I guess I'd define it as seeing the skyscrapers. Most of the ways I know, you're already into suburbia when you see those.
Then again, I include St-Hyacinthe in suburbia. Some people may argue that it's farmlands already. One way or another, it's not wilderness.
You know, St-Hyacinthe has a pop of 53,000 and a density of 273.6/km2. It's surrounded by farmlands, sure, and I believe it offers many classes in agriculture. But it's a relatively large town. Never felt like farmlands whenever I stopped there.
Imo, the western routes to (avoid) Montreal are the nicest. The 138 west of Longueuil is nice. The 344 west of the the native reservation is hella beautiful. Well, maybe not past the whole reservation, just past all those tax-free cigarette stands... If you leave Montreal and get a little closer to Ottawa, the new portions of Highway 50 give some pretty good views, and the 148 from Montebello to Masson-Anger is also rather nice, with the quaint towns, the mountains to the north, the Ottawa river to the south, and farmlands, migratory bird reserves, and forest everywhere else.
