The mayor of the Plateau borough has apologized to those inconvenienced by streets and sidewalks laden with ice and snow, which the borough has opted not to clear.
"I feel sorry. Really I do not feel proud of the situation," Luc Ferrandez told CTV Montreal Friday. "We are going to find solutions but we made this decision with the budget constraints that we have and unfortunately sometimes we make mistakes."
Ferrandez cited budget issues.
"We are already paying the debt of snow remioving of the previous administration of (former city councillor) Helen Fotopulos, so right now we cannot afford to go over budget."
He said that the Plateau has enough money to pay for five snow clearing operations and two have already been done.
The Projet Montreal party, which runs the borough, also notes that the central city administrators have cut the Plateau's snow removal budget by almost $800,000.
Some residents and merchants interviewed Friday expressed disappointment with the failure to truck off the slippery snow and ice.
"I don't undertand why there's no money to clean the snow," said Miguel Dionisio of the Antoine Fish Shop. "Everybody else has snow clearance, so why not us here in the Plateau? It's nonsense to me."
