Borden, Gravenhurst

Borden, or commonly referred as Bordères in French (Traditional Chinese: 博登市), is a city west of Archemedes in central Gravenhurst of Nicholasland. Borden is one of the suburbs of Archemedes, the largest city in the region, and is an integral part of its metropolitan area. Borden has the largest proportion of francophone population in the region, and is the principal city of the French Cultural Hub (UCF).

Initially, Borden was a part of the British Central Pacific Company. Following the Siege of Borden in 1702, the French culture and language was introduced to the area. Throughout the years, Borden has developed into the largest population centre and historical hub for the French population in Gravenhurst Region. It is notable that Borden is the only city with a designation of "ville" rather than "city" in the region.

Geography
The City of Borden is one of the largest in the region, and covers most area of the Borden Purchase Agreement. Most of the city is uninhabited, except for the area along the Highway 505. The city's limit is formed by Minister Creek to the north, City Line Road to the east, Borden - Lydia Line to the south, and Iqaluit Line to the west.

With the significant French population in the city, many of the geographic features are named in French.

Climate
The city generally has the same climate as the city of Archemedes, only about one to two degree cooler on an average day.

Neighbourhoods
Borden generally has three neighbourhoods, including Borden City Centre, Willowdale, and Iqaluit.

Borden City Centre contains most of the historical buildings. Borden City Centre also contains most of the commercial buildings, the town hall, and the city park.

Willowdale (Val-du-Saule in French) used to be a hamlet, containing no more than 20 houses, but with the new houses in Willowdale built, Willowdale is now a large community home to the thousands.

Iqaluit is a community off in the west end of the city, with about 50 homes. While large portions of the community is within Borden's city limits, about 20 homes is within the adjacent Arithmetic boundaries.

Demographics
The last complete census suggests that there are 42,036 people living in the City of Borden, making Borden the second biggest suburb in Archemedes CMA, behind the Town of Donsley.

Over the years, Borden remains a traditional hub for the French culture to prosper, and therefore home to many native French speaking population throughout the years. The French-speaking population consists of more than 80% of the entire city's population.

Recent rapid growth in the City of Archemedes has prompted the City of Borden in becoming more of a bedroom community, resulting in Borden's economy to be dependent on Archemedes. In addition, population are rising rapidly due to the need of suburban housing in the Archemedes Census Metropolitan Area, though most of the new residents are non-French speaking.

In the 2005 Interim Census, French still remains to be the largest language group in the city, with 22,908 speakers, constituting to 72% of the total population, and an addition 1,909 claims to have knowledge of the language, or uses it as a second language. English is the second largest language group, with 6,939 speakers, about 21% of the total population. Cantonese, the most popular language of the region, has 1,341 speakers, about 4% of the total population, though this figure is on the rise due to Borden's suburban developments. Mandarin and other languages have 300 speakers respectively, each constitutes about 1% of the total population.

Transportation
Borden is primarily served by Gravenhurst Regional Transit (GRT), which operates about 13 bus routes within the city. Borden also has two GO Transit Stations within the city, Borden GO Station and Iqaluit GO Station. A proposed GO Station, Willowdale to serve the new community of North Willowdale.

There is a proposed and under construction subway line stretching through the middle of the city, and is planned to serve Borden City Centre by 2012.

There is currently only one bus terminal in the city, located within Borden GO Station. However, this terminal is proposed to move north to the present Essa Outlet Mall, namely Essa Outlet Terminal, to serve the nearby Essa Outlet Mall and the new community of North Willowdale.

Borden has a grid like system of arterial roads. The grid-like road system is paid for and maintained by Gravenhurst Region, and each is assigned a number. The square grid of major city streets was laid out by the concession road system.

The local road system is paid for and maintained by the city itself.

With the city's enlarging surplus, the largest in history, the city is planning to use the surplus to build the freeway Borden - Manhatten Link. The freeway is expected to be completed in early 2010.

Borden is also served by Highway 505 (Al G. Bra Expressway) and Crowfoot Ring Highway (Maintenance and Construction Paid by Archemedes, as a friendship gift welcoming Borden returning to Gravenhurst Region).

Borden is currently the only suburb of Archemedes without toll booth restrictions to enter the city. The planned extension of the 505/506 Corridor Line of The Linx is scheduled for completion by 2016.

Nearby Municipalities

 * North : Iranquay - Manhatten - Kanata
 * East : Archemedes
 * South : Lydia
 * West : Arithmetic

This article is available in other languages: Français

Bordères