mayor Nancy Blanchet

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Last Tuesday Feb. 18, 48 hours after the two mega snowstorms that left some 70 cm of snow on the ground , the streets in the City of Montreal were a hellscape of barriers created by snowbanks left on major and side streets during the initial snow removal process.

The corners of westbound Van Horne and northbound Décarie and Victoria were down to one lane because of a massive snowbank. Drivers stuck in traffic on northbound Décarie headed to Paré were forced onto side streets that were packed with cars as snowbanks caused the two-way streets to be narrower. Cars headed in either direction came close to scraping each other.

Such was the state of streets under the responsibility of the City of Montreal.

And yet, two boroughs, St. Laurent and LaSalle, which took the initiative to clear snow ahead of a City of Montreal-dictated schedule after a 20 cm snowfall earlier this month, are being told they used up their one instance of misbehaviour, and that the next time this happens, they will have to pay for the snow removal themselves — not the centre city.

LaSalle borough mayor Nancy Blanchet told the Feb. 17 Montreal city council meeting that her borough, St. Léonard, St. Laurent and Anjou asked Montreal for permission to at least partially clear the snow ahead of Montreal’s designated date. When this was denied, LaSalle and St. Laurent went ahead anyway, the latter doing so from Feb. 4 to 7, Mayor Alan DeSousa told the media.

DeSousa further said last week that, in relation to the latest snowstorm and overall city policy, “although this is exceptional precipitation, snow loading operations are further hampered by the reform of the snow removal policy imposed by Projet Montréal last spring. The result —Montrealers must wait even longer before the snow is removed from the public domain.”

Blanchet told the Feb. 17 council meeting that her borough went ahead with its early February snow clearing for security reasons.

The Plante administration has responded that the Services de concertation des arrondissements (SCA) committee decides when snow clearing in boroughs take place, and to what extent — partial or complete.

LaSalle city councillor Richard Deschamps told the Montreal meeting that borough councils should make snow clearing decisions, not centre city officials.

Plante told Deschamps that the centre city’s decision process for snow clearing enables a better sharing of resources, but that she would consider a change if deemed necessary. n