Claiming that Mayor Gérald Tremblay is “in bed with the snow-removal industry”, city opposition leader Benoit Labonté issued a press release this morning saying that, if elected mayor in November, he would reduce the length of Montreal’s winter season by at least a month, a move that could save the city millions of dollars every year in snow-plowing costs.

Labonté, who was coy to reporters about whether his first name has an accent on it (he says he’s in a period of reflection about it, but that many unnamed local business and cultural leaders have urged him to adopt the circumflex), said the month deleted from winter would be added to early summer, when the temperature is at its best and “all the sweet ladies are wearing almost nothing.”