The leaves have got to leave: Montreal workers tackling 18,000 tons of cleanup
Five-hundred City of Montreal workers are on fall cleanup duty, removing leaves that were radiant just weeks ago, but are now littering the streets.
"It's important to grab those leaves from the street," says city spokesperson Philippe Sabourin. "Otherwise, it could become slippery, and the leaves could also obstruct the sewer."
According to Sabourin, the falling leaf season starts later than usual due to rising temperatures. That's a problem, because, ideally, the leaves would all be gone before the first significant snowfall.
Leaf-clearing crews are now racing against the clock, but they say they're often slowed down by citizens who put the leaves from their lawns on the street.
"Sometimes we're passing on the street and just behind us they're putting the leaves," notes Francois Paquet with the Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles borough.
The city is asking citizens to keep their own leaves on their lawns and use them as mulch to nourish the soil.
Sabourin says that would allow workers to complete their jobs quicker and save fuel costs by requiring trucks to make fewer trips to the eco-centre.
"We want to concentrate our efforts on the cleaning and the maintenance of the streets, and citizens will help the city by keeping their leaves on their yard."
The city says that if you do want to get rid of your leaves, put them in paper bags -- plastic ones are banned in all but four boroughs -- and bring them to the curb on the days the city collects organic waste.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
'What have we done?' Lawyer describes shock at possible role in Trump's 2016 victory
A lawyer who negotiated a pair of hush money deals at the centre of Donald Trump's criminal trial recalled Thursday his "gallows humor" reaction to Trump's 2016 election victory and the realization that his hidden-hand efforts might have contributed to the win.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Loblaw leaders call criticism 'misguided,' say they aren't to blame for high food prices
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston and the company's new CEO are pushing back against critics who blame the grocery giant for soaring food prices, as a month-long boycott of the retailer gets underway.
'Giant-killer' Kazushi Kimura to race in Kentucky Derby this weekend: 'I'm representing Canada and Japan'
Six years ago, at age 18, Kazushi Kimura left his home and family behind in Hokkaido, Japan to chase a dream. This weekend, he'll ride in the Kentucky Derby.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
Quebec premier asks police to dismantle camp at McGill University
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has called on the police to dismantle the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the lower field of McGill University's downtown campus in Montreal.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada’s financial-crime watchdog has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.