What do you think is possibly the most wasteful program in the entire region?

It's one which costs up to $100 million, it's contracted out to some of the most expensive labour force in the province, and has a readily available alternative — in all ways superior — at somewhere between one tenth and one twentieth the cost?

What is this boondoggle we're talking about? The homeowner sidewalk snow removal mandate.

Presently, according to city bylaws, a doctor in the middle of a 24-hour shift; a salesperson trying to close a deal just before the end of the quarter; a nurse tending to a critically injured patient; a construction worker welding I-beams at the top of one of the many towers rising in the city; a coffee shop shiftworker who's been up on his or her feet all night; and an entrepreneur in a hackathon must all interrupt their work and shovel their sidewalks within 24 hours of a snowstorm.

On the other hand, from the point of view of pedestrians, 24 hours to clear a sidewalk is far too long.

Let us consider the costs per household of this mandate. The average sidewalk takes between 15 and 45 minutes to clear by hand, depending on the amount of ice and snow and street frontage. Using average wage tables, we can readily compute the cost of treating our citizens as an indentured workforce: around $300 to $600 in manual labour every winter. This is before we consider the cost of a $300 fine should you ever fail to be available after a snowstorm.

The alternative, of course, would be to have sidewalks plowed by the city using snowplowing machinery, such as a fancy Prinoth (formerly Bombardier) or a cheaper Bobcat snowplow.

This has been brought to the attention of city officials periodically and repeatedly over the last 15 years. Yet the various city councils in the region consistently refuse to act.

By now you assume that perhaps such savings are dubious, hence the lack of movement from our local politicians. But that's not the case. Dozens of cities across the country plow the sidewalks for their citizens at an average cost of $7 to $10 per household per year.

Yes you read that right. The $300 to $600 in elbow grease that you, my fellow residents, fork out every winter could be covered by — let's be generous and double the figures above — $14 to $20 per household from city budgets.

Say, wouldn't it be nice if at this time of tax increases, city councils found a way to streamline this program and thus give back between $300 to $600 per year to every household?

Here's a partial list (and growing) of cities that plow sidewalks for pedestrians and not just plow roads for cars: Fredericton, Toronto, Kingston, Guelph (mostly), Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Burlington, London, Oshawa, Winnipeg, Montreal and Quebec City.

For those interested, there are videos on YouTube of city snowplows making good work of a sidewalk http://youtu.be/n6azSw1LLZM.

Please do not watch them after shovelling your sidewalk, since the view of a snowplow clearing a sidewalk in front of a house in less than 10 seconds while you just toiled for 20 to 30 minutes may be upsetting.

Aside from the economic savings from having the sidewalks cleared by specialized machinery, the snowstorm on Feb. 1 and 2 brought into focus some of the other benefits quite poignantly.

As I drove home after a day's work, a full 12 hours after the storm, there were pedestrians everywhere walking on the road because roads for cars are plowed continuously and expeditiously by city workers, while pedestrians must wait until homeowners get home and clear the sidewalks.

Perhaps this time around, city councils across the region will find the courage to do the right thing and budget what is a minor line item.

- Cities not snowed under with sidewalk complaints despite harsh winter

- D'Amato: Snowed in sidewalks don't send a very 'walkable' message

- Forget your snowblower and start shovelling, or face $300-plus bill in Kitchener

- D'Amato: Roads are clear of snow, why are bus stops still clogged?

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

- Sidewalks deserve more debate

- Shovel your walk

- D'Amato: Pedestrians' plight in car-centric cities