Go slow on water privatization, Winnipeg council told

Several hundred Winnipeg residents attended a forum Monday night and passed a resolution asking the city to slow down on its plans to turn the city's water utility into a public-private partnership.

"[We want] less PR and more facts so that city council can make an informed decision next Wednesday," said Jesse Hajer, an economist and research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

A rally against privatization of the water and waste services is planned for noon Wednesday at city hall.

City council will vote on a plan to revamp the way the utility is run and funded at its next meeting July 22.

"A new strategic partnership is being considered for the sewage plant upgrades, allowing us to tap into world-class knowledge to improve our ability to operate and maintain our system," Coun. Harvey Smith is quoted as saying in the minutes of a council meeting in June.

The partnership would include the sale of a portion of the city's water utility to a private company. According to the city, this would help with the growing infrastructure costs. Information on companies interested in the deal has not been released.

Currently, city council sets the prices for water and waste treatment in the city.

In the new deal, water prices would be set by the province's public utilities board, which currently sets prices for hydro, public insurance and all water and waste utilities outside of the city.

Mira Karunananthan, the national water campaigner for the Council of Canadians — a citizen's organization that works to promote progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, energy security, and public health care — said recently the involvement of private companies in the operation of water services could lead to increases in water rates.

"We're concerned about where this is going," she said. "We're also concerned because the city is pushing this through aggressively with very little public consultation. So, rather than inform and educate the public, they are marketing and selling it to the public."

Mayor Sam Katz said the rates will not necessarily go up as a result of the change. He said that allowing the utilities board to set the rates will "protect us from future [city] councils trying to raid the water utility, which, you know, has taken place in the past. We're looking at setting rates that are fair and reasonable," said Katz, in a city council document.