The City of Montreal had been hoping that mild weather over the weekend would be enough to get rid of mountains of snow and slick ice around the city, but that gamble didn't pay off. City crews will be back at it again this evening, beginning around 7pm.
In a message posted on Twitter Saturday night the man in charge of city services, Verdun Borough mayor Jean-François Parenteau, admitted he had made a mistake.
Déneigement: Un chargement est décrété pour demain 19h00. Le redoux n’est pas aussi grand et l’accumulation prévu lundi n’est plus au rendez-vous. À postériori nous aurions pu décréter avant. Ce fut un mauvais choix de ma part et je m’en excuse! #polmtl pic.twitter.com/lOIeK521ZW
Parenteau had told crews to take a breather and let Mother Nature do the heavy lifting, which didnt go to plan. He'd also suggested that a snow loading operation would damage the city pavement and worsen Montreal's plague of potholes.
The City of Montreal has a snow budget of $160-million, which is enough for five major snow operations. So far, four have been underataken since the beginning of the winter.