Toronto mayoral candidate Brad Bradford says if elected, he plans to cut residential water bills by an average of about $300 a year. Speaking at a news conference in Scarborough on Monday, Bradford vowed to cut water bills by 25 per cent on the first $1,500 by reducing the amount of money that is collected for city reserves. “In your water bill right now, 67 per cent of that is not actually paying for the water, it is putting money into a reserve account. So we are over-collecting, we’re over-taxing, we’re over-billing,” he said. “This is your money and I’m giving it back because we didn’t need to take it from you in the first place.” He added that he will work with the province to make sure the savings are passed on to renters. “Landlords are required to reduce your rent when property taxes are cut,” Bradford said, noting that he has written to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack to request that the “same mechanism” be applied to municipal water rate reductions. Bradford added that he plans to take steps to set up Toronto Water as a public utility, similar to Toronto Hydro. “If we set this up as a public utility, we can do a better job borrowing from major capital infrastructure investments and we will finance major capital infrastructure projects that way. Right now, we are collecting money in a bank account and effectively paying for all of these things up front with cash,” he said. “That is not how you finance infrastructure. That’s not how the electric utility Toronto Hydro does it. Nobody is paying for a transformer that’s not going to be delivered until 2040 up front with cash.” Bradford said other big cities across the country have adopted a similar model, including Edmonton, Windsor, and Kingston. He said the utility would be “100 per cent owned by Toronto taxpayers” and bylaws would be written in such a way that would “permanently ban private investment.” When asked why he didn’t pitch this when he served as the vice-chair of the budget committee from 2018 to 2022, Bradford said it only became an option in 2025. “This became an opportunity for us here in Ontario is 2025. The province created changes that allow us to do this. You see other jurisdictions that are moving forward with this,” he said. “And I am running for mayor today and I’m standing here in front of all of you and I’m saying this is one way I can deliver real immediate affordability, real relief for Torontonians today and it is a smart model.” Bradford’s announcement comes with four weeks left to go in the municipal election campaign. Mayoral opponent Olivia Chow is expected to speak at a news conference later this afternoon and this story will be updated to include her response to Bradford’s proposed policy.
