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They may not be matching Montreal drinking hour for drinking hour, but Toronto politicians defended the city’s honour in so far as partying goes with a few playful counter jabs on Monday.

Denis Coderre, the mayor of Montreal, announced Friday that Montreal is extending drinking hours until 5:30 a.m. for 19 bars on St. Denis Street and Crescent Street this summer, as a pilot project, noting, “There is a nightlife in Montreal. The only reason there is [a nightlife] in Toronto is because half a million Montrealers moved there.”

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In Toronto, Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, the chair of the city’s public work’s committee, reacted with bemusement. “The Mayor of Montreal may have had one too many,” he said.

“Most people left Montreal because of economic and political instability and they stay away because of government corruption and bridges that are falling apart.”

Added Councillor Peter Milczyn, chairman of the planning and growth committee: “You can drink in Toronto in any number of languages, and no one is going to complain if the sign is in another language — beer, bier, cervaza.”