Tremblant Lifestyle

The Monopoly world edition has just recently announced the cities that will be included on the big board. Who will take the coveted dark blue spots? Why Montreal and the capital of Latvia. This surprised the hell out of me. Why? Because montreal has steadily sunk to a level of insignificance on a global stage since we hosted the Olympics in 1976. One would suspect that it would be one of the three mega cities that currently exist, London, New York or Tokyo. These cities make sense since they actually have some power. London has more gold flowing through it than anywhere else in the world. New York has more banks head quartered there than anywhere else and Tokyo has more multi-national companies based in it. Yet, the great minds at Parker Brothers have decided it best to choose Montreal. Actually, it was the will of the people that chosen Montreal.

Thanks to a clever system thought up by a group of angry Greeks called democracy, an online petition circulated where the people of the world were allowed to choose the cities on this illustrious game. There are about 250 million Chinese internet users – the highest number in the world. But that is only about 19% of the total population. Canada has 28 million users on the internet. Out of population of roughly 33.5 million that’s about 84% of the total population. That is the highest usage of the internet by a single country in the world. Japan only has 73% of its population on the internet. The global average is about 21.9% of its population using the internet.

When we look at internet usage on this scale it becomes easy to understand why all three major population centers of Canada made it onto the global monopoly property board. Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are all on there. Still it is strange that Montreal is placed in the most expensive spot on the board. Since Montreal is relatively cheaper than Toronto or Vancouver, why are we Boardwalk? The majority of banks and corporate headquarters are located in Toronto. Vancouver is a beautiful city lodged against a mountain with the Olympic Games arriving there in two years. Vancouver is also the fourth best city in the world in which to live. I guess having Arcade Fire and good bagels makes us a world class city.

In the world of Monopoly, the dark blue squares are the luxury areas. Luxury is usually defined with a certain level of expense attached to it. If we go by that definition then Moscow and London should be the two top cities. Moscow is ranked as the most expensive city in the world. A friend recently came back from a trip there and explained that a meal that we would pay about ten dollars for in Montreal cost him $75 before tip. This wasn’t four star cuisine either, this was basic pub food. The rent for a two bedroom apartment in Moscow is about $4000 per month. Toronto is Canada’s top contribution to the list but comes in at number 82. The average cost for a nice condo in Montreal is about $185,000 while in Vancouver it is about $435,000.

Another interesting feature of the new monopoly world board is that two of the three cities located in the yellow section are Shanghai and Hong Kong. I am not sure if this is a shot at china, perhaps Parker Bros are suggesting that the Chinese are yellow. Perhaps the Parker Bros are really racist. Well they are not. Everyone knows that smog turns your teeth yellow and shanghai has a lot of smog. It is also traditional among citizens of Hong Kong to enjoy yellow tea. The Parker Bros are most definitely not racist. The third city is Jerusalem and that city is in the Middle East which is typically a desert. Yellow makes sense for Jerusalem.

The other city in the dark blue section is the capital of Latvia, Riga. I have never been to Riga – or Latvia, for that matter. My knowledge of Latvians is limited, too. What I do know is that they are ruled by a man who wears an iron mask and is a gypsy and fights a fantastic group of four based out of New York. This man is a doctor and brings doom to all those who oppose him. Latvia is located on the Baltic Sea and borders Russia. I know they are NATO members and are now a democratic parliamentary republic. Riga has a population of about 766,000 people. Ambrose Pierce said that war is God’s way of teaching Americans geography. In this case, Monopoly is the Parker Bros’ way of teaching humans about Latvia.

Apparently Riga has the largest domed church in all of the Baltic States. Riga also has a castle that has been converted into museum and a zoo. Montreal has the greatest sports team in the history of sports, the Habs. We also have more festivals than anywhere else in North America. Montreal is a fun town and a good home, with lots to do in the summer and is tolerable in the winter (especially being relatively close to Mont Tremblant). We have the largest domed church in Canada (chomp on that Riga, you are the ass crack of the planet).

What is the key to real estate? According to television, it’s all about location, location, location. Montreal is America adjacent, and multi-lingual. 40% is English, 50% is French and the remaining 10% is miscellaneous. Montreal boasts four Universities on the island itself. Montreal is also easily defendable from a Zombie uprising since it is an island. Latvia is conveniently located next to Russia. It boasts one of the highest GDP growth rates in Europe. Riga has the oldest university in Latvia and a temperate maritime climate.

Can London, New York, Tokyo or Moscow lay claim to any of that? I don’t think New York has Latvia’s largest/oldest university nor is London Russia adjacent. Thanks to internet polls we now have two really kick ass cities (well Montreal is, anyway) as the top spots on the most important game to ever break up my family, Monopoly.