Editing Gatineau (section)

==== Amalgamation ====
As part of the [[2000–06 municipal reorganization in Quebec]], the five municipalities that constituted the ''Communauté urbaine de l'Outaouais'' (''Outaouais urban community'') were merged on 1 January 2002 to constitute the new city of Gatineau. They were:
*[[Aylmer, Quebec|Aylmer]]
*[[Buckingham, Quebec|Buckingham]]
*[[Hull, Quebec|Hull]]
*Gatineau
*[[Masson-Angers]]

Although Hull was the oldest and most central of the merged cities, the name Gatineau was chosen for the new city. The historic municipality of Gatineau had more residents than Hull, and this name was strongly associated with the area: it was the name of the former county, valley, hills, and park and the main river within the new city limits.

After the 2003 election, the new [[Quebec Liberal Party|Liberal]] government of [[Jean Charest]] passed Bill 9, which created a process by which former municipalities could be reconstituted. Contrary to Charest's election promise of full de-amalgamation, Bill 9 restored only selected powers to the de-merged cities (e.g., animal control, garbage pickup, local street maintenance, some cultural facilities). The bigger expenses (e.g., police, fire, main streets, expansion programs) and the majority of the taxes remained in the hands of urban agglomerations. These are controlled by the central merged city because their larger populations give them greater voting weight. In order to hold a referendum on dw-amalgamation, 10% of the eligible voters in each former municipality would have to sign a "register".

Residents of Aylmer, Buckingham, Hull and Masson-Angers all surpassed this threshold and sought referendums on de-merge. A simple majority of "yes" votes, based on a turnout of at least 35% of voters, is needed to de-merge. All of the above jurisdictions had the required turnout. A majority of voters in each jurisdiction rejected the de-merger.<ref name="DGE">{{cite web |title=Referendums of June 20, 2004 |url=http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/english/tables/result-referendum-2004.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060629/http://www.electionsquebec.qc.ca/english/tables/result-referendum-2004.php |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=19 February 2017 |publisher=Directeur-Général des Élections}}</ref>{{bar box
|title=Division of population by sector in the city of Gatineau.
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=200px
|bars=
{{bar percent|Gatineau|Green|45.4}}
{{bar percent|Hull|Purple|29.2}}
{{bar percent|Aylmer|Red|15.9}}
{{bar percent|Buckingham|Orange|5.1}}
{{bar percent|Masson-Angers|Blue|4.3}}
}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Former municipality !! # of Yes votes !! Yes vote (%) !! Total votes !! Turnout (%)
|-
| Aylmer || 7,412 || 26.48 || 12,844 || 45.89
|-
| Buckingham || 1,779 || 20.27 || 4,302 || 49.02
|-
| Hull || 7,820 || 15.71 || 19,885 || 39.94
|-
| Masson-Angers || 2,563 || 34.8 || 3,900 || 52.88
|}