Those are Mayor Hazel McCallion's words, in 1999, about selling Hydro Mississauga.
The mayor made the same essential statement this week, after yet another consultant was hired to assess options for selling Enersource Hydro Mississauga.
In March 2000, council asked ratepayers what they thought of selling the public asset. It got a loud and angry response.
“It’s one of the most important parts of our infrastructure,” resident Gordon Stewart said. “Are we going to consider turning our streets into toll roads? You can’t privatize the things that are needed every day in everybody’s life.”
Councillors would do well to consult the public again.
An important deadline looms Oct. 31. If the City sells the company to another electrical distribution firm after that, it loses a 33 per cent tax exemption. But councillors mustn't be blinded by that deadline nor by the piles of sale cash they imagine salting away.
Public assets are public assets. While Enersource is a private company, council still wields enormous influence there and the utility still earns $7 million annually.
Mississaugans remain to be convinced a sale isn't just a short-term cash grab that will cede even more control of our critical public infrastructure in the hands of private profiteers.
