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business elite canada
H
OCTOBER 2016
By Rajitha Sivakumaran
T
oronto’s winter storm of 2013
wreaked havoc across the city,
leaving thousands of people with-
out power just days before Christmas.
While Torontonians remained immobilized
and stunned by the icy weather, Power-
line Plus, the province’s largest privately
owned company specializing in utilities,
was rapidly deploying teams to get the
city running again.
The ice storm occurred on the day the
company was hosting their annual Christ-
mas party. As employees left the party
slipping and sliding, they had no idea what
a stir the storm would cause. Powerline’s
CEO and founder, Ben Matin, had returned
home from the party late that night. It was
2 a.m. when he received the call from To-
ronto Hydro, advising him about the power
outages caused by the ice storm. Matin
spent the following five hours putting to-
gether teams for repair work, and the
week that followed was devoted to lend-
ing a hand to Toronto Hydro and monitor-
ing the situation.
