Is the City of Owen Sound Overusing the Province's 'Significant Weather Event' Designation?

Owen Sound kept the last 'Significant Weather Event' designation in place for nearly a month. Was it justified, or is winter maintenance falling behind?

6th Ave E and 16th St E school crosswalk on Thursday, February 20, at 3:00 p.m., some 36 hours after snowfall ended.

EDITORIAL OPINION

The City of Owen Sound has finally lifted the Significant Weather Event (SWE) designation it declared on February 12, 2025—nearly a full month ago.

We talked about the slow snow removal in late February, both in a letter to the editor and in this op ed. I had no idea the City was still operating under this SWE until they made the legally required announcement on March 10 that it was ending.

This raises a few questions:

• Did it truly take that long to restore normal winter maintenance operations?

• And is this designation being used too broadly to shield the city from meeting minimum maintenance standards for longer than necessary?

An SWE is a tool municipalities can use under Ontario's Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) when hazardous weather conditions make it challenging to maintain roads and sidewalks within the usual timelines.

During an SWE, the municipality is not required to meet standard snow and ice clearing deadlines until the event is declared over. It’s a decision that rests entirely at the municipality’s discretion.

But, as insurer Intact Public Entities warns, “This new ability should not be misused.”

The SWE designation is intended for extreme conditions, such as 20 cm of snow in 24 hours, 20 mm of ice accumulation, or winds over 60 km/h. But while the City of Owen Sound clearly had reason to declare the SWE, its prolonged duration raises questions:

• Did Owen Sound continue facing extreme weather for nearly a month?

• Was the City truly unable to meet the minimum maintenance standards for four weeks? If so, residents deserve an explanation.

• Are other municipalities keeping SWEs in place for this long? If Owen Sound is an outlier, it’s fair to ask whether this tool is being overused.

The purpose of an SWE is to keep the public informed and allow for flexibility in response times during extreme weather. It is not meant to be a blanket exemption from regular road and sidewalk maintenance.

One thing is for sure: winter isn’t going anywhere. With Owen Sound receiving twice the provincial average snowfall, residents have every right to ask why we can’t meet even Ontario’s minimum maintenance standards for close to a month, and to question whether the City intends this to be our new normal.

What do you think?