Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante wouldn’t deny that improvements need to be made when it comes to snow removal in the city.
“We’re really good at removing snow, but one of the things we need to improve is definitely about everything related to ice,” Plante said.
READ MORE: Montreal taking heat over state of sidewalks, roads after slow snow removal
Over the weekend, the city’s new administration issued a mea culpa after only beginning snow-removal operations on Sunday, several days after a storm.
On Wednesday, Plante, and the executive committee member in charge of snow removal, Jean-François Parenteau, met with reporters to discuss what they will do.
The city plans on meeting with every borough mayor to discuss how to improve snow removal.
“I want to talk with the different mayors to be sure the next time, we will give the same services to everybody,” Parenteau said.
READ MORE: Montreal official apologizes for not launching snow removal operations sooner
In addition, Plante pointed to a pilot project that she’s hoping will greatly improve snow removal in the future.
“I call it the ice-crasher,” Plante said.
The machine looks similar to a sidewalk snow-removal tractor, but it crushes ice.
The city hopes it will be a permanent solution, come next winter.
“This is the type of initiative we need to move forward in order to support all the other efforts,” Plante said.
READ MORE: Anjou reprimanded by Montreal for clearing streets of snow
On Wednesday, the city did not say if the borough of Anjou would be fined for having removed snow last week before the city allowed it.
Borough mayor Luis Miranda gave the go-ahead to have his streets and sidewalks cleared.
“I took out the snow before it turned into ice,” Miranda said.
Miranda says he has a meeting scheduled with Parenteau for March 9.
“We’re in January, I think it has to be business as usual for everybody,” Miranda said. “We cannot leave it there and wait to take it away later.”
—With files from The Canadian Press
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