Canada is currently primarily buried in snow as winter tightens its frigid grip. In 2021, over one in four Canadian households (24%) reported using a snow blower to clear their driveway or sidewalk. In the snow-prone towns of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Greater Sudbury, and Barrie in Ontario, that percentage increased to over 50%.
In 2021, 88 per cent of Canadian houses with snow blowers reported having a gas-powered model, down from 95% in 2015. Over this time, the proportion of households reporting having an electric or battery-powered snow blower doubled to 13%, with electric being more prevalent than battery (9% vs 4%).
For instance, 1.8% of newly registered motor vehicles in Canada in 2020 had zero emissions and were either battery- or electric-powered, up from 1.2% in 2019.
The East Coast of Canada has the highest probability of having a snow blower, while the West Coast has the lowest chance. In 2021, 5 percentage points more homes in Newfoundland and Labrador (56%) than in 2013 reported having a snow blower, the highest proportion nationally.
Just over one-quarter of households in neighbouring Nova Scotia (27%) and New Brunswick (41%), and Prince Edward Island (37%) reported owning a snow blower.
A quarter of households in Ontario (28%) and Quebec (24%) and three out of ten in Manitoba (30%) and Saskatchewan (31%) reported having a snowblower.
The least likely households to report owning a snow blower in 2021 were those in British Columbia (7%) and Alberta (18%).
Less than one in four families in Saguenay (23%) and Québec (21%) reported owning a snow blower in 2021, which was below the national average. It is not unexpected that households in St. John’s (55%) were most likely to report owning a snow blower among Canada’s major cities. In 2021, Sherbrooke had the highest proportion of households having snow blowers (32%), while Montréal had the lowest proportion (14%).
Greater Sudbury (53%) and Barrie (51%) had the most significant percentages of households in Ontario who said they had a snow blower in 2021, while Toronto (18%) had the lowest rate.
Comparing households in Edmonton (22%) to those in Calgary (10%), homes in Edmonton were more than twice as likely to report owning a snow blower. Maybe residents of Calgary trusted their legendary chinooks to clear the extra snow.
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