Montreal faces stiff competition from the suburbs to attract new and future families. The arguments are almost always the same—it’s safer and greener in the suburbs, it’s peaceful and quiet, there are more open spaces… Brossard, Laval, and many other towns and cities are on the attack, saying they’re better than Montreal. This is not something Montreal can ignore. Montreal is a “product,” one option among many.
Our analysis led us to conclude that young parents were leaving the city for the suburbs for essentially altruistic reasons. They wanted a better place to raise their children. If it were up to them, they would prefer to remain in the city with its exciting and vibrant lifestyle. But as responsible parents, they felt they had to move to the suburbs, if somewhat reluctantly. We directly confronted all the usual stereotypes of big city life, stating loud and clear that Montreal offers the best conditions for raising a family. By turning the argument on its head, we wanted to relieve parents of their sense of guilt and let them do what they really wanted. Our message was that they had to stay in Montreal—for the sake of their children.
