The biggest city in Canada and Ontario's capital is paralyzed. A transit strike has shut down Toronto. The mayor is furious, but the provincial government appears to want to help get Toronto moving as soon as possible.

I think we've all been very badly let down," Mayor David Miller said Saturday. "The only good news in this is that the province is our partner in this and they're acting as quickly as humanly possible."

Premier Dalton McGuinty released a statement late Friday in response to the unexpected walkout.

"Shortly after 11 pm I received a request from Mayor Miller to proceed with back to work legislation at the first available opportunity to end service disruption with the TTC," McGuinty said. "I informed the Mayor that we will be proceeding with back to work legislation at the first available opportunity."

Leader of the opposition, Progressive Conservative John Tory, appears to agree. In a press release, he said "The decision taken by the Amalgamated Transit Union to go on strike without notice is outrageous. It jeopardizes public safety and is irresponsible at best. This insensitive action had the effect of stranding thousands of people across the city for no valid reason."

However, he questioned McGuinty's wording of 'first available opportunity'.

"We would urge Premier Dalton McGuinty to reconvene the Legislature at the earliest possible time Saturday or Sunday to get this process underway. We would assume proper planning means a Bill has already been drafted and could be shared with all parties first thing Saturday to assist in expediting this process."

He also proposed an addition to the as-yet-untabled bill: that an arbitrator would be called in "to take into account the ability to pay on the part of taxpayers."

The Sunday sitting, set for 1:30pm, will be Queen's Park's first in more than a decade.

In a press conference Saturday, Tory reiterated what he said earlier and promised to co-operate with McGuinty on this matter.

Howard Hampton also spoke to the media Saturday. He did not promise to support the legislation, but admitted that he was tentatively on board.

"It should pass," he said. "We've talked to some of the union representatives ... if the TTC and the union can agree on the arbitrator than this should sail through."

The NDP may not have enough members to defeat the legislation, but could delay it up to five days.

Few details of the back-to-work legislation have been released, though it's believed that those caught in non-compliance could receive a fine of $2000 per individual and $25,000 per union, per day.

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