Mayor Olivia Chow said Monday she is calling for a formal review of the “controversial” long-term contracts the city has signed with private companies for snow plowing and removal services.
The move comes after city hall has been under fire from residents over streets, sidewalks and transit stops that are still clogged with snow more than a week after back-to-back storms blanketed Toronto.
“I gave it a week. I was supportive of what the staff had been doing because I said, ‘Well, give them a chance for the first few days,’” Chow said at an unrelated press conference on Monday.
“In my personal observation, in the number of calls to my office, what I’ve been hearing from the councillors, what I’m seeing on the street: people are getting hurt, being injured, can’t get out — it is not working well.”
No charges have been laid in the single-vehicle crash, police said.
In followup questions, Chow’s office did not give details about whether the city’s auditor would conduct that review or another municipal watchdog, or whether it first needs council approval.
“You will see a letter from me tomorrow with a lot of details,” Chow said on Monday.
In December 2021, the city’s transportation services asked city council to let it enter into agreements with private companies for winter maintenance as the previous contracts were ending the following year. At the time, staff warned that it was urgent to sign new contracts or else the city wouldn’t have winter maintenance in the coming months.Â
As a result, 11 contracts were awarded to a few companies until 2029 who promised “cost savings” and a much more efficient way of clearing snow.
Some companies that had worked with the city for decades were dropped during the procurement, and pleaded with council at the time to heed their warnings about believing such promises while also taking the cheapest route and awarding contracts to a few companies who wanted to use the least expensive equipment. Â
“It is beyond rare that someone comes along and revolutionizes an industry unless there is more below the surface of what they are doing than just a brilliant idea,” said a letter from Decemeber 2021 signed by Dominic Crupi, vice-president of D. Crupi & Sons Ltd. The firm had done snow removal for the city for more than 20 years, but was shut out by the city in 2021.
City council is risking poor snow removal service by being swept up in these contractors’ “‘cost saving’ initiatives” that “completely negates” the lessons and experiences long-time companies have acquired, Crupi’s letter continued.
“The contracts that were signed were very controversial,” said Chow on Monday. “Some of it is single sourced … some didn’t have the equipment. Others don’t have GPS.”Â
Council voted in favour, even though some councillors at the time saw problems with the process.Â
Coun. Paula Fletcher, who voted against awarding the snow removal contracts in 2021, said the “bungled” winter contracts and contracts for PayIt, the U.S. company running the city’s online payment system that resulted in a scathing auditor’s report last year, were the most “controversial procurements” that came out of the pandemic.
“There are really big issues with it,” said Fletcher on Monday, referring to the snow removal procurement. “One of them is a numbered company. I don’t know how you call a numbered company to complain.”
The question of whether snow removal can or can’t get done more quickly after last weekend’s
An revealed that senior city staff significantly reduced the penalties charged to snow removal contractors for poor service. A $200-per-minute charge for each piece of equipment that left a depot late was slashed to $10 per minute over “viability” fears — that these contractors couldn’t afford to pay the fines.
“I remember being shocked about that because everybody has penalties if they don’t deliver,” said Fletcher, adding it’s unclear to this day what the exact performance standards are that city staff and these contractors agreed to in 2022 for major snowstorms.
The city’s transportation services, which negotiated these contracts, did not provide a response to the Star’s questions before deadline.
Brian Iler, a 79-year-old downtown resident who typically cycles to work at his law firm, to see friends or to run errands, has had to navigate snowbanks on foot for the past week instead.
“Apparently neither the city nor its contractors have equipment that can plow out the bike lanes, as the snow is now too hard and heavy,” said Iler, of his correspondence with city staff, which he shared with the Star.
Iler said he’s been “discouraged” in past years by the city’s “inattention” to snow clearance, citing “many emails in my files over the years, attempting, in vain, to get the city to take (snow) clearance seriously.”
Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of transit advocacy group TTCriders, said she almost missed an important doctor’s appointment last week because Line 1 was shut down. She took a bus instead, but it got stuck behind a car and the TTC operator had to get out and shovel out the car.
“I was totally freaking out,” said Pizey-Allen. “I didn’t know if I’d be out hundreds of dollars in medication or if I had to rebook my appointment, which also would’ve cost money and it might’ve caused some health complications for me.”
Coun. Brad Bradford, who voted for the snow contracts in 2021, said Chow’s call for a review is “too little, too late” considering residents have already been stuck in their homes, late to work and took on the burden of frustrated commutes for more than a week.
Though the video doesn’t make clear when it was taken, the incident appears to be another
“She’s been mayor for two winters,” said Bradford, noting there was also a window of opportunity between the multiple storms to muster a better response. “It took the city 10 days to get its act together. We’ve taken our eye off the ball and the ball’s been dropped.”
When asked what she wants to do with the snow removal contracts — renegotiate or cancel them, bring back harsher penalties or move more work in-house — the mayor said she would wait until the review is conducted.
Bradford said that it’s possible the contracts aren’t the issue, but rather the execution. “That comes back to accountability and leadership and pushing for better performance, demanding that we are getting value for our money,” he said of the mayor.
Chow said her immediate concern right now is how the city deals with the rise in temperatures over the next few days, followed by rain and then another drop in temperatures, “which means it will be icy. Icy sidewalks,” she said.
“This week is all hands on deck, is where I’m at, at this point.”
Update - Feb. 25, 2025
This article was updated to include additional context.Â
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