Mortgage : none (house is paid for). In my part of the city (St. Laurent borough - a house like mine - semi-detached bungalow, completely renovated, 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1,500 square feet of living space + 400 s.f. of storage place, above-ground swimming pool, on a 4,000 square feet lot will cost you about $395-$425K. New construction, 1,400 square feet with all the bells and whistles will cost you about $650K )
Utilities: $350 / month - includes electricity for HVAC, TV over IP (with basic 45 channels), highest speed internet, landline phone

Food costs: $350 / week - 2 adults, 2 teenagers - I do a lot of cooking from scratch and only buy organic fruits and veggies so it is more expensive than most. if I were to go for standard stuff and more of the \"premade\" stuff, I could \"save\" abour $75 / week

Health Care costs: we have a universal health care system. I have a family-coverage with my employer for drugs, dental care and specialists like massotherapy, physiotherapy, psychology, ... it costs me about $23.77 per pay check (2 week period)

Education: both of my kids are in a private high school. In the province of Quebec, private school are subsided same as public schools. It costs me about 8K per year for the both of them. Next year, my daughter in entering prep school. She\'ll cost me about $2K and the following year she\'ll be entering university which will cost me about $12K (mostly for lodging because tuition - $5K value - is free due to her super high grades. She does not have to compete for the scholarship. It is granted automatically if your grade average is 90% or higher)

Recreation: my son plays elite hockey which runs me about $5K / year. if he were to play recreative hockey, I could bring this down to about $1,500 / year. My daughter is a national-level competitive figure skater, that\'s $9K - $15K / year depending on number of international competitions attended.
there are plenty of organized sports offered by the borough and sporting facilities which are free access for the residents (minimal registration fee of $25 to $250 depending on the sport)
Restaurant / theater / ...: Montreal has a vibrant cultural and foodie scene . You can eat in a 5 star restaurant for less than $80 / person.

However, wines and alcools are super expensive here due to the inordinate amount of taxes we pay.
Sales and services tax runs you about 14% of any purchase.

Gas price this morning was $1.34 / liter. It sometimes goes as low as 1.22/liter and as high as $1.43 liter. it varies from day to day and tends to be more expensive as you get closer to the weekend and cheapest on Tuesday 5-7 pm (go figure it out!!)

Clothing and shoes are also quite expensive due to the 14% sales tax. We buy 99% of our clothes and all shoes in either super sales here or in the USA\'s outlet stores. When purchasing in the US, and if your stay outside of the country did not reach the minimum number of hours, you have to declaire the goods and pay the federal tax (you don\'t need to pay the provincial tax). It is still cheaper to buy in the US.