Download Debate

Well, we thought it would happen. Turns out municipalities aren’t so happy about these new federal wastewater regs. I’ve been documenting media coverage with our Twitter account, @CanadianWater: environmental lawyer (and frequent Water Canada contributor) Dianne Saxe isn’t impressed, nor are Atlantic mayors.

The fear is that feds will download costs of implementation to municipalities. So far, no new funding has been announced to help. This afternoon, the Atlantic Mayors Congress (AMC) issued an “urgent call” for a national three-way cost-sharing agreement.

The regs would require upgrades to municipal wastewater systems and could cost Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) alone some $2 billion, say the Mayors.

“We understand the importance of protecting our environment and we support national standards,” said AMC chair, Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly. “Regulations on their own won’t get the job done and the federal government just mailing the bill to our property taxpayers is wrong.”

“The bill in Atlantic Canada alone will be in the billions of dollars—clearly, the scope of the task requires all governments to pay their share.”

The mayors backed their argument by pointing to a national survey conducted earlier this year by FCM that shows 87 per cent of Canadians believe the federal government should pick up its share of the tab when it imposes new rules on municipal governments.

“If the regulations are adopted without a cost-sharing strategy in place, the federal minister of the environment with the stroke of a pen will add billions to the infrastructure deficit in our communities and billions to our residents’ tax bills,” said Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee.

Watch Water Canada as the download debate unfolds, and see my editor’s note in our March/April issue for more on the costs of the upgrades.