Every winter, Canadian municipalities pour enormous sums into clearing snow, and an increasingly contentious debate has emerged over who should bear the expense. Under most current arrangements, snow removal is financed from general taxation, so the bill is distributed across every resident, irrespective of whether that individual owns a vehicle.

Marcus Dell represents the Urban Roads Coalition, an organization backed by trucking and delivery firms. "We actively lobby councils to keep snow clearing fully tax-funded," says Dell. "Plowing the roads is a public good, akin to lighting the streets, and its benefit reaches everyone regardless of how they travel. Clear roads keep ambulances moving and goods on the shelves, so charging drivers a special fee for it would amount to a false economy that damages the whole city. In return for our taxes, citizens are entitled to roads that remain open and safe." Dell dismisses charging drivers directly as unworkable. "The people who push for road tolls do not, as a rule, run the trucks that feed this city. They skim off the benefits of an open road without ever paying to keep one clear."