There are good, practical reasons for this. First of all, Canada Post employees have the right to refuse to deliver mail to your address if you haven't cleared the snow. Granted, I've encountered a couple of them who were special snowflakes who wouldn't set foot on the sidewalk unless it was basically bare, dry cement, but the main thing is to avoid people slipping on ice. It doesn't take much ice buildup to make a surface slippery enough to cause serious injury.
I slipped on a patch of ice nearly 30 years ago, when running for the bus after dark (I'd been at a rehearsal for a production of
West Side Story and had to catch the last bus home). I didn't notice the ice until I was on the ground, having fallen onto my right ankle... which resulted in weeks of pain, not being able to walk properly, or even play the organ properly (the right foot controls the expression - aka volume - pedal) and my music teacher kept getting after me for that. I really should have gone to the doctor, but hoped I could tough it out long enough to get through the upcoming Western Board of Music exams I'd been studying for during the last half-year.
That ankle
still gives me problems at times.
And the amount of ice I slipped on wasn't thick at all - just incredibly slippery.
