"There may be differences of opinion, and there may be differences even in principle...but at the end of the day we're all here to do the right thing, and in this case the right thing is to protect the people," Eves told an emergency session of the provincial legislature.

The passage of the law ends the strike by 25,000 city workers, the biggest municipal labor disruption in Canadian history. City officials said workers will be back on the job tomorrow, but warned it could take time to get operations back to normal.

The strike led to the cancellation of some events at the height of the city's tourist season. But the timing of the legislation will give Toronto a chance to clean up ahead of a visit later this month by Pope John Paul and thousands of young Catholic pilgrims celebrating World Youth Day.

"It will be back to work tomorrow for our inside and our outside workers. The first order of business is to get the garbage off our streets, to get the pools open, to get our restaurant inspectors back on the job," Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman told a news conference.

HEALTH FEARS

The strike closed pools, day-cares, ferries and a host of other services in the city of 2.5 million. But the most notable disruption came from the garbage collectors, who walked off the job on June 26.

In a city that actor Peter Ustinov once dubbed "New York run by the Swiss" for its squeaky clean streets, some Toronto residents responded by dumping trash in parks and vacant lots. The problem was aggravated as picketing strikers delayed cars that were entering official collection sites.

The city's chief health officer ordered a number of collection sites cleaned up to prevent an infestation of rats and flies.