The Winnipeg Free Press reported this morning that, “About 100,000 Winnipeg homes received robo-calls Wednesday night inviting them to a ‘virtual town hall’ about the city’s waste water management deal with Veolia Canada. The voice of Lake Winnipeg Watershed co-ordinator Vicki Burns invited Winnipeg voters to take part in a conference call tonight at 7 regarding the ‘secret deal’ with the environmental consulting giant. …The conference call, organized by the Winnipeg Citizens Coalition, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Water Watch and the Council of Canadians, will allow Winnipeg voters to speak to Veolia critics (Jason Meyer) from Richmond, Calif., and (Clarke Kahlo of) Indianapolis, Ind., said Citizens Coalition co-chairwoman Bobbi Ethier.”
“Ethier said the conference call is not intended to support mayoral challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis, a staunch critic of the Veolia deal. Wasylycia-Leis has repeatedly called on Mayor Sam Katz to publicize aspects of the deal, which will see Veolia Canada design, build and possibly help maintain at least $661 million worth of improvements to two city sewage treatment plants. Katz’s re-election team called Ethier’s statement ridiculous and condemned the automatic call.” This afternoon, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that, “Judy Wasylycia-Leis said she has nothing to do with tonight’s ‘virtual town hall’ about Winnipeg’s wastewater-management deal with Veolia Canada.”
The Winnipeg chapter of the Council of Canadians has been instrumental in the growing campaign that questions the secret deal 30-year deal signed by the City of Winnipeg and Veolia.
On September 25, Winnipeg Sun columnist Joyanne Pursaga wrote that, “In that context (of secrecy), it’s no surprise one advocacy group is trying to make the mysterious deal a 2010 civic election issue. The Council of Canadians has filed an official complaint about the wastewater deal with the provincial ombudsman. The city still awaits provincial approval on the deal. The group also requested a copy of the contract under freedom of information legislation, which the city denied.”
On October 8, CUPE reported that, “A Probe Research survey shows that 78 per cent of Winnipeg residents believe that all the details of the 30-year contract the City of Winnipeg entered into with the private contractor Veolia Canada should be made public before the October 27 municipal election. …(The poll) shows overall opposition to the Veolia deal is also strong, as 61 per cent of Winnipeggers oppose it…”
The news articles are at http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/virtual-town-hall-on-veolia-touted-in-robo-calls-to-voters-105418298.html and http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Wasylycia-Leis-not-involved-in-tonights-virtual-town-hall-105460078.html.
