Montreal unveils winter readiness plans with $16M for snow removal equipment

The City of Montreal released its winter readiness plans on Thursday with a $15.8-million purchase of snow removal equipment, the creation of a new weather monitoring unit and a new app for residents to monitor street clearing.

About $13.3 million will be spent on buying 43 pieces of equipment: 19 loader tractors, 13 snowblower heads and 11 salt spreader trucks. The boroughs will receive $2.5 million towards equipment for their salting operations.

A new team of experts will monitor weather changes and coordinate the city’s response efforts. The city also said that it was doubling the number of workers in its pothole repair unit, bringing the total to 18 teams which will work simultaneously on major streets.

Last spring, it was revealed that more than half the machines in Montreal’s pothole repair arsenal was in bad shape. The administration is currently in bidding process for procuring pothole-filling machines.

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada poses in front of one of 11 new snowblower heads, each costing $500,000, purchased by the city ahead of winter, on Oct. 15, 2026 (Erin Seize, CityNews)

The poor road conditions generated a public outcry culminating in one Montreal man becoming a social media sensation for taking matters into his own his hands and repairing the craters.

At a press conference Thursday, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada touted her administration’s record saying since coming to power they have filled about 200,000 potholes.

“Montrealers are right to have high expectations for the services they receive,” Martinez Ferrada said. “We want to leave Montrealers with a smarter city than the one we found.”

Pile of salt used last winter for de-icing sidewalks at a garage in downtown Montreal, on Oct. 15, 2026 (Erin Seize, CityNews)

She added that the city will also look at technology solutions for improving how the city handles its winter operations.

The city will launch a new app called Go-Géo to allow Montrealers to track the progress of snow removal and sidewalk de-icing operations. It is exploring using data and software to better track work orders and equipment.