A town councillor in Cote St. Luc wants the province to relax the rules on the paint that can be used for roads and crosswalks.
Currently, Quebec law states that the paint used for road markings can't contain more than 150 grams per litre of what's called volatile organic compounds between May 1 and Oct. 15. The rest of the year, that figure can go up to 450 g/L.
Councillor Mitch Kujavsky says the weaker, water-based paint that gets used means the road markings have to be painted much more often, and tend to disappear in a matter of months.
"There's certainly going to be an environmental benefit to having a lower emission paint. But we're sacrificing public safety for the benefit of the environment. There has to be a balance. And for us in Cote St. Luc, there's an imbalance, because our road markings are dangerous."
He says the issue is most noticeable in the spring, after the winter's snow melts. In many cases, the markings that were put down in the fall are almost completely gone by the spring.
The Quebec regulation was put in place in 2012, and it's aim is to cut the amount of pollutants in the air that can contribute to the formation of smog, according to the environment ministry.
Kujavsky started researching the rules after a conversation with the dean of Montreal's council, Marvin Rotrand, about road markings.
"In working with Marvin, Marvin said, 'Mitch, I'm giving you a job. Go and find out more about the regulations, and then we'll see how we can go about this.'"
Kujavsky says he intends to team up with Rotrand to get the attention of local MNAs once vacation season is over, to try and convince the province to relax the rules, or make some exceptions.