Mayor John Tory is blaming aging infrastructure for knocking out power to thousands of downtown condos to bolster his argument that selling part of city-owned Toronto Hydro might make sense.

In a speech to a business audience Wednesday, Tory said Toronto hasn’t built a single transformer station — a key piece of equipment in electrical generation, transmission and distribution — since 1955, when the Royal York was one of the tallest buildings on the skyline.

“I’m no longer prepared to lead a city where people can’t get up the elevator, have their food spoiling” because the city didn’t pay for grid upgrades, Tory said afterward. But doubts are being cast on some of his claims used to justify the privatization of the utility.

Since 2013 Toronto Hydro has been constructing Copeland Station on Bremner Blvd., south of the CN Tower, said Scott Travers, president of the Society of Energy Professionals, the union representing 8,000 workers, including Toronto Hydro engineers. There were also transformers added to a Staion on Gerrard St. and the Don Valley Parkway in 1995 and another added to one on Cecil St. in , 2003, he added.

Today Toronto Hydro tells us that they were actually built in 1969 and 1988, respectively. The union has clarified that transformers were added to those locations in 1995 and 2003.

Toronto Hydro also has a $2.25-billion, five-year plan to upgrade existing and new infrastructure, Travers said Thursday: “Regardless of the ownership, things are going to move forward so it appears to be a false choice he’s presenting.”

“Investment in infrastructure will not be different if it is privatized versus if it’s kept in the public's hands.”

Tory spokeswoman Amanda Galbraith said the information came from Toronto Hydro and the bottom line is that the city has “not kept up with investing in our infrastructure to meet existing needs, let alone those of the near future.”

“We need to invest in our infrastructure so the people of the city have a reliable source of power to keep the lights on.”

Toronto Hydro confirms the Cecil St. and Gerrard St. transformers’ recent origins but they don't provide power to downtown core (south of Dundas). Galbraith said Tory was referring to downtown in his remarks.

Critics of privatization say the city would lose a dividend from Hydro of roughly $60 million a year. Hydro itself says payments to the city total $2 billion over the past decade while the utility tries to invest in the grid.

Hydro is “exploring options” to meet its capital requirements to meet the city’s needs, wrote Hydro spokesman Brian Buchan.

“These investments are critical to support significant growth in Toronto and help ensure a reliable electricity infrastructure. Already, one-third of our infrastructure is considered nearing or past end of useful life,” he said.

To reap a windfall from privatizing a significant chunk of Toronto Hydro, the city will need a big helping hand from Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

The spring provincial budget reduced the tax penalty for a municipality selling more than 10 per cent of a utility. Tory confirmed to reporters that he raised, in a private meeting with Wynne this spring, Toronto’s need to get that penalty lower still. Council had previously agreed to consider Hydro privatization.

“We simply said that one of the realities was there’s this tax provision, that has to do with any proposal that anybody came back to sell a piece or to take it (private), would have to be addressed,” Tory said, adding he has received no assurances of tax relief from the province.

At Queen’s Park, Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault said any move to privatize Toronto Hydro is “a decision for Mayor Tory and council to make.”

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The province has no plans to ease taxes such as deal would face but is taking a “wait and see” approach for now.

“There’s nothing we were looking at in terms of legislation in changing any of that.”

Clarification - September 23, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version. Scott Travers, president of the Society of Energy Professionals, told the Star that Toronto Hydro bulit a transformer station at Gerrard St. and the Don Valley Parkway in the mid-’90s and another on Cecil St. in 2003. In fact, the stations were built in 1969 and 1988 respectively but transformers were added to those locations in 1995 and 2003.

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