‘Blackmailing us’: Some Montreal borough mayors not happy with proposed snow removal changes

The city Montreal is looking to change the way they approach snow removal.

On Monday, the Plante administration proposed their snow removal plans for the next 10 years to the municipal council. It includes larger territories than before, stricter sidewalk de-icing standards and less power to the local districts.

“Experts in snow removal looked at everything and said, ‘Ok, how do we make snow clearing and snow pick up better in this time and age of climate age where we have to deal more with ice than with snow,’” said Maja Vodanovic, member of the executive committee.

But the proposed changes didn’t sit well with some borough mayors from Ensemble Montreal, who spoke out on Tuesday.  

“Snow has always been an issue throughout every community and here once again we find ourselves in a situation where if we do not adopt some of the changes that are proposed by the City of Montreal, they’re almost blackmailing us and telling us that, well, if you don’t follow our lead, you risk losing the financing as we go forward, leaving the boroughs to pen for themselves in a way that we’ve never experienced before the mergers,” said Dimitrios Jim Beis, borough mayor of Pierrefonds-Roxboro.

St-Laurent borough mayor Alan DeSousa is worried about what this means for Montreal residents.

“Despite paying over nine per cent [in taxes], services are going down.”

Montreal boroughs will be limited to one local clearing operation per year rather than two and will have to pay for it and obtain permission from the city to initiate it.

“We know that those decisions should be made at the borough level. Those of us who know our community’s best, who know the way that it’s designed for our snow clearing activity to take place,” said Beis.