I Love Montreal
I grew up in Montreal during the reign of Mayor Drapeau. He was a man of vision and he loved his city. He was determined that Montreal was to have an international reputation as a great metropolis. He had Montreal's metro system built. Then he brought Expo 67 to the city. His last big endeavour as mayor was to host the 1976 summer Olympics. While he was in charge Montreal was clean, snow was quickly cleared away, especially in the main arteries. People took pride in their city.
Since Mayor Drapeau has been gone I've watched a succession of incompetents, each one worse than the last, turn that beautiful city into a backwards hick town. Try to find a parking spot, especially downtown, it's impossible. They've installed parking meters so complicated and so expensive that many suburbians just don't go anymore. The streets with no meters have parking signs so difficult to decipher that you're almost guaranteed a ticket. The present mayor justifies this by saying that he wants to encourage people to use public transit. I see it more as a cash grab. He complains that there are fewer and fewer tourists that visit but he does nothing to make tourists feel welcome.
Since my mother passed away I only go to Montreal when I absolutely have to. I try to avoid it completely in the winter because the streets are so badly cleared that they are dangerous. Today's Montreal looks nothing like the city I grew up in. It is a shame, really. I wish it could reclaim at least some of its former glory.
