According to an article in La Presse (which, unless you can read French, don’t even bother clicking), Google has braved the great Canadian frontier and established a small R&D branch in Montreal.

Their offices can be found at the stylish address of 1000 de la Gauchètiere, situated in the heart of downtown Montreal. A small team of 7 programmers and software developers have already been hired, with the expectation of 200-300 more to come.

Contacts at Google, including Lars Harsen, the public mouthpiece for Google Canada, refused to divulge any specifics, though personally I think Google has recognized Montreal as a hot-bed for Search Engine marketing and has decided to capitalize on its pool of web professionals.

La Presse goes on to speculate that Google’s recent acquisition of an Icelandic company whose employees frequented Montreal quite often was perhaps a factor in Google opening an office in the city.

Sebastien at Praized Blog has noted that Yahoo! is hiring in Montreal as well, seemingly looking for more than just software engineers and developers. There is some speculation that with the presence of Google and Yahoo! in the city, Montreal’s net-savvy community will begin to communicate with each other in a fashion similar to Boston or San Francisco’s techies, and that Montreal’s status as a hub for online marketers will be greatly elevated. So much the better!