Ontario road salt shortage raises the red flag

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Snow removal contractors across Ontario are facing a road salt shortage.

The shortage is “pretty bad,” said Joe Salemi, executive director of Landscape Ontario, which represents about 3,000 out of the approximately 8,000 snow contractors in the province.

“We heard about it mid-week (last week). It’s all over the eastern seaboard in the U.S. and all over the province, all the way to Ottawa,” he said. “There’s a lot of winter left. That’s why we’re raising the red flag. It’s kind of a crisis.”

Contractors order their salt based on how much they have used in past winters, said Ed Hansen, the president of Landscape Ontario, which represents about 250 snow contractors in the Ottawa area.

So far, Ottawa is doing alright in terms of its supply, Hansen said on Feb. 13. “But the rest of the province is rationing.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the City of Ottawa said it had confirmed with its contractor, who had sufficient supply to meet the city’s needs for the remainder of the snow season.

“We do not anticipate any shortages.”

When there are numerous small snowfalls, the same amount of salt is used for every event. Eventually, it takes a bite out of a salt stockpile, Hansen said.

At the same time, when there are days just above freezing followed by cold nights, contractors must also put down salt to prevent falls because ice has formed overnight.

Salt takes its toll on the environment, vehicles and infrastructure, but risk-adverse contractors have not been stinting on salt for fear of slip-and-fall lawsuits, said Hansen, who has owned Hansen Lawn & Garden for more than 30 years.

“In a perfect world, we would use less salt. But, when the temperature fluctuates, everyone uses more salt because they’re terrified of liability,” he said.

There’s a “pecking order” in the chain of how salt is distributed, with municipalities taking priority, Hansen said. However, many members of Landscape Ontario have municipal contracts to clear snow as well as those to clear residential and business parking lots, sidewalks and walkways.

There are salt mines in Ontario and Quebec, but Ontario bulk salt buyers also purchase it from other countries, including the United States. (So far, there has been no indication that there will be tariffs on salt, Hansen said.)

However, it’s too late to order the huge quantities of salt that are needed, Salemi said. One contractor in the Greater Toronto Area alone uses 20,000 tonnes of salt in one night.

Last time there was a salt shortage, about seven years ago, a coalition of snow removal contractors got together to buy a tanker ship of salt from Egypt. But delivery of that massive order took eight months from the time it was ordered, Salemi said.

At the moment, no one can purchase bulk salt. That’s a challenge, Hansen said.

“No one knows how much salt we’ll need in the next 45 days.”

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