Smart meters are very useful when you're trying to change customers' behaviour as to when they use electricity. For example, in Ontario they had quite a large peak demand, meaning that the majority of energy was used in the middle of the day. Just to meet that peak, they were having to build new power plants. In Ontario it made sense to implement smart meters; they could tell which time of day power was being used and charge more for the middle parts of the day, so they could avoid building those new power plants. That made sense in Ontario.
In Quebec, where they have such an abundance of hydroelectricity, Hydro-Québec is able to supply that peak power need. Now it's good for Quebec to conserve power so that they have more power to sell to the States to make money for the people of Quebec.
In Quebec I don't think it's part of their strategy. Use of smart meters is definitely not a universal strategy for every jurisdiction. It's a decision that each province will have to make case by case.