On the morning of the great garbage privatization debate Tuesday, May 17, the mayor, that’s Rob Ford, was taking credit for delivering on a slew of campaign promises, including those not of his doing – like bringing Mixed Martial Arts to the city. That was the province’s doing.
But Ford was riding one of those patented truthiness waves of his, doing his own version of that Don Cherry “pinkos” routine. I can’t remember when I’ve laughed so hard.
You just knew the “socialists” card would be played on this one, as in the garbage debate being between those on council who have respect for taxpayers and the aforementioned reds who support “big spending.”
Robbie boy’s tight new vest suit (flattering) must have been blocking blood flow to the brain. Had he forgotten that $100 million raise for cops last week, an 11.5 per cent increase over four years?
There was much to kick around at council’s garbage debate, like that staff report from the Works Committee with enough holes in it to drive a garbage truck through.
In the end, though, short-term politics trumped prudence, the mushy middle caved (again), and the Fordists got their way. Council voted 32 to 13 to privatize curbside pickup for 165,000 households west of Yonge to the Humber.
This one isn’t over yet, though. Council will get to vote on the final bid recommended for approval by staff, probably by next summer. Council, but not the mayor, also voted to require the winning bidder to guarantee waste diversion rates.
But in a decision that may come back to haunt us, council also narrowly passed a motion tabled by Councillor Josh Matlow to remove Progressive Waste Solutions from the bidding process. That motion, ostensibly passed in the interest of “transparency” after the city’s former head of Solid Waste Management jumped to Progressive on May 6, may end up costing us one big fat lawsuit.
But what’s a few million dollars more?
City staff is forecasting savings on the order of $8 million a year under its privatization plan. But that dubious calculation is based on a number of faulty assumptions – too many to mention here but itemized in a detailed audit conducted for the Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416 by Rosen & Associates Ltd.
That document calls the financial analysis councillors relied on in Tuesday’s decision “seriously flawed and grossly inadequate.” “Fictional” is another word used in the audit to describe staff’s estimated cost efficiencies from contracting out.
For example, staff’s comparison of the costs of garbage pickup in District 1, which is already privatized, to that of District 2, the one set to be privatized, is apples to oranges.
The two areas have completely different characteristics. District 1 is mostly single-family homes, while District 2 has far more multi-residential properties and is nearly twice as densely populated, its more challenging traffic and roadway conditions making pickup more time-consuming.
The city’s report advocating privatization also assumes that lower hourly wage rates paid by private contractors compared to unionized employees will translate into savings. What it fails to factor in is the 13 to 18 per cent bump-up contractors add to labour costs, the normal industry profit margin, in their contracts.
When the city report isn’t blurring the bottom line with inapt comparisons, it’s fudging the numbers outright. It puts Toronto significantly higher in the waste collection cost-per-tonne rankings than does the Ontario Benchmarking Initiative.
The real financial costs and perils of privatization won’t really be felt for years to come, when, if all goes according to Fordo, all waste management is contracted out and the city is out of the garbage collection game entirely. That’s when its real consequences will be exposed.
Instead of managing a precious resource – yes, folks, garbage collection generates millions in revenue for Toronto – the city’s role will be reduced to managing disputes between waste companies with contracts to haul our garbage.
It’s a given that waste diversion programs will suffer. That’s been the experience of other jurisdictions, and that’s been the outcome here in District 1, the area of the city currently contracted out to a private company, where recycling rates are 6 per cent lower than in districts that handle curbside pickup in-house.
Years from now, we may be spending more to clean up the mess left by privatization. It won’t be long before we’re talking incineration and other junk science. That’s not fear-mongering. That’s just the way the wind blows when governments relinquish control. Ask any of the municipalities that voted to bring collection back in-house after failed experiments with contracting out.
Read the dirt on the movers and shakers in the big garbage biz
enzom@nowtoronto.com
