Calling all snow angels: Halifax councillor wants people to ‘dig in and help out’

HALIFAX – Halifax councillor Waye Mason knows the city will have to answer to a lot in the coming weeks, from questions around the winter storm cleanup to whether the city should clear sidewalks.

For now, though, he wants to focus on getting everybody involved in the snow-clearing process.

“We’re going to be looking at what the city did and seeing if we could have done a better job, but that won’t get the snow off the sidewalks,” he said. “Right now, anyone who’s able-bodied has to get out there and do what they can to help themselves out and their neighbours.”

READ MORE: Halifax is now officially over its snow removal budget for the winter

In a blog post published Tuesday morning, Mason warned street and sidewalk conditions around Halifax are only going to get worse and said the city is in “crisis.”

“We are on the very edge of that place where there’s just nowhere in the downtown core to put that snow, and that means it’s going to be very slow to recover after the snow,” he said.

According to Environment Canada, Halifax could receive up to 30 centimetres of fresh snow by Wednesday evening, and city officials said it could take until next week for conditions to improve again.

“Motorists‎ and pedestrians are urged to use caution at intersections and crosswalks,” said a news release issued by the city on Tuesday afternoon. “Large snowbanks have reduced visibility for all users and the problem will only get worse in the immediate future with more snow.”

Mason said it’s time for people to face the reality of the situation.

“Roads are not going to get wider, sidewalks aren’t going to get plowed by a little John Deere tractor. We are getting to the point that there’s so much snow on the ground that it’s a crisis, and that we all need to dig in and help out,” he said.

Mason said his message was inspired in part by Paul Vienneau, who took it upon himself to clear ice and snow from street corners so he could get around in his wheelchair.

“Whatever the problem is, wherever the fault lies, pointing fingers right now isn’t going to do anything about solving the problem,” said Vienneau.

After seeing Mason’s blog post, Vienneau created an event on facebook called “Halifax big Digout!”, which invites the public to come out Thursday and help clean the snow from the streets.

“We have a lot of people who might be off work…so we could go out in our neighbourhood and make things better on a community, block by block,” he said.

Vienneau said he plans to go out on Thursday and hopes others will join him to “kick butt, get rid of the snow and get ready for spring.”