[mtriassi]

As a fellow Montreal-er I agree with you in principle. Our city is beautifully diverse, and it's decently lively. Many of my peers agree that living in Toronto is infeasible, economically, and culturally. That said, I've found that living in Montreal is far from ideal.

A big issue is that Montreal's salaries are, as other commenter have said, upwards of 30% lower here. With rising rent and real estate costs, people are living outside their means. More than that, though, companies outside of Montreal are loathe to hire Montrealers remotely as well. It's not just because of the decline of remote friendly workplaces, but also the language laws in Quebec. Any legal department worth their weight will look at Quebec's requirements for companies to serve Quebec employees in French, and promptly conclude hiring there isn't worth it.

It really seems like no matter where you end up in Canada the cards are stacked against you. Vancouver is just as expensive as Toronto, and Montreal has all the aforementioned issues. At this point I'm considering running off to Europe, but I know that has its own host of issues as well. I might just be falling victim to analysis paralysis, but I definitely feel stuck.

[graypegg]

Ahhh yep! I had to deal with that while looking for another job a few months ago. I had it in mind that remote work meant I could work anywhere. Not here! You really are locked into Québec once Revenu Québec is handling your taxes, got dropped for being a Qc resident multiple times.

I’ve thought about Europe as well, I’ll need to reevaluate in a few years to see if that’s still a positive move for me. The French expats I work with they have their own complaints and reasons for crossing the Atlantic.