Bourget is an unincorporated village in

Eastern Ontario Eastern Ontario (census population 1,892,332 in 2021) () is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies a wedge-shaped area bounded by the Ottawa River and Quebec to the northeast and east, the St. Lawr ...

, Canada, near the Cobbs Lake Creek, in the city of Clarence-Rockland in the

United Counties of Prescott and Russell The United Counties of Prescott and Russell () is a county located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is L'Orignal. It is located in Eastern Ontario, in the wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River, ap ...

. It was named after

Ignace Bourget Ignace Bourget (; October 30, 1799 – June 8, 1885) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest who held the title of Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Born in Lévis, Quebec, in 1799, Bourget entered the clergy at an early age, undertook several ...

(1799-1885), one-time Roman Catholic Bishop of Montreal. During the 1920s, logging of the

white pine ''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...

forests in this area had left a barren sandy area then known as the "Bourget Desert". Since that time, millions of trees were planted and this area is now known as the Larose Forest (). It is named after Ferdinand Larose an agronomist who instigated and planned the planting of the trees to the lands not good for agriculture. East of Bourget during spring, Cobbs Lake Creek floods into the neighbouring fields and briefly hosts tens of thousands of migrating Greater Snow Geese and smaller numbers of migrants such as

Northern Pintail The pintail or northern pintail (''Anas acuta'') is a duck species with wide geographic Range (biology), distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is bird migration, migratory an ...

ducks and

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North ...

. Two major roads pass through Bourget: one of them, the Russell Road (County Road 2), is used by commuters in the morning heading into Ottawa from the Eastern Ontario region; Champlain Street (County Road 8), which connects Rockland (north) to Casselman (south). After the 417 overpass southward of the County Road 8, it becomes the Provincial Highway 138 connecting to

Cornwall, Ontario Cornwall is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, situated where the provinces of Central Canada, Ontario and Quebec and the U.S. state of New York (state), New York converge. It is Ontario's easternmost city. Although it is the seat of the United ...

which is the second road passing through Bourget. This route is one of the few connecting the north to the south. The Prescott and Russell Recreational Trail, which uses a former

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

railway right-of-way, also passes through the village. Bourget is slowly expanding. Many housing projects are being developed in the northern part of town, and the small business sector is growing in the heart of Bourget with the opening of a small strip mall. Population: * City Of Clarence-Rockland: 20,790 people (2006 Census)

Notable people from Bourget

Bourget was also the home of: * Stéphane Yelle, former professional ice hockey center, now in an office position with the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. The Avalanche compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Con ...

Marc Dorion Marc Dorion (born June 22, 1987) is a Canadian ice sledge hockey player. He was born with spina bifida, which meant he could not use his legs. He began to play ice sledge hockey when he was 4, at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and ...

, professional ice sledge hockey player * Gabrielle Goulet, singer

References

Communities in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell Clarence-Rockland {{EasternOntario-geo-stub