Premier Doug Ford says Ontario will upload two Toronto highways in a bid to help alleviate the city’s growing financial pressures.

The province and the municipal government have been working on a so-called “new deal” for the city, which is struggling a $1.5-billion deficit, and had agreed to avoid new taxes and cuts to frontline services.

Ford says the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway will never be tolled by the province.

According to the premier, the province will give Toronto up to $1.2 billion over the next three years to be used to fund more homeless shelters and more police officers in the transit system.

In return, the city will back the province’s plans to redevelop Ontario Place.

On Monday, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said the deal will help the city address its financial issues and allow it to spend more money on building affordable housing and transit that would otherwise be spent on fixing highways.