After Montreal’s heaviest November snowfall in more than 20 years, the city says one-quarter of its snow-removal team hasn’t started their seasonal contracts.

Private contractors do 50 per cent of the city’s snow removal, said city spokesperson Philippe Sabourin. Half of those contracts start Nov. 1, but the remaining contracts only start on Saturday, Nov. 15.

“It’s quite rare that we have to do the clearing operation before the 15th,” Sabourin said in an interview.

Many Montrealers were caught off guard by Monday night’s unseasonably early snowfall, which continued into Tuesday afternoon. Environment Canada recorded about 10 centimetres of snow at Trudeau airport and 22 centimetres across downtown Montreal.

Sabourin said the lack of personnel “slows down the operation a bit.”

“But th

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