Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable…

Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) appreciate the opportunity to provide comments on the proposed amendments to the Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, 2025.

OGVG represents 170 greenhouse vegetable farms across Ontario, encompassing more than 4,500 acres of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. These operations are significant and reliable users of municipal water systems in the communities where they are located.

Access to municipal water connections is a critical factor supporting the growth and success of Ontario's greenhouse sector. More than 80% of Ontario's greenhouse vegetable production is concentrated in Essex County, primarily in the Leamington and Kingsville region, where this infrastructure has enabled the largest concentration of greenhouse vegetable production in North America.

OGVG supports public sector ownership of new water and wastewater public corporations as the preferred approach to ensuring fair, equitable and reliable access to water and wastewater services for residents, businesses, and greenhouse farms.

Water and wastewater are critical enablers of economic growth and are essential to the continued viability and expansion of Ontario’s greenhouse sector. Conversely, limited or inadequate access to these services represents a significant barrier to development for both communities and businesses.

As the province transitions to public ownership, it is imperative that this process preserves existing contractual arrangements to ensure price stability and predictability for residential, commercial and agricultural users of water and wastewater services. Maintaining confidence in long-term service and cost structures is essential for investment planning and operational sustainability. More broadly, the transition must reflect the equitable sharing of costs among all users, proportional to each user's actual contribution to system loading and infrastructure demand. Rate classifications are appropriate where they reflect genuine differences in cost of service, but they should not be used to recover disproportionate shares of general system costs from specific user classes. Where regulations are made to specify or modify the legal effect of agreements between water and wastewater public corporations and their users, OGVG asks that they be evidence-based and developed in consultation with all affected user classes, including agricultural ratepayers.

OGVG appreciates the opportunity to provide these comments and remains available to answer questions or offer further input as implementation considerations progress.