Currently, water and…

Currently, water and wastewater services in Ontario are publicly owned, municipally operated, and run on a cost-recovery basis to serve communities rather than generate profit. It is vital to our community health and economic health that this model remains in place.

The provision of water in Ontario communities should prioritize affordability, environmental protection, and long-term stewardship and no one person, or any organization should make a profit on drinking water.

To ensure water remains fully public, it is necessary to

1. Prohibit, by law, any and all profit extraction from public water and wastewater systems 

2. Amend Section 9 of the Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, 2025 to explicitly define “agent” as excluding any form of private ownership, control, management, or decision-making authority

3. Prohibit any use of private and institutional financing models, including private equity and pension fund investment, that generate financial returns from public water systems

4. Guarantee strong public accountability through legislated transparency, democratic oversight, and safeguards that cannot be weakened through future regulations

The health and productivity of Ontario residents depends on having access to clean, safe, and affordable water every day. It is fundamental to our health, our communities, our environment, our productivity as human beings. Drinking water must never be treated as a source of profit. 

The Act must be strengthened to explicitly prohibit private management, operation, governance, and financing. No outsourcing, no private financing, and no pathways for private control or profit. These safeguards must be written into legislation and not left to future regulations.