Hawkesbury is a town in Eastern Ontario on the Ottawa River, near the Quebec/Ontario border. It lies on the south shore of the Ottawa River about halfway between downtown Ottawa and downtown Montreal in Prescott and Russell. The Long-Sault Bridge (replacing the Perley Bridge) links it to Grenville, Quebec, to the north. It is located 25 km west of Lachute, Quebec. Hawkesbury is touted as the third most bilingual town in Ontario, with about 69.6% of its inhabitants being fluent in English and French, the two official languages of Canada. (West Nipissing is first with 73.4% followed by Hearst at 71%.) 89% of the population is made up of French speaking Franco-Ontarians. Unfortunately, development on the outskirts has hurt some of the business and the Main Street is slowly recovering.