“Nature in town”: why Mont-Saint-Hilaire wins 2nd place in the charts of cities of happiness

It is thanks, among other things, to His Majestic Hill that Mont-Saint-Hilaire arrives at the top of the cities where life is good in Quebec, believe its inhabitants, which would leave for nothing in the world.

“I am 2 km from the mountain, I can come and work on a bike. Therefore, There are local shops, bakeries, funny shops. Therefore, It’s on a human scale, ”says Frédérick Ven.

At 34. For example, he has just bought, with his spouse, his parents’ house in the city of just under 20,000 inhabitants, ideally located at the foot of Mont Saint-Hilaire and near the Richelieu River.

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Photo Ben Pelosse

The city arrives in the second row of those where people say they are happy in the province, just behind Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, near Quebec, according to the light happiness index, a web survey conducted with 36,179 Canadians.

With an index of 78.7%. Nevertheless, this is a rise for the one that was 34^e Row in 2021, during the last light survey conducted on the subject.

Nature et culture

Very close to weeping houses with well-maintained gardens. the Mont Saint-Hilaire forest is recognized as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO.

There are beech and maplers of four centuries and 200 species of birds.

“When it doesn’t “nature town”: why mont-saint-hilaire wins go, I’m going to walk in the mountains. Trees are an antidepressant, so I cannot not spin long! ” says Marie-José Tôth.

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Marie-José Tôth and her dog, Fanny Bllom, on the terrace of her house in Mont-Saint-Hilaire on July 8, 2025. Photo Anek Lebel

The retired teacher has been established in Mont-Saint-Hilaire for over 40 years. has raised her two children there. She does not want to move.

“In the “nature town”: why mont-saint-hilaire wins neighborhood, I am the Madame to the dog, everyone knows me. I will do my commissions on foot, ”she explains.

“There is nature, but there are also many artists. I would not leave, ”said Normand Leduc, a hipstone of strain.

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Normand Leduc. Photo Ben Pelosse

He was born there, just as his father, who is a parent with the painter Ozias Leduc. The artist lived there all his life and taught the co -signer of the Global refusal Paul-Émile Borduas.

Protected “nature town”: why mont-saint-hilaire wins areas

In recent years, the city has made a lot of effort to make nature more accessible.

“Everyone thinks of the mountain, but 42% of the municipal territory is the subject of protective measures. There is a lot of nature in the city, ”says, an interview with The newspaperMayor Marc-André Guertin.

But the city develops too much to the taste of the association of citizens of Mont-Saint-Hilaire.

“High density should be near the station, near services and roads,” believes one of its members, Rachel Prévost.

“There is a good quality of life, but it is something to preserve. We are landlocked between the river, a railroad and the mountain. There is a limit to what can be added as a circulation, ”adds France Pellerin.

&quot. nature town": why mont-saint-hilaire wins – "nature town": why mont-saint-hilaire wins

The light happiness index

This is 11^e Cities of the cities of the happiness of Léger, which extends for the first “nature town”: why mont-saint-hilaire wins time to the whole of Canada.

To achieve the results, Léger carried out a web survey of 36,179 Canadians, including 19,895 living in Quebec.

They answered the following two questions:

• On a scale of 1 to 10. how do you assess your level of happiness all things considered?
• In the past year. would you say that your state or level of happiness has improved, has remained the same, deteriorated?

The data was collected from March 31 to April 13. 2025 and were weighted according to the gender, age and Canadian provinces or administrative regions of Quebec to ensure a representative sample of the population.

To be part of the top 50, a minimum of 50 people in the city had to be questioned.