WATER & WASTEWATER
WHO CONTROLS THE TAP?
Clean water and wastewater treatment are basic public responsibilities. Bill 60 and related provincial policy open the door to corporate control — weakening municipal oversight and making it harder for communities to hold decision-makers accountable.
Bill 60Municipal utilities at riskRates & secrecy
What Bill 60 changes
The "Your Health Act" and related water legislation are not only about healthcare — they reshape who can own and operate water services.
- New frameworks allow greater private-sector involvement in water and wastewater services.
- Municipalities may face pressure to enter public-private partnerships or sell utility assets.
- Long-term contracts can lock communities in before full costs and risks are understood.
- Environmental compliance and spill response may be harder to enforce under private operators.
- Once privatized, bringing services back under public control is expensive and politically difficult.
What privatization costs communities
Experience in Ontario and elsewhere shows the public still pays — often more — when profits are extracted.
- Private operators must return profit to shareholders; that money comes from ratepayers or service cuts.
- Rate increases often follow privatization despite promises of "efficiency."
- Transparency declines when financial decisions happen behind corporate walls.
- Local councils lose leverage when multi-decade contracts bind future councils.
- Water security during climate emergencies requires public accountability — not quarterly earnings targets.
Questions to ask locally
Use these at council meetings, with your MPP, and in local media.
- Who owns our water and wastewater systems today — and who is lobbying to change that?
- What are the full 20-year costs of any proposed partnership vs public operation?
- What happens to rates, jobs, and environmental enforcement if a private operator fails?
- Will the public get open-book audits and council votes before any asset transfer?
- Does this align with municipal climate and watershed protection plans?