The Ontario government has ordered the province's fuel safety regulator to inspect every major propane facility in the wake of Sunday's massive explosions in Toronto.
Consumer Minister Harinder Takhar met with officials from the Technical Standards and Safety Authority on Thursday and told them to come up with an inspection plan for every propane site in Ontario of comparable size to the Sunrise facility in Downsview.
"I asked them to come up with a plan based on the risk, and also based on the population of where the schools are and whether there could be a chance of this happening and which could do more damage," Takhar told CTV Toronto.
The TSSA has been given until Tuesday to develop the plan. Takhar hopes the inspections will be completed over the next few weeks. The province will lend inspectors to help out.
Takhar also said he is unimpressed with the TSSA's inaccurate list of propane sites. Some of the addresses they detailed were wrong and some propane sites don't even exist. The organization said it would provide a new, accurate list.
The TSSA has revealed that the Sunrise facility was found violating safety codes twice in the past two years. The facility was doing truck-to-truck transfers in 2006 and one truck had a hose hanging improperly. A 2007 inspection again found a hose dangling from a truck.
The two incidents were considered minor infractions, and the company was not shut down or fined.
"Really, it's a case of an operational detail," TSSA spokesman Dave Lisle told CTV Toronto.
"You want to make sure that you are following the best practices, and while it doesn't necessarily mean there will be a hazard, it's certainly not a practice that we want to see followed."
A Sunrise Propane spokesman said the company complied with the two orders immediately.
Two public meetings
Meanwhile, Coun. Maria Augimeri apologized Thursday for losing her temper and telling the president of the Ancaster Ratepayers Association to "shut up" during a live press conference.
The councillor and 69-year-old Tony Di Santo got into a heated shouting match during a media briefing late Wednesday afternoon when Augimeri revealed she had scheduled a public meeting at the same time as one the association planned at a different location.
"If people have problems of a partisan nature, they should not use the death of a firefighter or anything associated with a disaster to deal with it, so shut up," she said.
"We're here to solve the problems of a community."
Augimeri, who cut short a trip to Italy to be in Toronto on Wednesday, said she has known Di Santo from past dealings.
The councillor said she wasn't going to reschedule the meeting that city officials were to attend, which is set for 7 p.m. at the Montecassino Hotel and Event Venue, at 3710 Chesswood Dr.
The meeting by the Ancaster Ratepayers Association is being held at the St. Norbert Catholic Church on Ancaster Road.
Mayor David Miller won't be attending either meeting because he is vacationing with his family in British Columbia. Representatives from his office were to attend the meeting arranged by the city.
Residents return home
Almost all residents have now been able to return to their homes after officials cleared the remaining 70 or so houses in the blast zone on Thursday afternoon. Some were overjoyed, while others broke down in tears.
One resident who lives across the street from the destroyed facility and narrowly avoided serious injury said it has been a trying time.
"I'm trying to keep my spirits up and look at the positive -- the fact that me and my wife, thank God, got out of there alive," he said, a scar showing on his forehead from a piece of ceiling that fell on him during the blast.
There are as many as seven homes that have been deemed uninhabitable by the city.
CTV News also learned that several dozen military families who had been living on a base next to the blast site are still homeless. An official said they are staying with relatives.
Employee still missing
As officials continue to investigate the cause of the blasts, a 26-year-old Sunrise Propane employee is still missing and feared dead. Parminder Saini hasn't been seen since the explosions.
Relatives in India told a Punjabi-language Mississauga newspaper Saini they have not been able to contact him this week. They say Saini arrived in Canada seven months ago on a 15-month student visa and was living in Brampton and attending a local college.
Authorities found a body beneath the rubble of the blast at the Sunrise facility on Monday. Autopsy results have not yet been released.
On Wednesday, a local resident died from a heart attack hours after she was allowed to return to her home. Relatives said 51-year-old Pat Loconte was "overwhelmed and shocked" by the ordeal.
Well-known District Fire Chief Bob Leek died fighting Sunday's blasts. A visitation continued Thursday, while his funeral service will be held on Friday with full fire service honours.
On Thursday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said his "heart goes out" to the families of those who died from the explosions. He made the statement from Beijing, where he's drumming up support for Toronto's 2015 Pan American Games bid.
The premier said once investigations are over, the province will look for ways to prevent such incidents from occurring.
He wouldn't comment on several pending class-action lawsuits against Sunrise Propane, the city and the province.
With reports from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss, Chris Eby and Roger Petersen