It's an even stranger example to use when you consider Montreal's (and Quebec's) history. During the "Quiet Revolution" era of the 1960s and 1970s, government in Quebec basically became a "Style Czar", to use the article's terminology.

Québécois language and culture was forced upon Montreal's sizable and established populations of English-speaking and non-Québécois residents via Loi 101 and other policies.

Regardless of one's stance on the matter, the reality is that it was extremely disruptive to Montreal, socially and economically.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, many residents and businesses ended up leaving Montreal, and moving to cities like Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver.

Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver subsequently saw significant economic and social growth, while Montreal stagnated throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and even beyond then.

Today, Montreal still has a rather fractured society in many ways.

Maybe a "Style Czar" figure or mentality can bring a sense of consistency, but forcing it on existing and established communities will likely cause a whole new set of problems.

Lifelong Montréaler here. I think having "problem" in the title is what is ruffling feathers, although I'm not particularly bothered by it. That's perhaps where the analogy is strained the most: stylistic divergence in code can be problematic, but in architecture and urbanism it's typically seen as an asset.

Perhaps calling it the "Montréal effect" would be more apropos?

I suspect part of the problem (and hence friction) is drawing an analogy to something that's actually a strength/net positive in Montréal as a city, but using it to claim a weakness/net negative in programming languages.

Widely homogeneous cities are not necessarily failures, but it's hardly a indicator of somewhere that functions well (as a city).