Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent is a regional county municipality in the Côte-Nord region of far-eastern Quebec, Canada. It includes all communities along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence between the Natashquan River and the Newfoundland and Labrador border.
It has a total area of 48,146.88 square kilometres (18,589.61 sq mi) according to Quebec's Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l'Occupation du territoire (which includes coastal, lake, and river water territory),[3] and a land area of 40,686.75 square kilometres (15,709.24 sq mi) according to Statistics Canada. The population from the 2021 Canadian census was 3,382.[4]
Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent and the neighbouring Minganie Regional County Municipality are grouped into the single census division of Minganie–Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent (known as Minganie–Basse-Côte-Nord before 2010). The combined population at the 2021 census was 9,849.[5]
Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality was created in July 2010, replacing Basse-Côte-Nord, which was a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality. It is territorially much larger than Basse-Côte-Nord was, because at the time of its creation it received the (uninhabited) Petit-Mécatina unorganized territory in a transfer from Minganie Regional County Municipality.[6]
Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent Regional County Municipality is characterized by the absence of road connections between the villages that are spread out along its 375 kilometres (233 mi) shoreline of the gulf. Except for Blanc-Sablon, all communities are only accessible by boat or plane, although Quebec Route 138 is being planned to extend all along the coast. Since the early 1990s, the region's commercial fishing industry has seen a steep decline, but a tourism industry is being developed to promote hunting and fishing outfitters, among other activities.[1]
There are 6 subdivisions and one native reserve within the RCM:[2]
Highways and numbered routes that run through the municipality, including external routes that start or finish at the county border:[7]
There are a number of large rivers that flow in a generally north–south direction through Le Golfe-du-Saint-Laurent to enter the Gulf. Near the coast the river basins tend to narrow in towards the river mouth, and between their mouths are areas that drain into the Gulf through smaller streams. From west to east, the larger river basins, which may cover parts of Labrador or Minganie, are:[8]
