{"id":441228,"date":"2026-01-29T17:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T17:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/441228\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T17:02:20","slug":"broken-down-equipment-hampering-montreals-snow-removal-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/441228\/","title":{"rendered":"Broken-down equipment hampering Montreal’s snow-removal operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada is cutting the city\u2019s budget for replacing aging snow-removal equipment, despite admitting that the city is facing a “major crisis” of frequent breakdowns of snowplows, graders, salt spreaders and snowblowers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty-five per cent of the equipment is currently unavailable,\u201d Martinez Ferrada said in an interview with Radio-Canada Tuesday.<\/p>\n

She gave the example of the Montr\u00e9al-Nord borough, where all four of its salt spreaders are currently broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe borough is forced to rent one spreader for its entire area, making it impossible to provide quality service,\u201d Martinez Ferrada said.<\/p>\n

City workers say the problem seems worse this winter than in previous years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pushing the machines we have to the limits,\u201d Alexandre Paris, a grader operator, told Radio-Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut a lot of machines fall apart or break down in the process,\u201d Paris said.<\/p>\n

\"MontrealMontreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada speaks to reporters at city hall Wednesday. (Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n

The problem is citywide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Out of the city\u2019s fleet of 1,285 vehicles used for snow clearing and removal, 300 are currently out of the mix because of repairs or maintenance.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Sixty-six of the city\u2019s 115 heavy-duty snowblowers are considered to be in bad condition.<\/p>\n

WATCH | 25% of snow-removal fleet out of service:\"\"<\/p>\n

Montreal\u2019s intense winter has claimed a casualty: a quarter of the city\u2019s snow-removal fleet<\/p>\n

With the city already on its fifth snow-removal operation of the winter, the new administration found out that the vehicles it inherited may be in worse shape than expected.Pothole complaints doubled<\/p>\n

This is Martinez Ferrada\u2019s first winter as mayor, and it has come with challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A fifth snow-removal operation is currently underway, and freeze-thaw cycles have meant an early and prolific pothole season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The number of complaints about potholes in the city this winter has doubled compared to last winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only does it seem that there are more of them, but they’re also getting deeper,\u201d Andr\u00e9 Durocher with CAA Quebec told CBC in an interview Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not the only North American city with those types of conditions, but it seems to be that something is wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite acknowledging problems, Martinez Ferrada\u2019s administration is cutting the budget for replacing aging equipment.<\/p>\n

‘Strategic retreat,’ says mayor of cutting budget<\/p>\n

The previous Projet Montr\u00e9al administration had set aside $45 million over the next 10 years to replace equipment.<\/p>\n

Martinez Ferrada\u2019s administration has cut that by more than half, to $18 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call this a strategic retreat,\u201d Martinez Ferrada said.<\/p>\n

She said the previous administration centralized maintenance and repairs of snow-removal equipment, and that money set aside wasn\u2019t always spent wisely by the central city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really wasn’t any in-depth work done with all the boroughs to make sure what the investment was,\u201d Martinez Ferrada said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to think about what we need, because it’s not clear what the boroughs need right now.”<\/p>\n

She said her administration is consulting boroughs this winter, and that next winter should be better.<\/p>\n

Martinez Ferrada is asking Montrealers to be patient and give the city time to get the equipment it needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not like going on Amazon and ordering it online, there’s a process involved. You have to reserve it, you have to get it, it’s going to take time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Martinez Ferrada said her focus now is trying to get a handle on potholes before spring. She said two of the city\u2019s four pothole-patching machines are currently out of commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-441228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}