Adedokun Waliyu 
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says she’s frustrated with the pace of snow removal in the city, calling it “unacceptable” that some streets and sidewalks still remain unplowed following the Feb. 15 snowstorm.
“This current state of removal operations, particularly the sidewalks, is just totally unacceptable,” said Chow at a Tuesday press conference outside the Mon Sheong Home for The Aged where sidewalks were still covered with snow.
”I understand how difficult it is to remove mountains of snow in a short period of time. Last week I was repeatedly told (by her transportation department manager) that 100% of the sidewalks had been plowed. I was told that this morning. I was told that last week, on Friday,” she said. “Well, I’m sorry, it is not true. As I travel across the city, and as I look at all the calls that my office has been receiving, the logs, and as I’ve been talking to other councillors, it is obvious that the sidewalks are not 100% cleared … There will be consequences.”
Chow said she wants the city to review the seven-year snow removal contract signed in 2021 — insisting it lacks accountability — with an eye to renegotiating or even breaking the agreement.
She also called for a review of Toronto’s winter maintenance operations and raised the possibly of buying heavier snow-removal equipment.
“We need to act quickly,” said Chow. “On Thursday, Friday, the temperature is going to drop. And what I’m concerned about is icy sidewalks — that is dangerous. People will get very hurt. And we’ve seen that happen before.”
Chow was joined by City Councillor Paul Ainslie, chair of the government committee, who said there were a “raft of issues” when the snow removal contract was signed in 2021.
“From not getting the snow cleared properly because we wouldn’t have the right size vehicles, if we had the proper vehicles at all, we were going to have trouble hiring people, we were going to have trouble training them properly and getting the job done,” said Ainslie, who voted against the contract.
“Here we are almost a week and a half after the last snow storm and I still have to look behind me at a sidewalk in front of a seniors’ home for example that’s not plowed. Things have to change.”
So far, city crews have removed 100,000 tonnes of snow after two storms dumped 53 centimetres of the white stuff on Toronto during a 10-day period.
City officials previously said it would take up to three weeks to clear all the snow.
