[someone123]

I wouldn't worry too much about how quickly Montreal grows compared to a place like Laval. Any slowdown probably says more about a lack of new greenfield building sites than the health of the city. It is important to know what's suburban sprawl and what's infill, but you can't necessarily get that by looking at the city level. Many of the faster growing cities in Canada are just more suburban, while the slow-growing places are already built up.

The slab architecture in Halifax was at its worst around 2000 or so, because there had been little construction since about 1990 and prior to that there was a long period where exposed concrete was used on buildings. Other cities like Toronto and Vancouver were pretty similar. Vancouver had more 90's construction but Toronto definitely had a 1970's/80's feel as late as 2000 or so.

I also remember seeing a lot more retro 70's interiors back in the 1990's, but their number is dwindling now. I hope that some cities will recognize the value of 1960's and 70's architecture before it's torn down, like 1900-1930's architecture was demolished in the 60's and 70's. Often what people consider attractive depends more on fickle fashion trends than on inherent value.