Conclusions

The recommendations of Swain’s Watertight report would take Ontario in the wrong direction, a direction of privatization; of for-profit consumer pay all water; and of a whole scale reduction in accountability to the people of Ontario.

What is needed from the Ontario government is a strong public commitment to having publicly owned and operated water resources.  The delivery of water services should remain (and where necessary, be reinstated) as the highest public service priority for the Government of Ontario.

Public financing governance and service delivery provides the means of ensuring that our water systems are financially sustainable, that water is affordable and that we have the control to implement achievable, practical solutions today and into the future.

Water is essential to life – no one should be able to control it or expropriate it for profit.  The right to water has been recognized internationally through the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  The world’s water companies would like to see water regarded as a human need, enabling them to control and sell water to the highest bidder for profit.

The Ontario government should support the real interests of the people of Ontario on this crucial issue – and not pander to the narrow interests of the multinational water companies.

Source:  Adopted from CUPE Research, March 2006