Amarsleet Snowhi, Connor McBlade-It among names chosen for Edmonton plows

St. Albert residential streets clear St. Albert has just finished clearing its residential streets, but Edmonton residents are still waiting. Jeremy Thompson reports.

The city announced the winners of its “Name a Plow” contest on Wednesday, and officials say the response was so enthusiastic they had a hard time narrowing it down.

“Originally we were going to name five plows, but based on the overwhelming response to this with over 2,100 entries, we’ve expanded to the top 15,” Mark Beare of the City of Edmonton told reporters on Wednesday.

These are the names that were chosen by the city:

Beare said the name Qannig has been endorsed by the city’s Indigenous Relations Office.

He added that Edmontonians who submitted winning names would be contacted by email.

The plows have been decaled with stickers displaying their new names.

RESIDENTIAL SNOW CLEARING UPDATE

Residents who are hoping to see Amarsleet Snowhi or Snow-Be-Gone Kenobi on their streets will have to wait a little longer.

Beare says unseasonably warm weather is delaying residential snow clearing.

He hopes crews will be able to start clearing next week.

“This is definitely an area we’re hearing a lot about, and we hear you. We know the residential areas are sloppy, but sending plows into them now with the warmer temperatures is going to make things worse with heavy equipment creating large ruts and windrows.”

“Now people are going to have windrows out in front of their homes, and that was something we experienced last year with a lot of negative feedback about people losing their parking.”

Beare says residents can expect to see parking bans implemented when residential clearing begins, and is encouraging drivers to sign up online to be notified of parking bans to avoid a ticket.

While crews wait for temperatures to drop, they’re working on removing windrows from school zones.

“Edmontonians care a lot about their snow removal, so we’re doing the best job that we can,” Beare said, adding that snow removal crews are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Mayor Amarjheet Sohi echoed Beare’s comments.

“I know the last couple of weeks have not been easy for people getting out of the residential streets because of the warmer weather,” he told CTV News Edmonton. “It’s not a lack of resources or lack of equipment or lack of personnel, all those things are available, it’s just been about the weather warming up, you can’t really clear or scrape off the residential streets.”

While Sohi said his staff made him aware a snow plow had been named in his honour, he had not seen the rest of the list until CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson asked him to pick a favourite.

“Connor McBlade-It? Well, there you go. Connor McBlade-It. That’s a favourite one for me. I think people will like that.”

Connor McDavid was also asked about the results of the contest.

“Pretty funny. That’s Edmonton. They’re hockey crazy and that’s why it’s fun to play here.”