Secrets to a Happy Toronto Winter: #12. A heated driveway (no shovelling!) can be yours for less than two grand

Every generation has its own measures of success: fast cars, good wine, Cubist paintings. For the polar vortex generation, the ultimate symbol is a heated driveway. It may sound like a luxury reserved for the one per cent, but it doesn’t have to be. The Chicago-based company WarmlyYours sells most of the radiant heat technology across the GTA (it’s their largest market in ­Canada). They use either cables or mats depending on the size and configuration of your driveway, and bury them under the asphalt (or paving stones or whatever surface you like). When switched on, they melt snow at more than a centimetre per hour. The entire job can be done for as little as $1,200 plus labour. 300 Granton Dr., Richmond Hill, 800-875-5285.