Should Montreal be more American?

[Global Sunday]

Why can't U.S. cities be more like European ones?  That's what many Americans ask when they visit the dense, efficient, and well-maintained cities of western Europe.  Even in Canada, Vancouver vigorously encourages dense development and Montreal seems more like Lyon than Chicago.  But here's a dissent from the Montreal Gazatte, arguing that Canadian anti-suburban laws have slowed economic growth and raised housing prices; what is helping Montreal today, the author claims, is suburbanization.