So why were Montreal's snow removal crews cleaning streets with no snow, and towing away cars on those streets with no snow?
The city launched its seventh major snow removal operation of the season last week, after a snowfall left about 20 centimetres of snow on the city's streets.
By the end of the week, however, some of that snow melted as temperatures climbed above the freezing point on most of those days, doing the snow removal crews' work for them in many cases.
Nonetheless, there were reports of cars being towed away on streets where the orange signs went up, but there was no snow to be cleared. Le Devoir reported over the weekend that one such instance of that happening was on Willibrord St. in Verdun, the home borough of Jean-François Parenteau, who happens to be the city's executive committee member responsible for snow removal.
There was also reportedly an instance of a snowblower working on clear asphalt, and another instance where a snowplow operator rolled slowly down the street, tapping on empty asphalt. That was on Knox St. in Point St. Charles, early on Saturday morning, and it was captured on video by a bewildered resident. That video has since gone viral.
Parenteau called the situation "ridiculous", says the flexibility of snow removal operations needs to be improved with better choices on which streets need cleaning.
"For sure, citizens want services, but it was a little bit too much at different places," Parenteau says.