What to know
- Brad Bradford is promising a 25% cut to Toronto water bills, which his campaign says would save the average household about $300 annually.
- His proposal would apply automatically to the first $1,500 of a household’s annual water bill.
- Bradford wants to restructure Toronto Water as a publicly owned utility and change how the city finances long-term infrastructure.
- Torontonians interviewed by Now Toronto had mixed reactions, with some welcoming the savings while others said housing and broader affordability issues should be priorities.
Mayoral candidate Brad Bradford is promising to cut Toronto water bills by 25 per cent, saying the move would save the average household about $300 a year.
Bradford announced the proposal Monday, saying the reduction would apply automatically to the first $1,500 of a household’s annual water bill, with no application or means test.
“If you pay a water bill in Toronto, when Brad Bradford is mayor, your bill goes down,” his campaign said.
Bradford’s campaign argues the proposal is possible because Toronto residents are paying more toward the city’s water system than is needed.
Bradford claims Toronto Water collected roughly $400 million more in user fees than the system cost to operate in 2024, while water and wastewater reserves have grown from $141 million in 2009 to about $2 billion today.
The campaign says the average household pays about $1,100 a year for water, with roughly one-third going toward the water residents use and the rest contributing to capital reserves.
Bradford is proposing to turn Toronto Water into a publicly owned utility and spread the cost of major infrastructure over the useful life of assets, rather than collecting the full cost from current residents upfront.
The campaign says the utility would remain 100 per cent owned by Toronto taxpayers, with private investment prohibited by bylaw. Rates would be set by an independent board rather than politicians.
“Toronto isn’t broken. It’s stuck,” Bradford said. “And the answer is about $300 a year back to every household in this city.”
Torontonians react
The proposal drew mixed reactions from Torontonians.
One Toronto resident named Michael tells Now Toronto that $300 could help people struggling financially, but argued other affordability issues should take priority.
“There’s much bigger issues at hand,” he said.
“Cost of living in terms of rental prices in the city, food, transportation, not removing bike lanes, access to jobs… There’s lots of things that are farther ahead than the water bill prices.”
Another resident, Mac, questioned whether the proposal would do enough for renters, saying the focus should instead be on housing and landlords.
“I don’t think it’s worth it,” they said. “I think that instead of doing something to cut water bills, he should be talking about going after bad landlords.”
Emma, who rents and pays her hydro bill, said any savings could help people dealing with rising costs.
“Anything helps,” she said. “But $300 doesn’t seem like much. But when you’re living hand to mouth, it could change a lot of people’s monthly bills.”
She said candidates should also focus on public transit, bike lanes and rent control.
The proposal comes ahead of Toronto’s Oct. 26 municipal election.
Mayoral opponents criticize plan
Meanwhile, Bradford’s proposal is drawing criticism from mayoral rivals Chris Alexander and Olivia Chow, with Chow saying the proposal could open the door to privatization and higher costs.
“Bradford will say anything to get elected. His water scheme will open the door to privatization and cost people a lot more in the long run. By giving up control of Toronto water’s system, he wouldn’t even be able to set the rate he claims he would,” Chow’s campaign said in a statement to Now Toronto.
Alexander is also pushing back, saying Toronto Water gets every dollar from the water bill, and the reserve funds the $18.9 billion plan to fix the pipes and protect Toronto’s clean water.
“Bradford, who claims to be a fiscal conservative, now wants to create an entirely new bureaucratic system, modelled on Toronto Hydro, which carries significant debt and interest payments,” Alexander said in a statement to Now Toronto.
“A $300 discount today, with the bill coming later, plus interest.”
