Iqaluit mayor rebuffs complaints about snow removal

City crews have been working overtime to keep Iqaluit's streets clear following a week of heavy snowfall and blizzards, but at least one Iqaluit business owner says they should be doing more.

"They are moving it as opposed to removing it and that's what creates the problems," said Craig Dunphy, owner of Pai-Pa Taxi in Iqaluit. "It's more expensive, obviously, but it has to be safety first."

Dunphy said during the holidays and weekends, secondary roads and cul de sacs often don't get cleared. The large snow piles, created by the city as well as private contractors, make it difficult for his drivers to see around corners, he said. 

Some homeowners have complained on social media about their driveways being filled in with snow when the city's graders clear the streets. It's a complaint Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern has heard before.

"Welcome to every city in the country that has snow!" she said.

"The reality is that when you have to clear the roads you always get a pile of snow at the end of driveways, that's why we have shovels and that's why we shovel ourselves out."

Redfern said she's happy with the way city crews have dealt with the holiday snow dump.

"Our foreman monitors the weather forecast and the conditions" she said. "On Christmas morning we received a lot of snow that day so that's why they were out at two in the morning. For the rest of the week they have been out at five in the morning.

"We do live in an Arctic capital so snow is what we do about 10 months of the year."