Ontario cities running low on road salt amid harsh winter, increased exports to U.S.

Some Ontario municipalities and private contractors are mixing salt with sand and other materials to melt ice and snow this winter as the province faces a critical shortage of road salt amid skyrocketing demand.

Joe Salemi, the executive director of Landscape Ontario, said the shortage is caused by several factors, including a particularly harsh and snowy winter and a lack of supply for domestic use because of increased exports of rock salt to the United States.

“One of the biggest reasons — there has been a lot more snow events this winter, and a lot of smaller snow events, which require a lot more salt,” Salemi said in a phone interview.

He said recent snowstorms south of the border have also created an unprecedented demand for Canadian salt.

“It seems like there’s more that’s being shipped to the United States that’s actually being used here in our own country,” he said.

In the past few weeks, several municipalities said they had to adjust their winter snow removal operations because of the road salt shortage. The City of Pickering said that includes mixing salt with sand or other de-icing materials and applying salt after a storm, when it is more effective.

The City of London said the early start to winter has put its road salt supplies and future deliveries under pressure. It said crews “will be plowing major roads more frequently to reduce the need for salt,” which would mean a slower snow removal response on residential streets.

Brockville, east of Kingston, said it has “significantly limited salt availability” due to wintry weather, frequent freeze–thaw cycles and supply and transportation constraints.

“Staff anticipated this possibility and prepared as best we could by building stockpiles earlier in the season; however, remaining supplies are now limited and being carefully managed,” the city said in a statement last week.

Dave Friary, Barrie’s director of operations, said the city’s salt inventory is also running low as it gets “sporadic” supplies.

“But we’re doing our best to use best practices and put salt down when needed, plow a little bit more, mix it with sand and salt mixture,” he said in a phone interview.

Friary said the city might need to store more road salt for next winter.

“We will certainly review everything after this winter and we’ll make the necessary adjustments,” he said.

He said the city usually uses a mixture of sand and salt on residential roads and then cleans and sweeps the streets in the spring.

“With the extra usage of sand this year … (the cleaning operation) will take a little bit longer,” he said.

Despite the shortage, Friary said Barrie is purchasing the salt at a fixed price. But that is not the case for many private snow-removal contractors whose salt inventories are depleting fast, said Salemi, of Landscape Ontario.

He said the price of one ton of rock salt has jumped from around $70 to nearly $300 in Ontario. That has created a problem for contractors who are considered responsible when someone slips and falls on ice, even if the salt isn’t available to them, Salemi said.

He said given the ongoing “geopolitical storm” and trade disputes with the United States, he isn’t sure that restricting salt exports is the right solution. But he would like to see something done to ensure a steady availability of “this critical mineral source” to keep Ontarians safe in the winter.

The company that runs the largest salt mine in the world, located in Goderich, Ont., said its teams are working 24-7 to supply rock salt to customers across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway regions.

“Shipments are strategically managed to meet demand in both Canada and the northern U.S., moving via vessels that call on ports in both countries, as well as hundreds of truckloads each day delivering to customers throughout the served markets,” Compass Minerals said in a statement.

“Ongoing winter conditions continue to create unique supply chain challenges, including narrower shipping windows as lake ice has the potential to limit vessel mobility.”

In Toronto, however, even a record-breaking January snowstorm and a subsequent deep freeze didn’t put a dent in the city’s road salt supply, officials said.

A spokesperson for the city said there has been no shortage this season thanks to three “exclusive suppliers that have been consistently delivering sufficient salt to keep our infrastructure safe.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2026.

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press