Downed tree limbs in a west-end neighbourhood of Peterborough on March 30, 2025 after a major weekend ice storm across central and eastern Ontario. (Photo: Barry Killen) The Ontario government is allocating $9,931,000 to the city and county of Peterborough along with five townships within the county to assist with clean-up and emergency response expenses from last spring’s ice storm. This funding is part of the province’s $90 million Municipal Ice Storm Assistance (MISA) program announced last June. To be eligible for this program, municipalities needed to show they faced costs exceeding their regular budget that weren’t covered by insurance, pass a council resolution requesting help from the province, and apply before the end of last October. – content continues below As part of the MISA program, the City of Peterborough will receive $7.95 million, while the County of Peterborough will get $676,000. The Municipality of Trent Lakes will receive $503,000; Selwyn Township $373,000; Douro-Dummer Township $301,000; Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township $79,000; and North Kawartha Township $49,000. Smith added that provincial assistance will ensure that both the city and county of Peterborough “have the resources they need to cover emergency costs without placing an undue burden on local taxpayers.”
Ontario premier Doug Ford, flanked by Peterborough County warden Bonnie Clark and Peterborough-Kawartha MPP David Smith, visited Peterborough County on April 13, 2025 along with emergency preparedness and response minister Jill Dunlop to discuss the county’s response to the ice storm and its financial impacts. (Photo: Office of MPP Dave Smith)
The cost-sharing model under MISA allows for reimbursement from the province for 75 percent of eligible costs up to three percent of a municipality’s own-purpose taxation (the total tax levied by a municipality), with 95 percent coverage for eligible costs exceeding three percent. The municipality is responsible for covering any remaining costs.
The ice storm began on March 28, 2025 and lasted for two days causing widespread destruction-thousands of trees were downed along with hydro lines-and leaving over 1.4 million Hydro One customers without power at one point. Nearly 400 thousand homes and businesses in central and eastern Ontario were affected as some were without electricity for almost a week after.
The areas hit hardest included Barrie, Orillia, City of Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough itself as well as Kingston-with Lindsay experiencing an ice accumulation of about 25 millimeters while it was around 20 millimeters in Peterborough.
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Local municipalities declared states of emergency following this storm which demanded weeks-long clean-up efforts. Leaders in Peterborough held daily media briefings alongside MPP Smith during this time.
A couple weeks post-storm Premier Doug Ford came to visit Peterborough County where he got updates regarding how badly infrastructure had been damaged due to this event. Later that same day he also stopped by Haliburton County as well as City Kawartha Lakes.
Apart from launching MISA program funding support also included starting up a new initiative-the Business Ice Storm Assistance program offering up to $250 thousand specifically aimed at small businesses small farms or not-for-profit organizations dealing directly with storm-related cleanup or critical repairs lacking insurance coverage.
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