The cold was blamed for the death of a 3-year-old girl found on the Yellow Quill First Nation reserve, east of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The body of her 1-year-old sister was found on Tuesday, when temperatures hit around -50C with the wind chill. The girls' father remains in a hospital with frostbite and hypothermia.

His mother, Pearl Pauchay, called her son a good father who took care of his children, but she said she understood he had been drinking on Tuesday night.

She said she spoke to her son in hospital on Tuesday evening, and he was 'complaining about his daughters he left in the field. 'I left my babies in the field,' he was telling the (Royal Canadian Mounted Police).' He had 'no clue at all' what happened, she said on Wednesday.

'When I went to see him yesterday evening, he couldn't remember what happened. He was out of it.'

RCMP Sgt Brad Kaeding said police also believed alcohol was a factor in the tragedy.

'Our belief at this point is that they probably left the house together, the girls with the father, and unfortunately they didn't make it to the neighbour's house as he did,' Sgt Kaeding said.

Fierce winter winds and blowing snow knocked out power to about 90,000 Ontario customers on Wednesday and created zero-visibility conditions that forced police to shut down numerous roads and highways across the province.

Some of the largest outages were reported in the cottage country region north of Toronto.

In northern Ontario, lengthy sections of the Trans-Canada Highway were sealed off to traffic as visibility was reduced to zero.

So far, no major problems have resulted from the dangerous conditions, said Provincial police Sgt Todd Proulx.

Flight delays were reported at Toronto's Pearson Airport and Toronto motorists had to cope with falling glass and blowing debris as winds gusted to 80 kilometres per hour.

In Vancouver, heavy snow slowed the morning commute as buses struggled up hills and the commuter Skytrain was slowed by ice.

Icy road conditions were blamed for a head-on crash between a school bus and minivan in Varennes, northeast of Montreal, that sent six elementary students and the two drivers to hospital with minor injuries. -- AP