People talk about "a GTA winter" like it's one thing. It isn't. The kind of winter your driveway actually gets depends a lot on where you are relative to Lake Ontario and how high you sit — and it changes what a good snow plan looks like.
On the lake: ice and slush
Right along the shoreline, winters run milder but messier. Freezing rain, slush, and ice show up as often as clean snow, so ice control and salting matter as much as plowing. That's the pattern in Oakville, the south end of Mississauga around Port Credit, and the lakeside pockets of Etobicoke and Scarborough out by the Bluffs, where lake wind drives it in.
Inland and north: accumulation
Move away from the lake and it gets colder and snowier. Vaughan and Markham pick up more accumulation on colder, drier snow, and their newer subdivisions have wide driveways that are a lot of surface to clear. Higher still, Richmond Hill and King City on the moraine reliably see more snow.
On the escarpment: wind and drifting
Up at the Niagara Escarpment, Milton and the higher parts of Burlington like Tyandaga catch wind that drifts snow back onto a driveway you just cleared — which is why return passes on a long storm matter more there.
Why it matters for your plan
On the lake, a plan that leans on salting and ice control fits best. Inland and up high, it's about plowing volume and coming back after drifting. Either way, the honest answer comes from your actual address — check your neighbourhood snow rate to see what fits your street.