What’s missing in the discussion on N.L.’S wastewater management fiscal crisis?

On Sept. 6 an emergency meeting was held between N.L. municipalities, MHAS and MPS. Discussion resolved around the $600 million that municipalities have to find in order to upgrade their wastewater management systems to meet new federal regulations.

What wasn’t mentioned, or at least not in The Telegram coverage, were P3s, those Public-private Partnerships in which a corporation or consortium provides the initial financing of an infrastructure project, then runs the project for two to three decades, charging government for management and services rendered during that period.

I suspect that’s what we are going to get stuck with.

We should be worried about that possibility.

BC’S auditor general found the cost of borrowing through P3s was double that of public borrowing. Likewise, Ontario’s auditor general said Ontario’s use of P3s had cost $8 billion more than traditional public financing

So why am I so pessimistic that we’re going to get lumbered with P3s? After all, didn’t Justin Trudeau promise in his 2015 election campaign that a Liberal government’s priority would be to establish a Canada Infrastructure Bank, the objective of which would be to provide low-cost financing for new municipal infrastructure projects?

He did, but what we’ve got is something very different from what we thought we were getting. That’s because the federal government turned over the development of the bank to private-sector players. They created a bank where most of the funding comes from the corporate world, with no representation on the board from government, and almost no public accountability. It’s estimated that virtually all the projects the bank finances will be privatized in the form of P3s.

This is a questionable initiative. P3s are in free fall elsewhere in the world. In the last 15 year municipalities in more than 35 countries have cancelled or not renewed over 180 water-related privatization contracts. The British government alone has admitted that their equivalent of our P3s has built up a massive liability of almost $500 billion. That’s more than $20,000 per U.K. household.

It’s bad enough that we have a federal government whose policies are lock step in line with what Big Business wants, which is more P3s.

Unfortunately, I suspect our provincial government is going to be just fine with the P3 solution as well. It will allow the province to postpone payments on wastewater upgrades for years. In other words, supporting a fiscally irresponsible “solution” will actually allow immediate budgets to look more fiscally responsible. It’s smoke and mirrors.

If all of this disturbs you and you’d like to learn more, there’s an opportunity coming up. On Monday, Sept. 23 (6:30 p.m.) Maude Barlow, Canada’s foremost authority on water issues, will be holding a public forum at the Lantern, (35 Barnes Rd). Consider attending. Marilyn Reid a member of the Council of Canadians C.B.S.