The province must take over regulation of the propane industry in Ontario, Toronto's Mayor David Miller said on the first anniversary of the Sunrise Propane blast in Downsview.
"In my view, and city council shares the view, this is something that's so important it should be directly regulated by the government, not by an arm's-length agency," he told reporters on Monday.
Propane companies in Ontario are regulated by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA).
"As we know, Sunrise is apparently carrying on business in some way, and that's not right when its licence has been pulled," Miller said.
In the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 10, 2008, the Sunrise Industrial Gases depot at 54 Murray erupted into a 150-metre-high ball of fire. One employee of the company died in the blast, and a Toronto firefighter who came on his day off to help died at the scene of a heart attack.
Homes right across the street had their windows blown out and worse, with many left uninhabitable.
About a half-dozen homes in the largely Italian neighbourhood remain unoccupied, some in part because of squabbles with insurance companies.
Michael Viani is still not back in his home -- and he wants to be there.
"I miss my neighbours. The only reason I come back here, if we rebuild, is because of them," he said. "It's just immediate friends and family."
Resident Fiorante Raffaele had a sign out in front of his unrepaired home that read: "Thanks for all the help. Happy anniversary. No one cares about us."
He feels abandoned. He currently lives with his wife in a basement apartment.
"My life is not what it was before. I am 75 years old with the one year in the prison," he said. "My life is worse."
Resident Vicki Arciero told ctvtoronto.ca that to her recollection, Sunrise Propane moved into their neighbourhood about five or six years ago.
Miller said in the city's new zoning bylaw, "we're going to address that as best we can."
An Ontario Court of Appeal case from about a decade ago rule that propane businesses can't be singled out, he said.
"We're going to bring in some standards in the new zoning bylaw to try to ensure that everybody is as safe as possible," he said.
But Miller also repeated his view that such sites should be regulated by government "because government's accountable."
In Sunrise's case, "the inspections weren't done," he said. The TSSA "did a whole rush of (inspections) afterwards, but of course that was too late."
Miller said that's not good enough.
He's looking forward to the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office report. CTV Toronto reported Friday that the provincial agency should have its investigation completed in a month or so.
It has dispatched some investigators to Texas to have some valves examined. It has also hired the services of a U.S. firm to run simulations of the blast using a super-computer.
While answers as to what caused the blast might soon be coming, there are a number of legal issues that will take years to resolve.
Miller said the city has considered suing Sunrise to recoup some of the cleanup costs, estimated to be nearly $2 million. But it has not filed any legal papers yet.
The province has compensated the city for about half that total, he said.
Sunrise has also been hit with two charges under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act. If found guilty, it could be fined up to $500,000 on each charge.
Area residents have also filed a $300-million class action lawsuit against Sunrise. That lawsuit awaits certification by a judge.
With a report from CTV Toronto's John Musselman
