|
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!!!
|
