Federal Watch
Lots of hype and political discussion about the big cabinet shuffle, but it didn’t really change much for our water sector. Minister Guilbeault stayed in Environment and Climate Change, Minister Hajdu stayed with Indigenous Services and Minister Leblanc in Public Safety. This is all good news as we have solid relationships with these ministries and are confident with their awareness of water issues. We do welcome the Honourable Mark Holland as the new Minister of Health. Most of the discussion was about how this cabinet is the one to take us to the next election…whenever that might be…but not expected for quite a while yet.
Of greater concern are the announcements of major directives to all ministries to cut billions in spending. This is concerning as we were looking forward to new infrastructure funding announcements, the development of the Canada Water Agency and the support ofr our effort to host the IWA’s World Water Congress and Exhibition next year.
We have had meetings with senior staff within Infrastructure Canada about the need for a new Canada Infrastructure Program to support our growing infrastructure needs. They are also conducting some visits to municipal utilities to understand the needs.
We also engaged the Canada Infrastructure Bank as part of their 5-year review, hoping to make the program more relevant to municipal utilities. However, from my reading of their report, they have determined that they are doing a great job and don’t need any changes…???…hmmm.
Niagara is for Lovers …of water!
Ok! Summer is over. Time to get registered! The National Water & Wastewater Conference is coming up in November in Niagara Falls. If you are a water leader – a utility manager, consultant, academic, entrepreneur – you should be at this conference.
This is THE national networking event for our sector, bringing together 500 water leaders to share knowledge and address the issues of our industry. The program is as solid as ever and the social networking opportunities are going to be fun.
Get registered already!!
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