In the words of Justin Bieber, there is “cold water” coming from the skies of Montreal.
That’s right. It’s freezing rain season.
The city was ready with more than 500 workers on the road, pouring salt and sand to limit the slipping and sliding.
Philippe Sabourin, a spokesperson for the City of Montreal told Global News that “even if it’s Christmas time, we are here to make sure that the roads are safe enough for everyone.”
“Crews don’t have any breaks at all”.
The city’s priority is taking care of the downtown core and making sure that bus routes are safe.
READ MORE: Buses, cars sliding down slippery hills as Montreal hit with first major snowfall
From there, it moves to other parts of the city.
Freezing on the roads, the rain turns into a driving nightmare, prompting Uber prices in the city to surge.
Some Montrealers are trying to get around.
Others just want to get out.
On one of the busiest travel days of the year, Montreal’s airport warned passengers to come in three hours early.
READ MORE: Trudeau Airport officials say come early on year’s busiest travel day
The hope for those flying to warmer places is that they won’t be trapped in the cold.
While some Montrealers fly out, it’s the tourists who seem to appreciate freezing weather the most.
“I love the snow. There’s no snow where I’m from. But there’s snow here,” Veronica, a Toronto native, told Global News.
Bob, a tourist from Calgary says he came to Montreal just for the weather.
“The one thing about Montreal is that they clean up the streets and sidewalks. You don’t get that anywhere else. In Toronto, they bring out the army,” he added.
READ MORE: White Christmas expected in most of Canada
Locals didn’t share the same sense of optimism about the weather conditions.
“It’s not really Christmas. We could use a real white Christmas,” Guillaume said.
With the freezing rain turning into snow Saturday night, city crew’s focus will shift from salting to ploughing.
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