Really? I haven't found that to be the case over many years of visiting family in Montreal in the winter--and my grandparents live in a working-class part of the city (more East Somerville than Davis Square). The city clears all sidewalks, puts down salt and gravel, and plows streets up to the curbs (street cleaning rules are in effect year-round). They also salt like nobody's business and truck the snow out of the city and dump it elsewhere to melt (terrible for the environment, but that's a different conversation). It's still a cold climate with a lot of snow, but getting around is much easier, in my experience.