“Here he is, wheeling and dealing with the who’s who, and he probably hates it when I say this, but because I’m from Montreal, I consider him my little and everywhere I go, everywhere I go, for good or for bad, people know him, or make a point to tell me they know him and I’m very, very proud of him, you know? I’ll give him his last plug. He just opened a Neiman Marcus with exclusive shops this past weekend for Superbowl, and yeah, I’m thrilled for him. So he’s killing it, yeah. He has taken on the world.”

“It’s a place where Americans come here and think they’re going to Little Paris, and that’s how I invite clients up. I actually tell them, come to Little Paris for a day or two and they’re thrilled, and they’re always worried that they can’t communicate here, and yet, on their way out, they’re always like, there’s no problem, like, so and it’s a friendly city. It’s a really friendly city. It’s a cool city, you know? It’s not a dress up city, like it was years ago. It’s a much more casual city. I can’t think of going to any restaurants where I see anybody really dressed like in the old days, like with a suit or
something, and Toronto still has that, ’cause Toronto’s still a dressy city, and Vancouver’s a dressy city, as much as they think they’re casual, but they’re not, really. This is a casual city, and I’m proud to be part of that.”

“This is my sole residence, through thick and thin. I’m a born and bred Montrealer, and very proud to be. It’s the best city in the world.”

“Montreal’s the best city in North America to live in and function in if you like culture. And if you
don’t like culture, you should move to everywhere else. And that’s Montreal. There isn’t anything
like Montreal that exists.”

“In Montreal, it was completely, completely different. It had to do with, what do you got to buy or sell? Let’s talk about that, you know? There, it wasn’t the same. There was an approach, a whole ordeal. That’s why I like doing business here.”

“If you have some sort of idea what it is, and you’ve done a little bit of study, I think it’s an easier time now to open a business than ever before. When I opened Mirage, I couldn’t say to people, there was no internet, so if you wanted to open in New York, you had to get on a plane and go to New York. You couldn’t say to somebody in New York, hey, by the way, look at my website. What website? But now, the whole world is at your fingertips, so if you can present a proper website to back up your pitch, I think you got it made in the shade, you know? So I’m not really in tune with competing with other websites, ’cause I don’t have to. I’m in a very small business community. So there aren’t a lot of us.”

“I mean, just go and do it. Just do it, you know? Nike’s not that wrong. Yeah, do it. But I don’t see a problem at all. You know, I just see it, if you have an idea, and you can plan it out, just do it. Just stop thinking about it. Just fucking do it. That’s it.”

“I’m looking to give another kick at the can, at least, yeah. I like businesses and I love startups.”

“I think all the people that stayed here during the highs and the lows got it. They just got it. You know, we’re really well located, so if you like to have a business life, it’s a great place to be, it’s a flourishing city, and like I said, you’re an hour from here, and an hour from there. If you wanna, if you have to feel the need to go to Toronto, so you’re an hour away.”

“Neighbourhoods are flourishing, that now you have a place like Saint-Henri, that was a terrible place that’s a flourishing neighbourhood, filled with young entrepreneurs…young kids that are trying to do interesting, fresh businesses, and in a different style than my generation did.”

“You know, for a long time, I’ve been waiting for somebody to say, hey, let’s do something about Montreal, and why you like it. It’s a very easy interview to say why you don’t like things, but you know, a lot of us have stayed. I have a core group of friends who never budged, and it’s not even a topic for us, like why would you stay in Montreal? It’s just, why wouldn’t you? It would be more of a topic, could you think of a place you’d rather live than Montreal?”

“This is a very easy to city to live in, it’s a very easy city to get around in, if you like four seasons,
like I do, then it’s a cool place to be. You have a mountain in the middle of the city, you have
beautiful parks, you have, you know, fresh markets, you have a Little Italy, everything is two
blocks, two block to Little Italy, two blocks to Little China, and two blocks to whatever distinct
society, areas you have but everybody lives in unison. ”

“I think Montreal’s a creation city, and I think that the others are trend copying cities, and I think the biggest, if you take on Montreal Toronto, ’cause there’s always, I think the biggest difference between our city and Toronto is here, it’s thank God it’s Friday, and there, it’s thank God it’s Monday. And that’s really what it is. I have been Toronto many, many, many times over the years and that’s always the feeling that I get. Thank God it’s Monday. And this is a different vibe. It’s just a different city, it’s a completely, completely different city than anywhere I’ve ever been before.”

“So from a business point of view, it’s an excellent location. We’re a port, seaport, we have bilingual population, which makes it a very interesting city to maneuver in. It’s just the best, coolest city in North America by far, and one of the two coolest cities in the world, yeah, that I think of, that I’ve been to. ”

“Montreal’s still got an edge on the politically correct part, where you can still voice your opinion and somebody won’t shoot you, not right off the bat. Maybe if you voice your opinion too many times? You never know, but I don’t know, I haven’t crossed that line yet, so, so far, I’m still here.”