Under fire for the slow pace of Toronto’s snow cleanup efforts, Mayor Olivia Chow is asking municipal officials to review the city’s winter maintenance operations, and find ways to immediately speed up the work.
That could include redeploying city employees from other departments to help clear and remove snow.ÌýÌý
Acknowledging the “unacceptable” pace at which the municipality has dug out from storms that dumped more than 50 centimetres of snow on º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøover 10 days this month, Chow said she was fed up.ÌýÌý
In the days following the storms “I was asking people for patience, but I’m done,” she said a press conference outside a downtown seniors home. “This is just not acceptable.”Ìý
“We need to do more. We need to do better,” she said.
The review would include determining whether the city can break controversial winter maintenance
In a letter to her cabinetlike executive committee, the mayor said she was requesting city manager Paul Johnson conduct a “full review” of winter maintenance operations to determine whether its contractors have fulfilled their obligations, and whether the municipality could break or renegotiate the agreements it has with the companies.Ìý
The mayor said there could be a cost to getting out of the contracts, which council awarded in 2021 and are set to last until 2029, but it was clear that at least some of the firms are “not doing a good job.”Ìý
Mayor Chow is briefing reporters on the review she wants on this year’s snow removal & the winter contracts. Both the mayor and Coun. Ainslie have set the record straight: transportation services saying the equipment is top-grade (mentioned to ) is not transparent.
— Mahdis Habibinia (@mahdishabibinia)
Chow also expressed frustration at the city’s communication over the cleanup, particularly its pronouncements that 100 per cent of sidewalks had been cleared at least once since the snow hit.Ìý
“I was told that this morning, I was told that last week ... Well, I’m sorry, it is not true,”ÌýChow said, pointing to sidewalks covered in icy snow.
The mayor is asking the city manager to investigate that discrepancy, as well as to look into purchasing better equipment and creating a policy for when snow removal operations — labour-intensive work that is separate from plowing — should be triggered.
Johnson would bring the results of the review to the mayor’s executive committee, and report on any potential financial impacts in time for the 2026 budget.
The mayor’s letter also requests Toronto’s auditor general — the watchdog that has oversight of public spending — to investigate the city’s snow response, including the handling of this month’s storms, the earlier contract awards for winter maintenance and the status of previous audit recommendations about snow clearing.ÌýÌý
In the meantime,ÌýChow said she had asked Johnson to look at options to “deploy additional city staff from other departments to clear and remove snow,” while “ensuring other essential city services continue their operations.” She said the plan had backing from labour leaders.
While Chow said that as mayor she was responsible for the city’s snow cleanup, she repeatedly noted that the contracts for the work were signed before she took office in July 2023.Ìý
ABC Toronto, a political advocacy group that opposes Chow’s progressive agenda, said in a statement that the mayor was trying to “pass the buck” by asking for a review.Ìý
“It’s been two and a half weeks since the first massive snowstorm hit º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøand everywhere you go people are still talking about streets that you cannot drive on, sidewalks where you cannot walk, and completely inaccessible areas due to snowbanks and delayed snow removal,” said the group’s executive director Ariella Kimmel.Ìý
“The mayor must do a better job of managing the city’s staff and services.”Ìý
With files from Mahdis Habibinia.Ìý
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