Oh, boy, Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly is considering asking the Canadian Army for help in cleaning up the extensive damage caused by the December 2013 ice storm in Toronto. With a $75 million price tag and an estimate eight weeks of work to clear downed trees, power lines and other debris from the storm, there's likely a convincing argument to be made that our armed forces should be put to work, but one has serious doubts that it'll do the city any favours in the reputation department. For whatever reason, people still find it endlessly entertaining that Mayor Mel Lastman brought in the troops to help dig us out back in 1999.

According to the Globe & Mail, Kelly claims that it's merely a matter of so-called manpower. "It's just, if we can get a lot of guys here and we can get into neighbourhoods and just say, 'Hey, can we give you a hand and get that stuff out?' ... I'm not sure technically how the army and its reserves could fit into that, so it's something I'm exploring," the Deputy Mayor explained.

Logical or not, should the army be deployed once again, Toronto's likely to become known as the city 1) with a crack smoking mayor and 2) that calls in the army whenever a big snow or ice storm rolls through. Only one of those statements would be true, of course, but tread lightly Mr. Kelly, lest you want to make the rest of the country feel very smug.

Photo by Ferit Onurlu in the blogTO Flickr pool