Ford denied emergency

A report Friday said the Mayor of Toronto denied a recommendation to declare a State of Emergency after the ice storm.

The details came to light in an email leaked to the press. In the email, sent December 22, Deputy City Manager, John Livey wrote that he was directly asking Ford to declare a State of Emergency saying it would “assist the staff at the province to make resources available to us, crews, generators, facilities for warming centres.”

Opinion on whether a declaration would have been appropriate was mixed among city councillors. Some believed it would have helped expedite power restoration, others disagreed. Ford’s office responded by saying he chose not to declare a State of Emergency because he was advised by multiple authorities that all resources were already being used and he didn’t want to cause unnecessary panic.