MONTREAL -- Many drivers who leave their cars on the street during snow removal operations this winter won't be receiving tickets.
Every year, Montreal fines drivers who leave their cars parked on streets that are being cleared after a storm, but that plan must be renewed every year with a two-thirds majority vote by city councillors.
This year, the opposition voted against it.
"We have seen the way they've acted on issue of car drivers. They are in a war against drivers. That's the reality," said Ensemble Montreal leader Lionel Perez.
Mayor Valerie Plante was infuriated by the vote.
"I'm really upset because one of the things we have been doing over the years is to be very proactive and efficient in removing the snow and there is no way I will take the heat for something that some irresponsible elected official just decided to do without no explanation without no plan in their head, or at least they didn't share that with us," she said.
Plante said boroughs that are controlled by Projet Montreal will continue to give out parking tickets during snow removal operations – the others won't.
