“The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) welcomes this opportunity to contribute to the deliberations of the Expert Panel on Ontario’s Long-Term Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Investment and Financing Strategy. In this brief, we submit that publicly funded, delivered and operated water systems are the only way to assure high-quality, accessible and accountable water services for all. Private financing results in compromised public regulation and control over accountability and transparency, pricing, and other regulations impacting drinking water quality, labour force issues, and quality of life in communities.
In this brief we address the following topics:
- The background to our current challenges in financing water and wastewater infrastructure;
- Recent developments in private sector participation in water and wastewater systems;
- The problems with private sector financing;
- Public financing options;
- Issues in governance and a longer-term water strategy for Ontario, including:
- Full-cost pricing, user fees and life-cycle planning
- Governance and accountability
- Conservation, efficiency and innovation
- Trade and regulation
- The Ontario Clean Water Agency and labour transition issues”
