Just so I get this right. The ice storm effected southern Ontario so there were a lot of people without hydro. Ontario Hydro who services the rural area absorbs the cost associated to the repairs or passes it on to the rate payers. Toronto wants to manage their own utilities and their residence pay for that. Now Toronto wants the Province to pay the cost of their repairs which is borne by everyone in the Province. This means the people who live outside the GTA get tapped twice?

Toronto also wants the rest of us to help pay their public transit costs. How about Toronto getting rid of their welfare mentality, and start paying their own way!!

No, Toronto does not.

Taxes being suggested will be kept within regions to pay for regional infrastructure.

However, if you are so worried about Toronto "leaching off you", here is the deal.

All tax revenues raised within municipalities will be spent within the municipalities.

That means for instance, that Toronto, with its 2.6 million people, universities, entertainment industry, bay street, etc. will pay for itself. Toronto has a pretty big economy (about 11 percent of Canada's GDP but only about 8 percent of population) so we should be able to fund ourselves just fine.

That shouldn't be a problem.

Now, how are all those towns of 50,000 or less going to pay for their own roads, hospitals, transit, etc?

No one in any article I have read about the recent power outages in ontario or new brunswick has even mentioned 1 key point. About 15-20 years ago I noticed in my area the power company (NSPI) basically stopped or very drastically reduced the amount of tree clearing done near large power transmission lines.I am an avid hiker so this was easy to notice. I would imagine this reduction was done as a cost saving / profit boosting attempt. I personally know 1 former lineman who was laid off and had to move his family.
I live in rural nova scotia and the power lines are totally overgrown with mature trees now where not too long ago maintenance crews regularily kept these lines clear. I am talking about the lines that criss cross our entire snowbound country through the forests. How can we seriously not expect the power will be disrupted by falling trees when the trees are literally growing beside/over the power lines now? As far as I can figure ,we have always had winter in Canada and we have always had wind, snow, sleet , ice ,etc. The only difference now is there is no preventative measures taken by the power companies. They seem to hope for the best and react after the fact while sending the overtime bill to the consumer. We are the ones who go without the power and now are expected to pay for the clean up too?

Dare I suggest that Toronto's PC green mindset is involved here?

The trees are the new sacred cows and cannot be cut without state approval. Consequently the canopy is overgrown and just waiting for the right weather to take out hydro lines.

This is the beginning ....

Well I suppose that fantasy fits your worldview, but the reality is that budget cuts and offloading to the municipalities by Mike Harris were the root cause of Ontario's diminished infrastructure and services. Roads, hydro, water and food safety . . .

Ding..ding...ding...we have a winner! Citing Mike Harris as the cause. And it's been what, 11 years or so?
Pick up your prize on your way out tonight.

Harris was and is not the only premier to have done this. It is the way things are done now unfortunately.

Then again, some of Harris actions like killing a subway line and filling in a tunnel and slashing TTC budget in half are still felt

no doubt Douglass and i am not defending Mike harris in any way. My point is that ALL Provincial govt's now expect the municipalities to cover more and more costs all while the provincial tax rates continue to climb. Services are routinely slashed and as a result, quality of life goes down. It has placed a tremendous financial burden on the small towns and communities. Be it education, healthcare , infrastucture , policing etc.They continue to close federal services in small communities forcing people to travel long disctances or simply move to cities which maybe is what they want anyhow.

Why did Harris have to download costs to municipalities? Wouldn't have anything to do with the fed Liberals of the day massively downloading onto the provinces to give the illusion of a more balanced federal budget, would it? Oh, and the Ontario Liberals have had over a decade to "fix" all Harris' mistakes, yet have done nothing but make things worse. Plenty of blame to go around, if you'd pull your head out of the sand.

ummm. A person being concerned over the endless destruction of the environment doesn't really have much to do with conducting necessary maintenance on an electrical distribution system or this article as far as I can reason.
Perhaps you also think there is a green hidden adgenda in trying to get people to car pool or recycle?

Strange sort of mind set here. If my hydro goes off due to what ever cause (not my own) I expect hydro to cover the costs. After all I'm paying my bill, and on time, Hydro is expected to provide the service and and as such any down time is not my responsibility.

IN a regional disaster, the province and often the Fed kick in to help. Recent example was the flooded city in Alberta.

Steve Harper and the federal Tory cabinet flocked to Calgary to show their support and write cheques when the Alberta city was flooded last summer. Toronto gets hit with a record ice storm and there isn't a federal Tory to be found. Oh yeah, and Harper won't give Toronto a dime for the storm. Just the kind of government you get from Harper.

$10 million for Toronto power loss. $6 billion for Alberta floods, we are talking a different magnitude here.

That may have a lot to do with the fact that Toronto has no support for the Conservative party. Why would they support an area that is a McLiar commune?

Because they are the government for ALL of Canada. I know they are petty and look for ways to exact revenge but this is small change for them ( they probably wasted that much trying to protect Mike Duffy and their other Senate buds.)

If they are the government for ALL why the hell hasn't Wynne left Toronto

East of Toronto is where the real damage is. She's busy now handing out compensation, but only to people in Toronto and that's totally f--ked up

Really? You graduated grade school with this "logic"?

In a democracy the elected represent ALL of the constituents, not just the individuals who voted for them.

Civics 101.

Play more politics you Liberal moochers. Oh by the way -it is OKAY to get help from Manitoba Hydro and then call the crews from Manitoba "from the Wilderness" You do not need help but a Muzzle. The Center of the Universe Freak Show. The Mayor of Toronto is the only sane person.

You are indeed a Liberal moocher.

Liberals blindly paint all conservatives bigots and racists. Their own practices of cultural segregation, race baiting, and constant pandering to divisive groups has exposed their very own brand of prejudice. Tommy Douglas, wrote his thesis in support of eugenics, while Pierre Trudeau, dabbled in antisemitism and expressed admiration for Hitler and Mussolini. NDP candidate, Dayleen Van Ryswyk, was forced to resign following racist remarks against First Nations communities. Deputy NDP Premier of Manitoba, Eric Robinson, recently came under fire for expressing resentment towards ignorant “do-good white people”. I can go on all day....

Your homophobic and racists comments are quite legendary on this site.

Well said.

keep drinking liver disease will rid us of you soon

Christine, go check the northwest corner of your house. I think it may have a flat.

this is hardly a disaster IMO. A big inconvenience more like. At least Toronto hasn't called in the army reserves again!

Hydro will be picking up the tab because the Liberals have already spent the disaster funds long time ago like everything else they have spent. Unless, unless Wynne creates new revenue tools. That means more taxes some where.

Facts have no place in your posts. Remember when Calgary was flooded this summer. Your hero Steve Harper and the federal cabinet poured into Alberta throwing money at Calgary. The federal Tories won't give Toronto a dime. That's just the kind of party your corrupt and incompetent Tories are.

No worries. The funds are still there, but the price of Bobbleheads has just doubled to $40. The next ones showing Robbie as a Toronto Hydro worker go on sale this Friday. Better get in line now. LOL

Apparently it not an emergency, just an urgency.........send $millions please.

Hey Robbie - where would this money come from

That is right - taxes.

Yeah, but instead of the Toronto taxpayer footing the bill for Toronto's situation, now Ford wants all of Ontario to cover the costs of his non-emergency.

I live 150 km outside of Toronto and lost power over 3 or 4 days. I fully expect that Hydro One will find a way to charge their reconnection costs to me.

I'll be damned if I agree to the Province now covering the Toronto Hydro costs too as this will also be yet another hand in my pocket. By Ford's own mouth and many statements, the loss of electrical power in Toronto was NOT an emergency (but only an inconvenience to some). Let Toronto Hydro pay their own bills however they may figure out how to do so. Keep your costs in Toronto.

You don't want to pay for Toronto Hydro's costs, but you expect those Hydro One customers who did not lose electricity to subsidize the cost of reconnecting you to the grid.

With respect, I expect that Hydro One will find a way to charge me for the direct costs of reconnecting my service. I do not consider that the rest of Ontario should pay for me, nor do I expect that the rest of Ontario should cover off the Toronto Hydro costs.

Maybe from the increases and benefit top ups these slime ball Liberals will dole out to yheir deadbeat grade nine drop out union friends in the Silly service? Or overpaid entitled greedy teacher pukes? You choose.

Duffy and Wallin?

Why is Wynne the only one not wearing a hard hat in a construction zone?

The Ministry of Labour gets kinda testy about safety.

She is a liberal, what could damage a skull that thick?

True, I guess a hard hat would be redundant.

Besides, they probably wouldn't have one large enough for a liberal.

The problem is that liberal hats come to a point, it is hard to tell a liberal from a log splitter if they are wearing one.

Liberals probably don't even know Manitoba is beside Detroit, huh. Oh and with Ford's family past I wouldn't bring up pointy white hats. Y'all.

It is not a construction zone.

They couldn't find a hard hat big enough for Robbie which is why he's not in the shot.

Liberal thumb monkeys swarming nanny moderator.

Gee, can't Rob just wave the same magic wand that got him the mythical (and erroneous) 1Billion in savings? Better yet, perhaps he can just sign some bobble-heads and let a grown up speak with the province.

Congrats - Dumbest comment yet over this. No small feat.