Strangely enough my neighborhood has all underground wiring but the wires that feed us are all above ground with transformers..I have forgotten how Canada is wired. Do you have pole transformers and cables running overhead for the lower Voltage residential distribution areas?
That is what they do over here and we get knocked out with storms as well. They normally have us back with power pretty fast though. I have a standby generator and use it maybe 3 times a year.
In some countries, for low voltage distribution all the cables are routed through pipes underground, there are no unsightly cables running overhead and it is very unlikely that storms or car accidents would cause power interruptions.
Sometimes they get us up and running quickly but the last few power outages were a few hours....(8 and 22 hrs respectively).
I have a 14k (start up) Generac stand alone generator with a plug on the meter so I can get power going pretty quickly...