CUPE Ontario condemns Niagara mayors’ “water for power” proposal amidst widespread provincial overreach

Toronto – The proposed amalgamation of Niagara municipalities is the latest example of Premier Doug Ford’s attempt to override local democracy in pursuit of his agenda, says CUPE Ontario.

Ford has built his political brand on speeding up development, yet he has accomplished little actual building as progress has consistently stalled around the same issues: local input, environmental oversight, and the limits of water and wastewater infrastructure. CUPE Ontario says that helps explain the government’s sweeping attacks on conservation authorities and public water systems through omnibus legislation.

Those pressures are now playing out in Niagara, where eight municipal mayors sent a letter last week to the province offering to trade public water to stave off amalgamation.

“The province has made its agenda clear: it doesn’t care about local voices, expert advice, or the lessons of history,” said Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario. “For mayors to even suggest putting their residents’ water on the table to protect their own jobs is disgraceful.” Hahn was referring to a joint letter from the mayors of Fort Erie, Grimsby, Port Colborne, West Lincoln, Pelham, Thorold, Wainfleet, and Niagara-on-the-Lake. While opposing amalgamation, the letter invites the creation of water and waste-water corporations that risk turning public water into a profit-driven enterprise.

“Privatizing water and merging municipalities are both old, tired conservative experiments,” Hahn said. “We’ve tried them before and the evidence is clear: water privatization is a disaster and amalgamation costs residents more money.”

Municipal restructuring and water privatization are separate issues, but the fact they are being linked in negotiations reveals how political leaders are willing to trade away public services. “Instead of standing up for our communities, some mayors appear ready to put Niagara’s water on the bargaining table,” said Brenda Cervantes, president of CUPE Local 1287, which represents workers across Niagara Region. “They’re fighting to protect their own political positions while offering up the jobs of the regional workers who maintain our water systems. That’s not leadership.”

Bill 60, passed with minimal public consultation, allows public water and wastewater services to be shifted to private corporate-style utilities incorporated under the Business Corporations Act. Experts warn that such changes can increase costs for ratepayers while undermining accountability and public oversight. Meanwhile, the idea of amalgamating Niagara municipalities has been promoted to find “efficiencies,” despite little evidence that municipal mergers deliver long-term savings. Independent reviews of past amalgamations — including in

Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Chatham-Kent — have consistently found that mergers bring significant upfront costs while projected savings rarely materialize.

“In Peel Region, Ford tried to break up the region. In Niagara, he’s flirting with amalgamation. There’s no coherent principle here, just a willingness to pave the ground of well-connected developers,” said Hahn. “This has never been about saving money for municipalities. It’s another attempt to remove every obstacle standing in the way of Ford’s developer buddies, including environmental protections, public water systems, and the ability of residents to have a meaningful voice in local government.”

CUPE Ontario is calling on Niagara municipalities to take water privatization off the table entirely, commit to keeping water services publicly owned and operated, and listen to residents who have spoken out strongly against amalgamation.