Poor roads slowed ambulance on Avalon, says operator

Poor roads more than tripled the response time of an ambulance on the Avalon Peninsula on Sunday night, according to the company operator.

Wade Smith, the owner of Smith's Ambulance Service, is calling for increased snowclearing services from the provincial government following a long trip from Whitbourne to Chapel Arm.

"The conditions on the road were deplorable, and the safety of the people has to be paramount here," Smith told CBC News on Monday.

• 'Tragedy far more likely' unless snowclearing improves, Tories claim

A combination of snow-covered roads and low visibility meant the trip from Whitbourne to Chapel Arm took about 36 minutes, Smith says, who adds a trip normally takes justeight to 10 minutes.

The ambulance owner says he called the transportation department to request a plow for the trip, but his crew had gone and come back to Whitbournewith the female patient by the time the plow arrived.

"It took about 15 minutes to even get someone to say that we were going to have a plow available," he said Monday.

Smith says the government should stop trying to save money, and increase the amount of snowclearing equipment that are on the roads.

• White-knuckle ride: Ambulance owner slams highway snowclearing efforts

"We need to get focused on the public, we need to get focused on getting these roads clear," he said. "It's getting to the point right now where we could end up with a tragedy, and then it's going to be too late tomake decisions."

Smith said the poor condition of the Trans-Canada Highway delayed a transfer of the patient from the Newhook Community Health Centre in Whitbourneto St. John's, but the woman is nonetheless in good condition.

Same service, says minister

There were 16 snowclearing trucks on the province's highways and roads on Sunday night and Monday morning,Transportation Minister Al Hawkins told CBC Radio'sCrosstalkon Monday.

He says that's just as many as would have been out in2016.

The provincial government has been facing criticism over cuts to the 24-hour snowclearing system, which has moved to an on-call service for some parts of the day.

The change was a cost-saving measure introduced in the province's 2016 budget, spurred on by a large fiscal deficit.

• Snow plows will no longer be on TCH 24 hours a day

Despite the change, Hawkins insists that snowclearing now is just as good as it was last year he says extra crews were called in for Sunday night, but they still struggled to get everything clear.

"Last night was very, very unusual, when it came to the amount of snow and the high winds that we had," Hawkins said Monday.

"I sort of relate itsometimes to doing a driveway. If I've got five centimetres of snow in my driveway, I'm going to be able to clear that out a lot faster than I can if there's 30 centimetres."

About 34 centimetres fell in Mount Pearl, Paradise, and some parts ofSt. John's overnight Sunday.

"We all know that when we have snowfall and snowclearing, it's very emotional at times. And I fully understand people that have to be on the highway, how frustrating it is for them as well," Hawkins added.