As anxious municipal employees look for work elsewhere, Peel's council is asking Ontario to hurry up with a decision about the future of the region.
On Thursday, Peel regional council passed a resolution calling on the Ford government and the transition board to "recognize and protect our employees in any decision made by the provincial government, and provide a decision in an expeditious and timely manner."
Last month, The Trillium broke the news that the transition board — tapped by the Ford government to find ways to streamline Peel's services — had recommended in its draft report that responsibility for Peel's water and wastewater services transition from the region to a provincially regulated utility. It also suggested road maintenance and waste collection be downloaded from the region to the three municipalities (Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon).
Many workers have been anxious about their fate since the government announced its intention to split up Peel Region in May 2023, before backtracking to the current review in December.
"There's a lot of fear amongst the workers about what's next," Wayne Broderick, a water and wastewater operator in Peel Region, told council on Thursday.
"Trained and specialized employees have been applying to and accepting work elsewhere due to the uncertainty of their future with the region," he said.
Peel has lost about 400 staff or a combined 13,000 years of experience since the government first floated dissolution, said Gary Kent, the region's CAO.
"Now, some of that would be retirements and other life experiences, but there's no doubt that this has been a significant impact on retention for staff," he said.
Workers and councillors urged the Ford government to release the transition board's report and go public with its plans.
"I don't know why it's a secret. It's all taxpayer money," said Salil Arya, the president of CUPE Local 966, which represents Peel Region municipal workers, in an interview.
"It's hard to believe that such important decisions are being made without transparency and public knowledge," Broderick said at council.
The government should make a public statement on the future of the 200 or so members working in water and wastewater, Arya said.
"It would take a lot of anxiety from these people," he said.
Municipal Affairs Minister Paul Calandra's spokesperson, Justine Teplycky, said the government is "currently reviewing" the interim report and looks forward to the final version due this summer.
Several councillors thanked the water workers for their service and echoed their concerns about transparency. Borrowing a Fordism, Regional Chair Nando Iannicca called them "rock stars," noting that building more homes can't happen without water workers.
Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish was blunt.
"I think when the history books look back on this whole year and a half, it's going to be the biggest disaster ever caused by, I hate to say, the whim of a certain person," Parrish said. "It's a disaster. We've lost a lot of people. The morale has been terrible. It's cost us a fortune."
However, she added that she recently spoke with Calandra, who she said told her, "'You're going to be happy with my decisions.'"
"So let's take that as a bright little star on the horizon — that whatever happens to water and wastewater, it'll stay together as a unit, rather than some crazy breakup system or privatization system," Parrish said.
A news release from CUPE on Thursday raised fears of privatization, but that does not appear to have been considered.
"The Transition Board has been directed that regardless of the recommended governance model, any options and recommendations on water/wastewater services should continue to maintain public ownership and control," Teplycky said, confirming the position the minister took in a January letter to the board outlining their new, no-dissolution mandate.
