The majority of candidates for council and mayor said they would prioritize spending more money on clearing snow from roads over sidewalks and active pathways in response to the question "Which would you prioritize for snow clearing?" on Taproot's candidate survey.
Thirty-one candidates said they would Spend more to improve clearing of roads. All mayoral candidates but three chose this answer (Andrew Knack and Tim Cartmell both added comments, noting they want to increase funding to clear snow from both roadways and active pathways).
Meanwhile, 18 candidates said they would Spend more to improve clearing of sidewalks and pathways, including incumbent council candidates Michael Janz, Erin Rutherford, Keren Tang, Ashley Salvador, and Anne Stevenson.
Sixteen candidates said they would Spend the same amount, including mayoral candidates Paul Bakhmut, Ronald Stewart Billingsley, Jr., and Andy Andrzej Gudanowski. Aaron Paquette, who is running for re-election in Ward Dene, said he didn't have a position on the issue.
As of this writing, 28 candidates for council and mayor have not yet completed the survey.
The city spends $67 million annually to remove snow and ice, with 55% of that used to clear 11,000 linear kilometres of vehicle lanes and 45% to clear 1,500 kilometres of bike lanes, multi-use paths, public pedestrian squares, bus stops, LRT platforms, and staircases. Voters told Taproot that they are concerned about snow and ice clearing ahead of the election.
This past winter, the city added a mapping tool for non-road surfaces, split up its snow and ice crews and resources between roads and the rest of Edmonton's public surfaces, and tested a different kind of salt. Recent council decisions include a multi-year increase to the snow and ice control program, the creation of a high-priority sidewalk index, and an admin report that seeks $8 million to fix sidewalks and increase snow removal on active pathways. The next council will decide on that request.