When I moved out west and would be flying out of YLW, I was warned to get used to flying the Q400. On the AC website rows 1 & 2 are preferred and I do enjoy a bit more room as I always grab 2C. being upfront gives you the allusion that the aircraft is bigger, just do not look back.

YLW only has one mainline flight to YVR AC273/272 on the MAX and I grab that every time I can as every flight to YYC and every other flight to YVR is the Q400. Once in a while, we get the smaller cabin version ex-United and that is a whole different story.
On the last nights flight on a Q400, a musician brought a chello on board and he had to pay for a seat as this thing could not fit in the belly of the Q400.
BUT Yes those two rows have a slightly larger pitch S-L-I-G-H-T-L-Y!