Isn't Montreal just as big as Toronto as far as population and urbanization?
According to
Wikipedia Toronto is about the size of Chicago and Montreal is about the size of Philadelphia.
As a native of Montreal living in Toronto for the last 15 years, I find the two cities have very different
"feels". Not just the obvious cultural differences, but geographical as well.
Toronto sprawls a lot.
There is a downtown by Lake Ontario, but then another dense blob at Yonge and Bloor about 2 miles north, followed by another blob another 10 miles north in North York.
Montreal's downtown is much more focused in a single, larger, area.
Montreal is an island with a small mountain in the middle and has many bridges in various states of (dis)repair linking the bedroom communities to north and south of the city to it. Toronto is just a huge flat blob punctuated by a few river ravine systems and which continues to expand in every direction (except south) along its ever-chocked highways.
Montreal has a well-preserved "Old Montreal" with many stone building dating back between the early 1700s and 1800s. Toronto has a few sparse heritage buildings of newer vintage whose sole remains consist of a shell sitting at the base of a 40-floor glass office tower.
TL;DR: No, Montreal and Toronto are quite different. My heart still resides in Montreal.