The notice asks municipalities why they are interested in the model and how they anticipate it “will improve” their services; what their fiscal circumstances are; what steps they are taking on infrastructure; how independent governance “would benefit” their systems; how their proposal “improve[s] efficiency and generate[s] economies of scale”; and whether they are “willing to merge your water and wastewater systems into a public utility with surrounding systems.”1
Not one question asks about risk. Not one asks about drinking water sources, receiving waters, watersheds, climate resilience, affordability for low-income households, First Nations, or the Crown’s duty to consult. Not one asks what happens if the model does not work. The questions are written so that only a municipality already inclined toward the model can answer them, and only in its favour.
The sixth question is the one that reveals the destination. Merging systems “with surrounding systems” is regional consolidation of municipal water and wastewater utilities. That is a far larger proposal than the notice describes, and it has not been consulted on.