Here, mostly in the French community, wealth isn't well perceived at all and is kind of a taboo. For some reason if you earn considerable money, say 100k which is twice the average salary in QC, people immediately assume you are doing something illegal or unethical. You can't drive a big car without getting the mean eye. Especially if you are one of those "replacing people with machines."
Moreover, the language barrier blocked the French companies to see what's going on outside of QC. This definitely keeps the salaries down and now every HR department in town think it offers competitive conditions.
You also have to know that the Engineering title is protected in Quebec and that you can't call yourself an engineer in any field without a diploma that is approved by the OIQ (http://oiq.qc.ca/Pages/accueil.aspx?lang=en).
It makes no difference in the long run but software engineers can expect around 30k more than non-engineers when getting out of school.
My friends and I make good money while studying Software Engineering full time. We are top of our class, but we make around ~80K CAD working as developers in a big Canadian bank and all have offers ranging from 120K to 180K CAD for when we graduate.
My point is that there are good opportunities in Montreal but you definitely have to shop a lot.