Christopher Hume –
Hard to tell it may be, but it’s that time of the year again – winter, or at least what remains of it. Yet even in the age of global warming, Toronto does everything it can to deny the season.
Unlike, say, Montreal and Quebec City, which have a long embraced cold weather culture, this city does everything it can to pretend winter isn’t happening. Neither do we share the Danish taste for hygge (often translated as coziness). No cozy fireside evenings for us.
Through it all, a few hardy Torontonians, mostly children, are still open to the pleasures of the wintry season. Despite the efforts of Hogtown officialdom, they can’t wait for the arrival of ice and snow.
The two approaches can be seen along Broadview Avenue north of Gerrard Street. Wandering the extensive grounds of Bridgepoint Hospital, one quickly discovers that whole sections of the property have been chained off in anticipation of bad weather, a rare early-season blizzard perhaps. A little farther north, kids are breathlessly awaiting that same disaster so they can finally go tobogganing on Riverdale Park’s big hill.
Keep in mind that Bridgepoint was designed to be a continuation of the neighbourhood. The usual barriers that separate such institutions from the surrounding community were deliberately avoided. The idea was to make patients feel less isolated. As the recently added chains make clear, since the facility opened 2013 noble intentions have given way to acres of salt, fear of litigation and liability, and budgetary worries over maintenance.
Happily, those reckless underage tobogganers refuse to give in to such mundane concerns. At the least hint of snow, they make for the slopes, courageously risking life and limb for the thrill of going downhill fast. In 2019, ever-vigilant municipal enforcers banned tobogganing at the park because of dangerous ground conditions. By 2024, the issue had reached all the way to Toronto City Council, which, in a fit of embarrassment, voted to reverse the ban. Regardless, tobogganing is still forbidden in 45 parks. Needless to say, it’s for our own good, and that of our sons and darling daughters.
In a city as abjectly dependent on cars, SUVs and pickup trucks as Toronto, winter presents a major obstacle. Given the general lack of driving skills among the motorized population, winter is a season of death and destruction.
Interestingly, the sort of nervous-parent behaviour the city brings to tobogganing is noticeably absent on the streets. An unusually early snowfall last month produced a sudden yet totally predictable rash of accidents. On November 10, Ontario Provincial Police reported no fewer than 340 “snow-related incidents” in the Greater Toronto Area.
Perhaps Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s harebrained scheme to build a second highway beneath the 401 makes sense after all. Could Baby Huey just be trying to save us from ourselves? But if that were the case, why would he have outlawed speed cameras, increased speed limits and ordered the removal of bike lanes?
If it weren’t so confounding, the city’s inability to deal with snow would be laughable. In 2021, under then mayor John Tory, the city signed a $1.5-billion snow-removal contract that didn’t actually require the removal of snow. The successful bidder only had to plough the roads, salt them and leave. The snowbanks that resulted made getting around by car, truck or foot so difficult that many wished the snow had been left where it fell.
Inevitably, some Torontonians resolutely ignore the snow and ice that accumulates on their stretch of sidewalk. For various reasons some of us are unable to do our bit. On the other hand, some homeowners clear their own front path but stop the second they reach the pavement. As much as ever, it seems winter separates the men from the boys, the engaged from the indifferent, neighbours from those who just happen to live next door.
The concept of community is strong but tenuous. It’s a process of give and take. Winter brings people together as it challenges their sense of connection. It can be a season of pleasure or of pain – the choice is ours.
