As if a foot of snow wasn’t enough of an indignity in a region of Canada that gets 300 frost free days a year.The City of Vancouver is handing out tickets of up to $750 for residents who don’t shovel their walkways and sidewalks, after the latest winter blast that dumped up to 30 cm of snow on city streets. Most Birkenstock-wearers don’t even own a snow shovel.And unlike Calgary, which gives residents a 48-hour grace period to clear walkways and sidewalks, Vancouver’s municipal bylaw requires them to be swept by 10 a.m. the next day. Or else. In Rain City, failure to sweep the pedway can result in fines of up to $750 for non-compliance and as of Friday morning municipal officials had received a total of 161 complaints of bylaw breaches.According to city spokespeople, no fines as of yet have been levied in connection with the complaints stemming from the latest storm, but bylaw officers are taking the matter “seriously.”"When the city gets a complaint, bylaw inspectors will attend to properties to document non-compliance, which includes collecting evidence of the offence. This evidence is sent to the city prosecutor’s office requesting to lay a charge against the property owner," a spokesperson said."The process of charging a property takes time and we anticipate issuing more fines as files for the current snow storm are reviewed and more complaints come in," the email continued..Vancouver has become the butt of jokes from across the country after it was paralyzed by a dump of snow that other regions of the country would consider normal — albeit inconvenient — in January. The winter storm led to school closures, transit delays and even a suspension of mail delivery from Canada Post, which has since been lifted. The Vancouver Sun went as far as to curtail delivery of the newspaper.Vancouver-area police departments even had to issue reminders to residents to do what most Canadians would assume are no-brainers — like having a snowbrush and clearing cars of snow before driving.Even the cops were bogged down and had to be reminded to brush off the police vehicles before handing out tickets..Even in Calgary, 20 cm — accompanied by -30C wind chill temperatures — delayed morning and afternoon commutes but the city didn’t grind to a halt. Nobody called in the army.The ever reliable, but unpredictable Chinooks are expected to blow in by the weekend, bringing temperatures to a balmy 7C by Tuesday and saving the city budget hundreds of thousands of dollars in snow clearing.But at least some Lotuslanders were taking the latest indignity in stride. “Might as well enjoy the beauty. It’s better than bragging about your flowers blooming in February, lol,” one Twitter (“X”) user posted on the CBC’s Ian Hanomansing’s feed.Indeed.
