Ontario will give municipalities $190 million for ice storm cleanup

TORONTO – The Ontario government will provide up to $190 million to help municipalities pay for the cost of cleanup and recovery from the pre-Christmas ice storm.

Municipal Affairs Minister Linda Jeffrey says the money will be divided up among the 32 towns and cities that requested financial help from the province, including Toronto.

Hard-hit municipalities across southern Ontario had said the recovery efforts could cost more than $250 million, including $106 million just for Toronto.

The storm downed trees and hydro lines, left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power for days and stalled road and air travel.

Mayors had asked the federal and Ontario governments to each cover a third of the cleanup costs from the storm, which left people shivering in the cold and dark for days until power was restored.

The municipal leaders said property taxes alone could not fund the recovery and gave the province until March 1 to respond.

Councils in many municipalities, including Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, and Caledon, had voted to ask the province that they be declared disaster areas after the ice storm.