another opinion from another Montreal here, in fact right after typing this I have to go wash my bike, just back from my commute.
I use 1.75in , or 44mm studded schwalbe winters. I personally like the wider contact patch, so there you go, another opinion. Im on my second winter with these tires, before I used regular old mtb tires, 2.1 to 2.5in knobbies and ran them low pressure wise and it worked fine---but riding more in the dark meant that getting the studded tires makes a hell of a difference for not having to be totally on the ball watching the surface for ice, and especially ice under snow where its surprise time.
I know some people like narrower for the reasons stated, but I find my 44s perfectly fine and ride every day on all kinds of surfaces. Also, the 26x1.75 can be found at a hugely discounted price probably because they are used so commonly in Europe.
I realize your bike is 700 so you're going to be encountering much more expensive tires than what I got.
Oh, and wash the bike all the time, if not salt with rust everything pretty bad. I'm religious about doing a wash, but I have a garage floor I can get water on and not care about. If you dont wash it well regularly, the drivetrain, cables under the bb area, you name it, will rust to hell. especially in all the nooks and crannies that salty water gets into. (I still find rusted bits here and there when I go over it once in a while and at end of season, I try to grease stuff in spots i know are going to be rust areas.