Toronto hydro privatization back on the agenda

President Scott Travers addressed the City of Toronto’s Executive Committee on March 19 to speak against Toronto Hydro privatization. Travers’s appearance included an exchange with Mayor John Tory in which the mayor clarified that in spite of the report before his committee he remains opposed to privatization.

Executive Committee was considering the City of Toronto Long-Term Financial Plan put forward by the City Manager. In the plan, City staff suggest exploring various options to privatize city assets, including Toronto Hydro. In 2016, Mayor Tory publicly opposed privatization after a campaign co-founded by our union that saw thousands of Toronto residents email the mayor and city councillors to voice their opposition to privatization.

In his presentation, Travers outlined public opinion research that showed strong opposition among Toronto residents and why privatization is poor policy. Society of United Professionals commissioned research in 2015 that showed fully and partially privatized distribution companies have higher costs and lower rates of reliability. On public opinion, a June 2016 poll found that 69% of Torontonians oppose privatization while 63% would not vote for a councillor who did support privatization. Travers presented these findings in his appearance before Executive Committee, which spurred a number of questions from both Mayor Tory and a number of city councillors in attendance.

To further clarify Mayor Tory’s comments on privatization, the mayor’s staff offered a clear statement to the Toronto Star’s Jennifer Pagliaro that she reported via her Twitter feed: