Premier Kathleen Wynne is signalling she won't give Toronto a blank cheque on its proposal to levy tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

The tolls — already endorsed by Toronto City Council earlier this month — require provincial authorization to become a reality. In a year-end interview with CBC News, Wynne indicated her government's approval will depend on the amount of the tolls and the alternatives available to commuters.

"I respect the work of council and the mayor," Wynne said. "Having said that, as the proposal comes forward ... we need to look at the timing, we need to look at when this would start, how big the tolls would be and all of that, and look at what options people will have."

Premier Kathleen Wynne says she'll look at the size of the tolls when her government considers the city's proposal for levying tolls on drivers on the Gardiner Expressway and DVP. 0:56

Wynne said she wants to know whether such transit plans as Smart Track or Regional Express Rail will be in place by the time council wants to start charging tolls on the two major highways into downtown Toronto.

The proposal approved by Toronto council neither set a date for implementation nor fixed an amount for the tolls.

Municipal staff have suggested the tolls could be put in place in 2019 at the earliest, or possibly as late as 2024.

A city staff report indicated a $2 per-trip toll on each of the Gardiner and the DVP would bring in about $200 million to municipal coffers each year.

CBC's provincial affairs reporter Mike Crawley interviews Premier Kathleen Wynne in her office at Queen's Park (CBC)

During the council debate over tolls, Toronto Mayor John Tory said the city "shouldn't have to go running up the street to beg" for approval from Queen's Park. But provincial law requires cabinet approval for tolls on any road in the province.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has seized on the toll issue, and Wynne's role in potentially approving them. "We hear that families, commuters, everyone is really feeling the pinch," Brown told CBC Toronto's Metro Morning earlier this month. "Life is just becoming harder and more unaffordable."

Wynne rejects the notion that her government's policies — from cap-and-trade to hydro rates — are making life less affordable for Ontarians.

"Can we look at the other side of the balance sheet?" Wynne said during the year-end interview. "We're making investments that are going to help people in their lives, that will save them money."

She pointed to her government's plans to provide grants offsetting the cost of tuition for thousands of university and college students, and to create 100,000 new child-care spaces, many of them subsidized.

"We're working very hard on that side of the balance sheet to help people with the expenses in their lives," said Wynne. "I've listened pretty hard to people on the challenges they're facing."