Aquateam - out of curiosity, what do you find are some of the biggest differences between Mtl and TO, in terms of transit, city life etc. (besides clear language differences)? I ask because my U.S. based parent company is about to open an office in downtown Montreal and they'd like people to consider transferring there...
If you don't mind me asking, what is your US-based parent company? I'm guessing they have an office in San Francisco? (based on your user name) Haha, I want to move there in the medium term so I'm curious about these job openings.
Some differences:
1) Language
Not as big a deal as you'd think. Almost everyone is bilingual. In fact, Ontarian/British Columbian friends who visit me looking to practice their french are disappointed to discover that a "Bonjour" is enough for Montrealers to label them as anglophone and switch from French to English. It's useful to know french, partially to better understand the franglais, but it's not essential.
2) Cost of living
Rent is about 40% lower here. And so are transit passes. And so is car insurance. Dairy and some consumer goods are a bit more expensive but rent makes such a huge difference that you won't notice.
3) Driving
Although cheaper, driving is hugely stressful for visitors from out of province. constant construction; more aggressive drivers; unfamiliar regulations (no rights on red lights, no rights on green arrows, ubiquitous one-way streets); roads built in contempt of modern highway standards, the grid system, and the principle of hierarchy of roads. When you live here you get get accustomed to it but for occasional visitors it can sometimes be harrowing.
4) Bureaucracy
For someone moving from the bordering province, sometimes it felt like I was immigrating from another country with the effort it took to get a provincial health card. Having done my taxes last weekend, I'd also like to remark how inane it is that I have to submit two completely different tax forms to separate agencies for the provincial and federal government (I had to physically mail my provincial one last year, but could do my federal one online).
5) Culture
Definitely there is more focus on festivals here. All I have to do is walk around downtown and I'll find an area closed off for some kind of festival. In Toronto, there tend to be fewer which are more corporate/paid events, whereas here the government seems to arrange constant programming. It's happened to me many times where I've been showing someone around and just bumped into some public event, including an on-street snowboarding competition and a free Weird Al concert. Since I've moved to Montreal, I've also started going to more concerts/festivals, partially because there is such a good offering (e.g. Osheaga, Ile soniq, new city gas).
6) Streetscaping/Lighting
This is another area Montreal does really well at. Creative and colourful street lighting, light projections on buildings/pavement. There is enough street art to put Queen West to shame (there is a yearly mural competition). Significant buildings and bridges are illuminated, which is striking at night (the nighttime Montreal skyline packs a bigger punch than Vancouver/Toronto does, considering their relative sizes).
7) Transit
I did a long post comparing specifics in the two cities in another thread. My overall impression is that both offer similar quantity/quality of transit service, Montreal has palatial subway stations but suffers from the disadvantage that it's not laid out in a grid, so getting from point A to B can sometimes be more circuitous than it needs to be. I work near the airport and yet half the office takes transit to work (including my manager), so I'd take that as an endorsement. I just wish the subway ran a bit later (it closes before 1AM) and was more frequent during the off-peak (can be as infrequent as every 10 minutes). But the transfers are well designed, and you can get everywhere you need to go on the Island by transit.
8) Food
Montreal is supposed to be a foodie heaven: although I normally just cook for myself I would agree that there's a good selection. Food trucks have an incredible variety of gourmet foods, although I find them pricey.
9) Night life
I would say Toronto is better than Montreal for big events, but for a typical night out Montreal is more active. Last call is an hour later, higher concentration of students downtown, etc means that I'd say there are more bars/clubs and they tend to be more active until later. The strip clubs are also the best in North America, if that's your thing (visitors always want me to take them to one of them). There's also the Casino and two after hours clubs to keep the party going, whereas Toronto just has Comfort Zone.
