ABOVE: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne updates provincial recovery efforts, and announces a $25,000 donation of grocery store gift cards from Loblaws
TORONTO – Loblaw Companies Limited has donated $25,000 in grocery store gift cards to help compensate people who lost food in the wake of the ice storm, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne told reporters Sunday.
“Really it is the food compensation that we’re most concerned about,” said Wynne, who hopes the province can match the amount and challenged other retailers to help out.
READ MORE: Thousands of Toronto residents still in the dark
Wynne provided an update on the response to the ice storm as she toured the main hub of Emergency Management Ontario along with Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Madeleine Meilleur, Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli and city of Toronto officials.
The province’s office of Fire Marshall and Emergency Management is handling the distribution of the gift cards and priority will be given to those who cannot afford to replace spoiled food.
WATCH: The clean-up from the Ontario ice storm is costing about one million dollars a day in Toronto alone. How much of that will you be on the hook for and can you expect any compensation? Cindy Pom reports.
Officials in Toronto are sounding optimistic as they provided an update Sunday on the on-going recovery effort to re-connect thousands who lost power following the devastating ice storm.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said this weekend there’s “light at the end of the tunnel” in Toronto and if all goes well, everyone might have power by Tuesday.
READ MORE: NB Power warns it could be after the New Year before power is restored
Ford told reporters at city hall about 6,000 customers are still in the dark in Toronto – down from 7,400 earlier Sunday morning.
Ford also said dealing with the power outages have cost Toronto Hydro around $1-million a day. Ford has called a special council meeting to take place on Jan. 10, 2014 to formally request support from the province through the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program.
Toronto Hydro CEO Anthony Haines said for the first time in seven days he can see the finish line approaching, although he wouldn’t predict exactly when power would be restored to all customers in Toronto.
“We’re now hour by hour,” said Haines during the news conference, adding crews will work until every home and business has access to heat and light.
Haines said the cost of cleaning up after storms is usually divided equally between worker and equipment costs, but noted with this storm special costs like hotel rooms for out-of-town crews would have to be accounted for.
Haines said he would like the estimated $8-10 million in cleanup costs to come from Toronto Hydro’s budget, but warned the cost could downloaded to customers.
WATCH: Toronto officials provide an update on the ice storm clean up.
Early Sunday morning Ford stopped by a Toronto Hydro facility and thanked crews who have been working tirelessly to restore power to the 300,000 residents who lost power at the height of the outage.
Ford was joined by Haines who said crews are making good progress, but thousands of residents in the two hardest hit areas – Scarborough and midtown Toronto – still don’t have access to heat and hot water.
As hydro crews work to re-connect the remaining homes, officials warned residents to watch out for falling ice as warm temperatures have caused ice to break off from tree branches, buildings, and power lines.
READ MORE: Warmer temperatures causing ice to fall from trees, hydro wires
One Hamilton worker suffered injuries after being struck in the head by falling ice Saturday, though he was wearing his hardhat.
As of Sunday the latest tally shows power is still out for 1,200 homes and businesses elsewhere in Ontario, 9,000 in Quebec, and 8,700 in New Brunswick.
*With files from the Canadian Press
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