{"id":946078,"date":"2026-10-25T19:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/946078\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T19:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:56:14","slug":"experts-weigh-in-on-brad-bradfords-toronto-water-utility-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/946078\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts weigh in on Brad Bradford\u2019s Toronto water utility plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the most ambitious and expensive election promise made during this mayoral race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And over the past few weeks, it\u2019s\u00a0become a\u00a0flashpoint\u00a0between the leading contenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At press conferences late last month, Brad Bradford proposed a revamp of Toronto\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

He pitched turning the city\u2019s water division into a corporate utility, like Toronto Hydro. The move, he said, would allow the city to reduce residents\u2019 water bills. Major capital projects, which are currently funded using money taken from those bills, would instead be paid for through debt financing.<\/p>\n

He said dividends from the new corporate utility, meanwhile, would help pay for another campaign promise: a cut to the city\u2019s municipal land transfer tax.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bradford has said he believes he could accomplish the water utility change in 2027.<\/p>\n

Incumbent Olivia Chow has accused Bradford of wanting to privatize Toronto\u2019s water. It\u2019s a move, she said, that could risk dirtying some of North America\u2019s cleanest drinking water.\u00a0She even got environmental titan\u00a0David Suzuki involved.<\/p>\n

Bradford has repeatedly rejected those claims and accused Chow of fear-mongering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would resign my seat if Toronto Water was ever privatized,\u201d he said in the pair\u2019s final head-to-head debate. As for dirtying the water, \u201cyou know that\u2019s not true \u2026 You have just engaged in all these wild accusations, misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot, it\u2019s complicated and it\u2019s all being debated in the midst of a dead-heat electoral race.<\/p>\n

The Star has talked to legal and government finance experts, who have reviewed Bradford\u2019s proposals. They say the ideas are ambitious and worth debating. They also say that without a business plan, they\u2019re high risk. There are also some promises being made that would require, they note, stars to align that aren\u2019t all within a mayor\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

\"suzuki<\/p>\n

Olivia Chow blasts Brad Bradford\u2019s water corporation idea, alongside Canadian environmental champion David Suzuki.<\/p>\n

R.J. Johnston\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n

Will Toronto\u2019s water be \u2018privatized\u2019?<\/p>\n

Currently, the city\u2019s water system is a municipal government department, the head of which reports directly to the city manager and mayor.\u00a0Major infrastructure decisions and rates are decided by city council.<\/p>\n

Bradford\u2019s proposal would change that. It would create a corporation in charge of Toronto\u2019s water.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ontario government has passed legislation necessary to do it. The door is wide open and available,\u201d Bradford said. \u201cSo why hasn\u2019t Toronto walked through it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Generally, a corporate water utility is like a publicly owned company where the government owns the shares and any revenue goes back into maintaining pipes and plants.<\/p>\n

Should cities raise property taxes? Make community safety a priority?\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In contrast, \u201cprivatization\u201d would mean selling the system or its operations to private companies, whose primary goal is to generate profits for outside investors.<\/p>\n

Bradford has said privatization \u201cwill never happen\u201d under his plan and has promised to create bylaws to ban it.<\/p>\n

Last year, the province brought in new legislation\u00a0called the Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act<\/a>. It\u2019s intended to create a public corporation model for water and wastewater services so lower-tier municipalities, many with small or mid-sized water entities, can consolidate their networks into an arm\u2019s-length regional corporation.<\/p>\n

The purpose is to shift capital borrowing onto the corporation\u2019s balance sheet rather than the municipality\u2019s, protecting local credit ratings and freeing up debt capacity for other projects.<\/p>\n

Bradford and his team say the law, in several places,\u00a0expressly prohibits privatization.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joel Bakan<\/a>, a longtime law professor at the University of British Columbia and the author of The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, sees it differently. He notes that the regulations don\u2019t define what can be designated as \u201can agent.\u201d<\/p>\n

What qualifies as \u201can agent\u201d could be a private company, a public-private-partnership or an entity like the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which facilitates private investment in infrastructure projects, Bakan said. (The office of the minister of municipal affairs and housing, Rob Flack, who would oversee these utilities, did not respond to questions asking for clarification Friday.)<\/p>\n

Echoing other lawyers the Star consulted, Bakan said that while the law calls these entities public corporations, it does not explicitly outlaw private-sector participation or ownership structures.\u00a0In other words, Bill 98 limits who can own shares but doesn\u2019t guarantee lasting public ownership.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt\u00a0a minimum, it\u2019s definitely commercializing water services,\u201d said Bakan, who has law degrees from Oxford, Dalhousie and Harvard. \u201cSo\u00a0it isn\u2019t technically privatization, in the sense that it\u2019s a purely private owner. But it is an entity that would be operating on commercial principles rather than delivery of public service principles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bakan said that raises the spectre of a company with a primary goal of generating profit\u00a0\u2014 the type of scenario critics worry could lead to cutting corners on things such as safety and cleanliness.<\/p>\n

Bradford\u2019s team disputes Bakan\u2019s characterization and says that no privatization would ever be allowed under the law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What would happen to water bills?<\/p>\n

Creating a water utility, Bradford has said, is intended to immediately reduce residents\u2019 water bills<\/a>\u00a0by no longer charging Torontonians the portion that\u00a0currently goes toward long-term infrastructure projects, such as flood protection, pipes and treatment plants.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Brad
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\n Promises made, promises kept?\n <\/p>\n

Brad Bradford is in a dead heat with Olivia Chow to be the next mayor of Toronto. The Star takes a look at his record on the eve of the election.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Brad
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\n Promises made, promises kept?\n <\/p>\n

Brad Bradford is in a dead heat with Olivia Chow to be the next mayor of Toronto. The Star takes a look at his record on the eve of the election.<\/p>\n

Instead of relying on that money, under Bradford\u2019s plan, the city would borrow\u00a0the billions needed to pay for those projects, like a mortgage.<\/p>\n

The savings for Torontonians would amount, Bradford has said, to 25 per cent on the first $1,500 of your bill. For the average household, that\u2019s about $300 a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peter Weltman, Ontario\u2019s former financial accountability officer, said it\u2019s\u00a0\u201cperfectly legitimate to discuss\u201d Bradford\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n

There are scenarios where there\u00a0could\u00a0be a \u201csignificant return\u201d of ratepayer money in the short term, he said. There are also scenarios where water rates could go up in the medium- to long-term to pay off debt or emergency repairs, he said.<\/p>\n

At a Sept. 28 press conference to first introduce the idea, Bradford said: \u201cAn independent board will set the rates, not the politicians. And the rates will be lower than today\u2019s.\u201d While speaking to the Star\u2019s editorial board on Oct. 14, Bradford said: \u201cWe will have city councillors sitting on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Complicating the rate question is the fact that, under the new provincial law, it could be the province that ends up approving or rejecting rate plans the corporation submits, according to Section 7 of the legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whoever sits on the board will also have a fiduciary obligation to put the corporation and shareholders\u2019 interests ahead of ratepayers to keep it afloat, because that\u2019s what corporate\u00a0law demands, said Bakan.<\/p>\n

Bradford\u2019s team insists that the city of Toronto would be the sole shareholder and that, as a result, the city\u2019s interests will be primary. That should allay fears, his team says, of profits being elevated over safety or other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow independent is this board if you\u2019re telling them, \u2018Your first job is a rate cut and the second is to pay the city dividends for the (municipal land transfer tax) revenue loss\u2019?\u201d questioned Almos Tassonyi, a senior associate with the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance who also studied economics.<\/p>\n

Tassonyi said\u00a0creating the utility by 2027 would be \u201cunrealistic\u201d in a large city like Toronto, as institutional changes take time and there are transitional costs involved.<\/p>\n

Bradford\u2019s team insists its timeline is feasible.<\/p>\n

What about other local taxes?<\/p>\n

He estimated that would cost the city about $300 million a year. He said that he plans, in part, to pay for it with\u00a0dividends the corporation would produce.\u00a0Bradford said it would operate just like Toronto Hydro.<\/p>\n

What this could mean for ratepayers down the road is unclear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Olivia
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\n Promises made, promises kept?\n <\/p>\n

On the eve of the vote, the Star assesses Olivia Chow\u2019s record as mayor of Toronto.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Olivia
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\n Promises made, promises kept?\n <\/p>\n

On the eve of the vote, the Star assesses Olivia Chow\u2019s record as mayor of Toronto.<\/p>\n

To the degree dividends are being generated from ratepayers, like Toronto Hydro, then \u201cin order for the dividend to materialize, at some point, those water rates have to increase,\u201d said Janice Baker, a former city manager at Mississauga and former chief administrative officer of Peel Region.<\/p>\n

Baker said it\u2019s possible a business plan finds this proposal can reduce rates for the next few years, but, she said, \u201cas soon as I\u2019ve built up those initial tranches of debt, as soon as I have interest in carrying costs on that debt, and that debt comes due for repayment, I have to raise my rates to cover that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or \u201care you cross-subsidizing it from the property tax base?\u201d Tassonyi questioned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Bradford\u2019s team says that rates don\u2019t need to rise to pay for the cut or the dividend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rate cut and the dividend come out of an over-collection that already exists,\u201d the campaign said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2024 the system cost $909 million to run, including the cost of wearing out its assets, and billed $1.32 billion. Reserves have grown from $141 million in 2009 to about $2 billion. Toronto Water carries no debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker counters that, eventually, \u201cyou\u2019re going to have to rebalance the books and something\u2019s going to have to give.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tassonyi noted hydro utilities have the Ontario Energy Board to regulate rates, whereas there is no regulatory authority for water. So, he continued, there are many variables that need to be sorted, including\u00a0how rating agencies would react to Toronto\u2019s new approach to debt-financing.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Star\u2019s editorial board, when asked about what he would do in the future, if various factors were at play, such as rising interest rates or a downgraded credit rating, Bradford said: \u201cI think you would assess it based on the context and the situation at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are other cities doing this exact thing?<\/p>\n

Bradford has said Edmonton, Windsor, Kingston, Peel Region, Niagara Region and Calgary have all already done or are doing what he\u2019s proposed.<\/p>\n

Various utilities across Canadian cities do exist and use debt financing for some capital projects, but municipalities aren\u2019t using them to cut water rates and cut local taxes. Their set-ups, histories and scopes are very different.<\/p>\n

When pressed by the Star at an Oct. 1 campaign stop, Bradford conceded these cities \u201cdo this a little bit differently\u201d and \u201cjust because it hasn\u2019t been done, doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t figure it out. We\u2019re going to figure this out in Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correction \u2014 Oct. 25, 2025:<\/p>\n

This article has been updated.\u00a0An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Metrolinx as a public-private partnership. It is a Crown agency that regularly uses P3 partnerships.<\/p>\n

Clarification \u2014 Oct. 25, 2026<\/p>\n

This article has been revised to include additional context from Brad Bradford\u2019s team, and updated to clarify that the final say for water rate increases could be at the province\u2019s discretion under the province\u2019s new legislation, but that framework is not currently in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the most ambitious and expensive election promise made during this mayoral race. And over the past few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[308413,49,48,323729,323730,323726,245425,323728,323731,3302,323724,323725,323727],"class_list":["post-946078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-brad_bradford","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada_infrastructure_bank","tag-hydro_utilities","tag-mayoral_race","tag-olivia_chow","tag-ontario_energy_board","tag-ontario_government","tag-toronto","tag-toronto_hydro","tag-wastewater_services","tag-water_services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}