As an anglophone who moved to Montreal last year, I'm kinda mixed on it. In my experience, French is both required for accurately ordering food (unless you're lucky and the person taking your order knows English) and for understanding what the métro audio bulk items say (I wish they would put those messages on Twitter too). People will generally be supportive to you trying to learn French, but in order to get permanent residency in Quebec you are required to know it to a decently high level of fluency. It's doable, but honestly a nuisance.
That’s very odd. My interactions in Montreal with stores and restaurants always begin with a “bonjour-hi” and most places have an English menu. In my hundreds of interactions, I’ve only had to use my rusty French two or three times. The rest of Quebec is another story, though.
Yeah, I've found the same as you. I've even found that if someone says just "bonjour" to you, asking parlez vous anglais? will get you a conversation in English.
Even if you get a CSQ from Québec, the Québec govt has made it such that you have to wait 2 years at Federal stage. While rest of Canada will get your permanent residency within 4-6 months with skills more in demand other than speaking French which your can learn anyway by immersion.
