Ford’s Bill 60: Opening Our Taps to Profit?

The law paves the way for corporate control of water, threatening affordability and safety.

Hey Ontario, grab your water bottle because things are getting murky with our taps. Just last December, Doug Ford’s government snuck through Bill 60, the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act. On the surface, it’s about speeding up builds, but buried inside? Powers for the province to snatch municipal water systems and flip them into private concessions. We’re talking a $175.8 billion public asset potentially up for grabs by corporate players. The Ford team swears it’s not full-on privatization, just “restructuring” to boost efficiency. But come on, critics like the Keep Water Public coalition are yelling foul, saying it’ll hike bills and slack on safety checks.

This reeks of the same old playbook from Ford’s scandals. Remember the Greenbelt flip-flop? Protected lands got handed to developer donors who poured cash into PC coffers, worth billions in value. Now, with water, whispers of backroom handshakes are everywhere. NDP Leader Marit Stiles blasted it in November as a sneaky push toward corporate control, no public input needed. And those water-taking permit tweaks from August 2025? They let companies swap permits like trading cards, skipping consultations or First Nations buy-in. It’s primed for insider deals, just like the Ontario Place spa fiasco where Ford had to “double-check” a shady Therme contract after ethics flags.

The data backs the red flags. Flashback to Hamilton’s 1990s public-private partnership flop: They outsourced water and wastewater ops to cut costs. Instead, household rates jumped 20 to 30 percent over five years, sewage spills skyrocketed, and the city ate environmental fines that piled up unpaid. By 2004, no one wanted to touch the contract, so Hamilton went public again, pocketing $950,000 yearly in savings plus $185,000 in dodged fees. Fast-forward: Toronto’s eyeing private upgrades at the Humber Treatment Plant, Mississauga’s Kennedy facility has three concession bids in the works, and Niagara tossed Stantec two wastewater gigs in early 2025. Result? Hamilton’s 2025 rates spiked 9.95 percent, pushing the average home’s annual bill to $1,065 for 200 cubic meters of water, wastewater, and stormwater. Provincially, water prices have doubled per cubic meter since 2011 in many spots.

Ford’s dropping $700 million into infrastructure this January to “protect communities,” but skeptics see it as cover for privatization push. Post-Walkerton, where seven died from E. coli due to lax rules, we can’t afford corner-cutting. UN says water’s a human right, not a profit pit. Time to demand transparency before Ford’s deals leave us high and dry. Who’s with me?

BACKGROUNDER

Therme Canada. The 95-year lease agreement (75 years with a 20-year extension) between the Ontario government and Therme Canada for a wellness facility at Ontario Place, estimated to generate over $1 billion in rent and $855 million in parkland maintenance, is a major, controversial redevelopment project. It involves a 65,000-square-foot, ~$500M+ spa, with construction aiming for completion by Q4 2029. 

Key details of the Therme contract include:

• Term: 75 years with a 20-year option to extend (95 years total).
• Financials: Projected $1.1 billion in rent over the term, plus $855 million in park maintenance fees. Therme is investing $500M in the facility and $200M in public space improvements.
• Location & Scope: Situated on the West Island of Ontario Place, the project includes a spa, waterpark, and a 16-acre public park,,.
• Restrictions: Therme is prohibited from hosting certain entertainment events (e.g., concerts) and from operating a casino.
• Termination: The province has the option to terminate the lease after 10 years, with 5 years’ notice.
• Controversy: The deal has faced intense scrutiny regarding the long-term privatization of public land, the bidding process, and potential taxpayer costs for infrastructure, with some calls to cancel the contract.
• Status: While the lease is signed, construction completion is estimated for 2029. 

Bill 60: Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, officially known as the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, is a massive omnibus bill passed by the Ontario legislature on November 24, 2025, and enacted as Chapter 14 of the Statutes of Ontario, 2025. Introduced in late October 2025 by the Doug Ford government, it aims to speed up housing construction, infrastructure projects, transit delivery, and reduce red tape across multiple areas like planning, development charges, and tenant rules. The bill contains 16 schedules amending various laws, with changes rolling out on different timelines—some immediately, others by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.Main Goals and Major ChangesThe core focus is accelerating building and cutting delays:

• Housing and Planning: It expands ministerial powers under the Planning Act to fast-track approvals, especially for transit-oriented communities and protected major transit station areas. It allows more “as-of-right” zoning variances, streamlines development charge rules, and boosts tools for upper-tier municipalities to support growth.
• Transit and Roads: Amendments to the Building Transit Faster Act and Highway Traffic Act push quicker transit projects, harmonize road standards, and prohibit municipalities from reducing motor vehicle lanes when adding new bike lanes.
• Rental Reforms (Schedule 12): Big shifts to the Residential Tenancies Act make evictions faster for landlords. For example, non-payment notices now require only 7 days (down from 14) before landlords can apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Personal-use evictions skip compensation if 120 days’ notice is given (up from 60). Tenants must pay 50% of claimed arrears to raise their own issues at hearings, and appeal windows shrink.
• Other Areas: It tweaks development charges, supports infrastructure funding, and includes measures for towing, driver’s licensing, and more.

The Water and Wastewater Part (Schedule 16) is the most controversial section: It enacts the new Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, 2025. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing can designate a corporation (incorporated under the Business Corporations Act) as a “water and wastewater public corporation” to handle services for specific lower-tier municipalities. These entities can collect fees, impose charges, borrow money, and operate water/sewage systems, transferring jurisdiction from municipalities.The government pitches it as a pilot for efficiency (starting with Peel Region to create new revenue for infrastructure without full privatization, assets stay public, run by a professional board). But critics, including the Keep Water Public coalition, environmental groups like Environmental Defence, and unions like CUPE, call it a backdoor to privatization. They argue these for-profit-structured corporations prioritize dividends and profits, risking higher rates, weaker oversight, and safety issues—echoing past failures like Hamilton’s 1990s privatization experiment. The province insists it’s not privatization, but the framework allows corporate control with details left to future regulations.Overall, Bill 60 is the Ford government’s big push to “build faster” amid housing shortages, but it’s sparked backlash over weakened tenant protections, environmental risks, and potential corporate grabs on essentials like water.