Not true at all. MLB went with the Florida cities for exansion because they felt like it was "returning the favor" for all the years of them hosting Spring Training. Despite hockey being king by a long shot, Montreal has always been a great baseball city. The sticking point was a new ballpark. The Big Owe is no place to watch baseball, and it's not close to the city core. Canadians also have a different mindset toward public financing of sports facilities. Then there was the issue of the Expos got screwed royally during the strike. Despite whatever puffery comes from the Braves organization about "the streak," they weren't going to eventually catch up in '94. Expos fans did not forget it. After that, they had to endure a fire sale immediately after the strike ended. (Remember Braves acquired Marquis Grissom, and Schuerholz had tried to get Wetteland.)
To add insult to injury, a hand full of "home" games were played at San Juan, PR after MLB took over the management of the franchise. (Maybe not so bad for our old pal, Javier Vazquez!) Then the coup de grâce was the Bartolo Colon with Tim Drew for Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Lee Stevens trade, which would cripple the franchise in preparation of relocating to a city that had been abandoned twice before.