Last night, TEA sent an open letter to all the members of Toronto’s Budget Committee. It’s not often that TEA engages with items on their agenda, but this week is an exception. 

This Friday, Budget Committee will debate whether or not polluting companies should pay their fair share of water pollution clean up costs in Toronto. And that's something TEA pays attention to.

Earlier this year, TEA exposed the fact that over one hundred polluting companies were receiving discounts on their clean up bills from Toronto Water, equal to $1.6 Million per year. That comes at the expense of other water ratepayers like us! We ran a Polluter Pays campaign prompting City Council to vote in favour of charging these companies the full cost of wastewater cleanup, but they decided they needed more information about potential impacts to business before they proceed.

The Budget Committee requested a 'competitiveness' report to look into the matter and the results have just been released.  The report clearly shows that a full cost recovery plan for water pollution would not significantly impact Toronto’s manufacturing sector. Now that they have the facts, it’s time for action!

Read TEA’s open letter to the Budget Committee, urging them to vote in support of Polluter Pays on November 13th.

Want to stay updated on this issue? Sign up to receive email updates from TEA.