Keep It Public: Hamilton's sorry tale of water-for-profit

In 1994 Hamilton became the first major city in Canada to contract out water and waste water treatment. Ten years later, Hamilton is still the only big city to hand this essential service over to multinationals.

Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver and Winnipeg have all decided it’s better to keep their water system under direct public control and operation – in part because of Hamilton’s sorry history.

After ten years of controversy, bankruptcy, raw sewage spills and buck-passing, Hamilton council is moving to award another ten-year contract to a private operator to run our water system for profit. It’s time to say enough is enough.

Most Hamilton residents want the city to retake control of the water system but the mayor and a core group of councillors are determined to embark on another ten-year contract with a private operator.

At a recent meeting of the Public Works, Infrastructure and Environment Committee, residents and activists made their voices heard. They called for the city to take back control of water services, for full disclosure of the terms of the current contract and for proper public consultation. The only voice in support of private water was American Water, the company that has the current contract.

Despite these appeals from the public, the Committee voted 6-3 to contract out the city’s water for another 10 years. The mayor, who missed the public input, supported contracting out to a private operator.

Help bring Hamilton's water back under public control.

Council will deal with this issue on Wednesday, January 28th at 7:00 pm.

If the mayor and some councillors get their way, Hamilton will be locked into a contract that will continue to 2014.

We must not let that happen.

Let your councillor know that you care who operates your water and waste water treatment facilities.

Ask your councillor to:

Vote to reverse the committee recommendation and bring water and waste water operations back in house.
Initiate an independent audit of the last contract and release the findings publicly.
Ensure that any decision to privatize our water system is completely open and transparent and includes public consultations.

For more information about the Hamilton ‘Keep it public’ campaign, read the articles below, or contact Dave Michor at (905) 575-5411

Redonnez à la Ville le contrôle du système d’eau de Hamilton

le 19 janvier 2004 12 h 00 Après une expérience de dix ans avec un système d’approvisionnement en eau et de traitement des eaux usées cédé à l’entreprise privée, entaché d’instabilité, de déversements d’eaux usées et de la perte du contrôle public, le conseil municipal de Hamilton doit reprendre en régie toutes les opérations et la maintenance des systèmes d’approvisionnement en eau et de traitement des eaux usées.

Hamilton-Wentworth 3p

le 15 mai 1999 12 h 00 Analyse d’un partenariat entre le secteur public et privé :l’entente de PPP entre Hamilton-Wentworth et la société Philip Utilities Management