Only London and Paris are much bigger.
Mtl is about 4 million people, it's almost the same size as Madrid or Berlin or Barca. A little smaller than Amsterdam but really bigger than most else.
But it's tier 2 size in North America, but a strong tier 2.
It's really weird how people in NA don't know about Montreal. It kills most places for culture.
Montreal metro is 4 million. But Montreal has a special dynamic, by fact of being an island. It's not as well connected as Manhattam.
So there are two "bumps", one north and one south (Montreal has its own definition of North/South, btw)
Also, the 'division' is not geographic, it's cultural. East Montreal is French, West is English and it's bizarre how little social crossing there is. I live among the French and they don't even know about major things happening in the West Side.
It will get better when they build the new bridge though
The winters are extremely cold but if you don’t mind that it’s fine. Not sure about the salaries but I hear they are lower but so is the cost of living.