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Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act (Bill 60 / Bill 98): Privatization-by-Stealth Concerns
In November 2025 the Ford government enacted the Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act as Schedule 16 of omnibus Bill 60. In March 2026, CUPE Ontario released a legal opinion by Simon Archer of Goldblatt Partners, prepared jointly with the Ontario NDP, finding that the word "public" in the Act's name has no real legal effect and that the legislation does not guarantee the corporations will be publicly owned. Bill 98 later amended the Act to restrict share ownership to governments and "an agent of any of them," leaving "agent" undefined. A legal opinion by UBC law professor Joel Bakan — retained by CUPE — concluded the amendments "will have the same impacts on communities in terms of water services as a fully privatized scheme." Water corporations must be incorporated as for-profit entities under the Ontario Business Corporations Act. Peel Region is the pilot.