As a Canadian, I hear a lot of complaints in the winter in the UK: 'If you can clear snow in Canada, why can't our government get it's act together.' So, children, gather round while I tell you a little story.
Montreal has a population of 3 million. It snows approximately 60 days a year, totalling about 200 cm of snow. Each major snowfall costs $1m a year to clear away. And this is why. 
Last Wednesday, there was freezing rain. Not snow, but it left the city streets covered in ice. So, to remove it, this is what had to happen. First, the signs go up, warning people to move their cars.
Half an hour before the plows come, a small van goes along the street, with a horn, reminding drivers to move their cars.
He returns back three times.
He returns back three times.
Because the problem this time was ice, an ice-breaker, with milled teeth, comes to break up the surface to be cleared.
The is followed by a plow which pushes all the snow and ice together for gathering up.
Then that returns and does the street again. Three times.
After that a smaller vehicle tootles along the pavement, clearing the broken ice and snow into the road.
Then comes a pavement gritter, covering the pavement in both salt for the remaining ice, and grit.
After that comes a small snow-blower.
This is used to collect the snow and ice, and transfer it to 22-wheel vehicles the length of four houses, which transport the snow to the dump.
Three more follow.
Three more follow.
And then, finally, comes a road gritter, followed by a van to remove the no-parking signs.
This process took 50 minutes, for a 350-metre stretch of road. Tomorrow they return to do the other side of the street.
Add in the costs of set-up, the vehicles, keeping the drivers and administrators on call and ready for action, and that, children, is why we don't have Canadian-level snow-preparedness in the UK.
Thus endeth today's lesson.
Sorry, a typo in the second tweet made a mockery of the costs. It’s $15m, not $1m, per major snowfall. In a city of 3m. Approximately $300m a year.
(I also forgot to mention, they run an app, InfoNeige (SnowInfo), which allows you to know, in live time, where the plows are, so you can move your car; use a cleared street; and not get stuck behind the plows.)
And another 'I forgot': @saurilius reminds me that the van that honks to remind drivers to move their cars is, on its third pass, followed by (ominous Jaws music) a tow-truck, to remove those left behind.
