There was a mixed bag of August news on Friday coming out of Edmonton City Hall on the snow-clearing front. One side of the bag is being met with cheers for those who enjoy attending outdoor festivals in the winter, the other by jeers from those who oppose using corrosive chemicals to clear up the white stuff. Edmonton city staff is recommending in a report delivered Friday that the annual budget to handle snow on roads be increased by $24 million to include removing snow for special events and also to use calcium chloride to help clear streets. Christy Morin, the general manager for the Deep Freeze winter festival held each January in the city’s Alberta Avenue area, says she welcomes a boost in funding to help clear roads for events such as hers. “It’s something that we shouldn’t be carrying on our shoulders,” Morin told CTV News. “We are already doing programming and setting up in the wintertime with Mongolian yurts and massive pavilions to bring everybody out of their homes.” Streets beset by repeated snowfall and resulting heavy ruts hampered efforts to prepare for this year’s festival, she told CTV News Edmonton. A last-minute effort by the city to help clear the site that stretches several blocks along 118 Avenue helped save the day. “I’m very encouraged by those conversations,” Morin said. “I’m hoping that we’ll just see this through into budget, so that we can see this as part of the regular ecology of winter festivals.” A damaging side to the staff proposal to increase snow-clearing funding, though, is the reintroduction of the use of calcium chloride to aid with removing snow from streets, something chemical engineer Arthur Potts says is an irresponsible suggestion as the chemical can corrode vehicles and damage city infrastructure such as roads, pipes and bridges. Potts, who has spoken out in prior years against calcium chloride’s use by the city, told CTV News Edmonton there are several studies outlining the risks of using calcium chloride for these reasons. The city is well aware of the hazards of the chemical de-icer, council having removed its use by crews six years ago. Potts says he wonders if the city has done due diligence “to demonstrate that this is actually the right choice for Edmonton and for the citizens of Edmonton.” “If they’ve not done pilot projects, if they’ve not addressed it differently than they did the last time, which to my knowledge they haven’t, then I’m not sure how the risk is any better this time than it was last time,” he said. Coun. Keren Tang said city council will debate the pros and cons of increasing the budget and reintroducing the use of calcium chloride. She points out the city population has grown significantly in the last five years and that the use of the de-icer is a tool that can help save money. “For the last few years, not having this tool in the toolbox does give us some setback, which means we have to up manual removal or adding the labour to that,” said Tang, who was elected to city council in the southeast Ward Karhiio in 2021. “There are pros and cons to all tools that we’re talking about.” Tang says she supports calcium chloride’s reintroduction into the city’s “toolbox” but recognizes its capabilities for destruction. “I think that’s a very legitimate concern, and I plan to ask some questions about it as well,” she said. City council will discuss the report on Aug. 31. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg
