Frustrated residents affected by the massive propane explosions in Downsview lashed out at city officials during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Tony Di Santo, president of the Ancaster Ratepayers Association, confronted local Coun. Maria Augimeri for scheduling a public meeting Thursday night at the same time as one the association planned at a different location.
Augimeri said she wasn't aware of the earlier meeting, saying she was out of town and only returned to Toronto early Wednesday morning. Di Santo said he had sent her an email asking her to attend.
When the argument continued, Augimeri told Di Santo to "shut up."
"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 said she wasn't planning on changing the time of the meeting which city officials were to attend, adding the venue could hold much more people than the one set up by the ratepayers association.
That meeting at 7 p.m. was scheduled to be held 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.
Other residents lashed out at officials over concerns of the asbestos spread by the blast. While health experts said the community faces no risk because the asbestos exposure is short-term, some people disagreed.
Residents wondered why some child-care centres were open Monday but then closed Tuesday and Wednesday. They said they didn't trust what the officials were saying about the area being safe.
'I have lost everything'
No business was closer to the blast site than Ways Automotive, which rented part of the building that housed the Sunrise Propane Energy Group Inc. facility. Ways Automotive was completely destroyed by the explosions and that has left owner Mark Ways with many questions that he wants answered.
"I have lost everything. I have nothing left -- no office, no truck, no paperwork, nothing. Only what is on me," he told CTV.ca on Wednesday.
"The question is what are (the politicians) going to do? Will they help me buy new equipment? I don't know. Please, tell me."
Ways said he is not an expert on what would have constituted a safe environment, but he feels the blast showed the potentially dangerous situation he, his employees, and his wife were working in.
If it happened in the daytime, "probably you wouldn't be talking to me," he said.
Ways said safety inspections should have been conducted on the propane facility annually.
The Sunrise Propane facility underwent at least one safety inspection nearly three years ago just before it opened for business. Sources told CTV Toronto another inspection was scheduled for this fall.
At Queen's Park, opposition MPPs demanded to know why inspections of such sites aren't done more frequently. They want inspections of all propane facilities done immediately.
Provincial Conservative Leader John Tory said Premier Dalton McGuinty should have declared that "three years is unacceptable and we're going to have spot audits and inspections that are done by surprise and at least done annually."
NDP MPP Peter Kormos said the explosions and lengthy time in between inspections highlights a systemic problem.
"It's time for the government to acknowledge that this experimentation and flirtation with privatization has been a failure," he said.
"It's time to restore the regulation, policing and licensing of these types of fueling facilities to a government body."
The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), which carried out inspections for the government, said a review of policies in the wake of Sunday's accident is not expected. TSSA spokesperson John Marshall told CTV Toronto on Tuesday that the organization is confident in their policy of sending an inspector to such facilities once every three years.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Chris Eby
