Raise the Hammer

As the former spokesperson for Hamilton Water Watch in the early 1990s, along with Council of Canadians, Development & Peace and CUPE, we successfully lobbied the City to take back control and management of their water and wastewater facilities from a rotating cast of private firms once the contract expired in 1994. Under private management and a sweetheart deal with the City of Hamilton (during the late 80s to early 90s mania for privatization) almost nothing was done by these privateers to improve the infrastructure, eventually resulting in two very large water main breaks on Locke St., resulting in damage to private and commercial properties and subsequent lawsuits. The contract with he City exempted that private firms for any expenses over $10 000, so the firms, instead of doing preventive maintenance, would ignore any required spending which allowed equipment to deteriorate until catastrophic failure, costing the City millions of dollars (a cost which they, under the contract, were legally required to fund). Apparently politicians felt that the private sector could do things more efficiently. In some cases they can but they seemed to forget the fact that by being 'more efficient', they did so by cutting corners and the resulting savings went into their pockets and those of their shareholders, overseas. In fact one of the companies was linked to Enron, which itself faced implosion at a later date amid fraud and corruption proceedings. I support your campaign to stop Nestle (or any other corporation) from bleeding the Wellington County aquifer dry and certainly subscribe to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development & Peace's pledge to make water a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. Keep fighting the good fight! Nestle's track record is not stellar. This was the company that actively discouraged breastfeeding for women in Africa so they could shill for their baby formula.