famous people from Thurso
- References
Map of Thurso, QC, Canada
Demographics
Population trend:
Private dwellings (occupied by usual residents): 1042
Languages:
Transportation
Thurso's main access roads are currently Route 148 (running west-east) and Route 317 (running south-north). Autoroute 50, approximately 3 km north of Thurso along Route 317 complements Route 148 as Thurso's second connection to Gatineau and Ottawa. Voyageur Colonial Bus Lines provides service to Ottawa and to Montreal. The Quebec Gatineau Railway provides rail freight transport.
Industry
Thurso is known for the unpleasant odour emanating from its paper mill, which originates from the burning of chemical residue when the pulp is manufactured and the smell was there well before the retaining basin was built. Fortress Paper employs 335 people in Thurso to produce 250,000 tonnes hardwood kraft market pulp. However, the company had financial difficulties and led to its operations temporarily being shut down in 2006 and again for an eight-week period in 2009.
The Lauzon sawmill was another major employer for the community, but its building was destroyed by a fire on March 8, 2007, putting 100 workers temporarily out of work. However, plans for relaunching the production activity started shortly after the event.
Thurso's only bar/hotel, Hotel Lafontaine, burned twice in 2009; once in February and again a month later, with the latter fire resulting in complete destruction. In 2010, Hotel Lafontaine reopened just beside its previous location.
Earthquake
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5 was centered north in Thurso at 8:39 pm, on February 24, 2006. an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.1 was centered in Thurso at 3;39pm on September 18, 2006
Famous people from Thurso
Hockey legend Guy Lafleur was born in Thurso and has an arena and street named after him.
Bill Clement, another NHL player who went on to become a well-known hockey commentator, also came from Thurso during the same time period as Lafleur.