Fine, let’s shovel. But where are we supposed to put the snow?

After much of Ontario and Quebec got walloped by almost two feet of snow this week, life in major urban centres from Hamilton to Montreal came to a fluffy stop. Canadians were faced with a familiar suite of marshmallow-world problems: snow days, closed businesses, dangerous driving conditions and the age-old dilemma of where to discard the excess snow enveloping your vehicle. Street parkers who wanted the luxury of entering their cars had it the worst, and there’s no right or wrong answer here. Tossing your snow on the street can inconvenience drivers, and there’s a law in Ontario against it—though it’s almost never enforced. (Don’t believe it? Check Section 181 of the Highway Traffic Act.) Shovelling it onto the sidewalk creates a hazard for pedestrians, and is an affront to property owners responsible for keeping walkways clear. But piling it on the curb is a nuisance to parkers, while chucking it on someone’s lawn just seems impolite. As the icy aftermath melts away, these moral quandaries will linger on.