| Topic |
Montreal |
Boston |
Edge |
| Education |
| Students (official January 2000 stats) |
4.38 per 100 people
(#1 in North America) |
4.37 per 100 people
(#2 in North America) |
Montreal |
| Cost of University |
About $2,000/year in Canadian dollars. So roughly $1,400 USD. |
Around $10,000-25,000 USD/year, which is about $16,000-$40,000 Canadian. |
Montreal |
| University Prestige |
The Harvard of Canada. |
|
Boston |
| Level of Class Difficulty |
Tough. |
Tough. |
Tie |
| Fraternities and sororities. |
They exist, but French students are clueless as to what they are. |
They exist, but with the occasional hazing death. |
Boston |
| Intelligence & Skill |
Montreal has a far higher proportion and total number of better skilled citizens and a superior educationally prepared workforce. (I have the numbers to prove it). |
Let’s not beat around the bush here. Boston has FAR more dumb people per capita than Montreal. Take out the university students and you get stuck with a “cesspool of lowlessness”. |
Montreal |
|
|
subtotal: Montreal: 3 Boston: 2 Ties: 1 |
| Nightlife |
| Drinking age. |
18 (And it’s practically just a suggestion!) |
21 |
Montreal |
| Bar Closing Times |
3am |
1-2am |
Montreal |
| Nightclub Areas |
Saint Laurent and Crescent |
Lansdowne and The Alley |
Montreal |
| Afterhour clubs |
A bunch: Sona, Stereo, Aria, etc… They close at 10-12AM. |
A stupid one: Rise, where you have to be a ‘member’. Sooo dumb. |
Montreal |
| Raves |
Every couple months.
8,000 – 20,000 people attend. |
Small time stuff. |
Montreal |
| Strip clubs |
About 47 of them. Famous for full nudity and lap dances. |
Like, one. |
Montreal |
| Late-night, post-partying eateries |
All over. |
If you look very closely, you may find a McDonald’s drive-thru (with the obligatory 3 hour line up). |
Montreal |
| Festivals |
Each summer Montreal hosts the Largest Jazz festival in the world, the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, the International Fireworks Competition (lasts all summer!), the Fringe Festival, and many many more. |
Far fewer and much smaller events. The biggie is like ‘Free ice cream day’ outside city hall.
Does not even come close. |
Montreal |
|
|
subtotal: Montreal: 8 Boston: 0 Ties: 0 |
|
|
| City Life |
Attitude/
Atmosphere |
Very liberal and open. |
Conservative, censorship attitude. |
Montreal |
| Apartments |
Lots. Modern. Inexpensive. |
Few. Old. 3rd highest rent in North America. |
Montreal |
| Housing |
Condos and housing prices are getting a little tight these days but still very reasonable. |
Outrageous! Everything is so ridiculously overpriced. Sell and get out while you still can!! |
Montreal |
| Parking |
Ample. Can’t find a spot as soon as you get downtown? Circle for 3 minutes and you’ll find something. |
Non-existent. Lack thereof gets in the way of daily life and causes hours of needless frustration. |
Montreal |
| Parking attendants |
Green Onions & Parking Montreal: The downtown driver’s worst enemies! |
You get ticketed all the time. No warnings, no nothing. Half the time the cop was wrong to give it to you, but you never know so you pay. |
Tie |
| Traffic Congestion |
Tolerable. |
Among the top 5 worst in the US. |
Montreal |
| Streets |
Grid-like, easy to follow. It’s like Manhattan, where the streets were specifically made to be simple for all to use. |
Let’s see…every street leads you to a 3-way fork that curves all over the place with no apparent meaning to it all. |
Montreal |
| Street names |
Mostly Dead French People. |
Every little suburb has the same goddam street names! |
Montreal |
| Street signs |
All French or pictograms. |
English. |
Boston |
|
|
| Public Transit |
The Metro. It’s clean and safe. The proportion of people who use public transit in Montreal is 2nd only to NYC. |
The T. It’s been called “old and decrepit.” You can see rats and mice in the T-stations, it’s slow as hell, and is a mess, just like the rest of the city. |
Montreal |
| Restaurants |
Most restaurants per capita in North America. Also has the most restos in N. A. after NYC even though there are bigger cities out there! Montreal is world renown for its excellent quality and variety of food. |
Boston has a lot of restaurants but the majority offer a far inferior quality of food. Everyone seems to know the very few that are decent and flock to them, leaving literally 3-hour lines to be seated. Disgusting. |
Montreal |
| Taxis |
You feel comfortable in back of a normal car. |
Bullet proof glass between you and the driver seals you in the back of that cab like canned sardines. |
Montreal |
| Radio |
Pffffff. Montreal Radio?
It rhymes with crayola. |
Amazing. Great Variety. |
Boston |
|
Currently in Montreal |
Currently in Boston |
|
| Weather |
Very cold snowy winters.
Nice hot summers. Nothing beats the temperature of a typical Montreal summer. |
Very mild cold winters.
Very hot summers. |
Tie |
| Salaries |
Low. |
High. |
Boston |
| Income-tax rate |
~50%
(Highest in North America) |
Less. (~35%) |
Boston |
|
|
|
|
| Races |
Grand Prix |
Boston Marathon |
Tie |
| Safety |
Yup, it’s safe. |
Some sketchy areas. |
Montreal |
| Cops |
Not really needed. |
Does a day go by without hearing a siren blaring out of a cop car as it races by? |
Montreal |
| Languages spoken |
English, French, and sometimes a third language. |
American. |
Montreal |
| Language Police |
Racist bastards. |
What’s that? We only speak American here so don’t need whatever that is. |
Boston |
| Population |
3,400,000 |
3,300,000 |
Tie |
| Everyday tax rate |
PST + GST = 15%
Applied to everything. |
5%
Applied to some things. |
Boston |
| Local waterways |
St. Lawrence River |
Charles River |
Boston |
|
|
|
|
| Overall Beauty |
Yup. |
Yup. |
Tie |
| Dealing with “disasters” |
Ice Storm ’98: We all came out just fine. |
A few snow flurries and the city shuts down and prepares for a post-nuclear war lifestyle. |
Montreal |
| The cost of living |
Extremely reasonable. One of North America’s best kept secrets. No wonder Hollywood has started filming movies there like crazy. |
Completely outrageous. You pay a LOT and get almost nothing in return. |
Montreal |
|
|
|
|
| City spending gone mad. |
The Big “Owe” |
The Big Dig. |
Tie |
| Mr. Fix-it |
Let’s fix it correctly the first time, or replace it. |
“Let’s put a patch on it until it breaks again” attitude. Since the city is so expensive, no one dares replace anything. Instead they do a half-ass job of patching everything up. |
Montreal |
| Rent control |
Favours the tenant. Example: Rent can’t jump more than a few percentage points from year to year, so a typical raise may go from $500/month to $525/month.. |
Favors the rich, greedy capitalist landlords. Example: Rent can jump from $800/month to $1150/month for no apparent reason. |
Montreal |
|
|
subtotal: Montreal: 17 Boston: 7 Ties: 6 |
| Sports |
|
| Arenas |
Molson Center |
Fleet Center |
Boston |
| Stadiums |
Olympic Stadium
(aka the big owe) |
Fenway Park |
Boston |
| Hockey |
The Habs
(aka The Canadians) |
The Bruins |
Montreal |
| Baseball |
The Expos |
The Red Sox |
Boston |
| Basketball |
E-ya, right. |
The Celtics |
Boston |
|
|
subtotal: Montreal: 1 Boston: 4 Ties: 0 |
| Other Stuff |
| Dot coms advertised in your face |
C’est quoi ça?! |
Yup. |
Boston |
| Famous musicians |
Corey Hart, Celine |
Aerosmith, New Kids on the Block |
Boston |
| Medicare system |
Free. Socialized medical care. |
Pay for it. Pay a LOT. |
Montreal |
| International recognition |
Listed among the top 10 best places to live by the trendy GenX Magazine Wallpaper among many other publications. |
Ya right! As if! |
Montreal |
|
|
subtotal: Montreal: 1 Boston: 2 Ties: 1 |
| Current Score |
Montreal: 30 |
Boston: 14 |
Ties: 8 |
| Some people think Russia is the Motherland. Those of use who know better know that Montreal is really the Motherland!!! |
RSS