That changed after the turn of the century, when the city took charge. In the early 1900s, labourers were hired to shovel snow for 25 cents an hour. It was taken away in horse-drawn carts. The first snowblower to clear the streets was purchased by the City of Montreal nearly 100 years ago, in 1928.

Certainly no other Canadian cities compare; Toronto was famously mocked when mayor Mel Lastman called in the actual army to deal with snowfall in 1999.

3. Progress of snow removal operations: Once the city starts clearing snow, this table charts the progress of snow-removal operations in each borough. Snow plowed to the sides of streets is transferred to trucks and taken to snow dumping sites. The table shows the number of kilometres of streets from which snow has been removed.

Mayor Valérie Plante said the city was doing a great job "given the situation." There is no estimate for how long the snow-removal operation will take.

Snow removal will begin Wednesday morning and is expected to take up to three weeks with crews working around the clock, the city said.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is pleading for patience and urging caution as the city's snow removal trucks and plows struggle to clear the record-shattering snowfall that has blanketed Montreal.