Toronto needs to do better on snow clearing, city manager says after review finds 'significant' gaps

Toronto must do better when it comes to clearing snow, a senior city official says, after a review by an independent consultant found "significant shortcomings" in the city's response to winter storms in February.

A series of storms left about 58 centimetres of snow on the city in less than nine days.

The review, released Friday and prepared by Municipal VU Consulting Inc., calls for a year-round winter operations unit, a detailed major snow event response plan, standalone snow removal contracts, quality monitoring and reporting tools, improvement in storm communications and standby towing contracts that could be activated during extreme events.

City manager Paul Johnson told reporters at city hall on Friday that Toronto's response to the February snow did not meet the standard expected by the city and its residents. He said the city "gets the work done" when about 10 to 15 centimetres of snow falls, but it consistently falls short when faced with a major snow event.

"We need a stronger plan overall to respond to major snow events. While we have a framework of a plan, we do not have the operationalization efforts below that to ensure that we can in real time respond to the things that happen when we have major snow events," he said.

"We also don't really treat it sometimes like it is the emergency that it is."

According to the review, after three storms in February, many sidewalks were impossible to navigate for days and residential roads were uncleared for extended periods. The city had snow clearing contracts that were limited in scope, public messaging was not consistent and there were delays in responses to 311 calls. On top of that, the city did not have surge capacity in staffing and equipment.

"The February 2025 winter storm response revealed that the City's winter maintenance system, while fundamentally sound for routine snowfall, faces systemic gaps that limit its effectiveness when major snowstorm events hit," the report says.

"These core issues are interconnected, cutting across policy, operations, contracts, technology, and communication, and should be addressed as a whole to build a more resilient, agile, accountable program."

These "systemic gaps" include:

• Limited places to store snow.
• A major snow response plan that lacked "detailed operational guidance" to deal with a "severe multi-day, multi-storm scenario."
• Reporting tools that are ineffective at tracking actual snow clearing results.
• Problems in the design of its contracts for snow removal.
• Snow removal itself is not clearly defined or resourced by the city.
• City communications that did not match the reality on the ground of "prolonged delays, large piles and blocked pedestrian routes."

Johnson said he will make recommendations to city council's executive committee next week about ways to improve snow clearing. One recommendation is that the city set up a dedicated year-round winter operations unit.

"It does not exist here at the City of Toronto at the moment and it will moving forward," he said.

According to the review, the unit could be created through restructuring, not through new jobs. The unit would coordinate "winter readiness," including plan development, mapping, training, contract oversight, and drills.

Johnson said contracts needs to be strengthened as well.

"Toronto needs to remove snow in major snow events and yet we don't have a really robust contracting approach for the removal of snow. We do not have standalone contracts as other cities do for snow removal itself," he added.

"We lack the surge capacity through equipment and through people, whether its our own staff, or contractors to take on more work in those major snow events, so that we can clear snow as well as remove snow."