A clean, well-lighted place

A quick glance around proved that, sure enough, the whole area was pristine. The platform, the benches, the stairs — not so much as a scrap of paper or gum wrapper anywhere. Even the walls were blank, with not the slightest hint of graffiti. It was as if a crack cleaning crew had recently swept through the entire station, scrubbing everything in sight and hauling out all the accumulated garbage. When the next train arrived, the car was equally clean. If not for the presence of one small newspaper tossed carelessly on an empty seat, the rest of the car looked as if it had just come off the assembly line. It was bright and inviting, offering a pleasant way to get around the city for anyone unfamiliar with the local geography.

But this eye-catching cleanliness did not end there. Upstairs, the hot summer street was equally well-kept, with only a few stray cigarette butts dotting the sidewalk here and there.

It's one of those things you don't notice unless someone points it out. In this case it took a woman from thousands of miles away to call attention to something that has been right under our noses.

The City of Montreal may get a fair amount of criticism over a wide range of issues, but one has to admit that it really has outdone itself this summer, ensuring that the thousands of out-of-town visitors who descend upon our streets for the various festivals will leave here with a positive image of the city, at least when it comes to the cleanliness of our streets and public conveyances.

Of course the die-hard cynics will immediately point out that it has all been done to temporarily "clean up" Montreal's façade for the benefit of the tourism industry. This is a common strategy in cities that attract major tourist dollars. In Calgary, for instance, it is traditional practice for the police to round up members of the city's homeless population in the days immediately preceding Stampede week. The transients are comfortably housed and fed, at the province's expense, for the duration of the big event — out of sight from visitors in what amounts to a win-win situation for all concerned.

Whether this earnest attention to tidiness will continue into the autumn, when most of Montreal's tourists have gone home, remains to be seen — but the City has proven that it knows how to do it, and that it can be done very well indeed.