Dear Editor:
I ask that the councillors who voted to privatize half of our public utility, Epcor, resign effective immediately for betraying the public trust. Mayor Mandel and city council have been informed on many occasions by Edmontonians that we did not want our public electricity and water and waste utility privatized. The mayor and several councillors disingenuously claimed during the last election that our concerns that the mayor was planning to sell off our public utility were groundless . Lo and behold, we discover in today's Edmonton Journal that they've been planning this for a long time, and were only prepared to tell us, the citizens who own the utility, after the point of no return. Well, ten councillors received no mandate from Edmontonians to offer our utility for sale on the Toronto Stock Exchange. And these same councillors will have to reverse their behind-closed-doors decision as soon as they return to city hall on Monday, resignation in hand, if they have any sense of honour. Is it any wonder that the public in ever larger numbers distrusts the politicians we pay to represent our interests, only to be betrayed by them?
As to the claim that Epcor's electricity arm would have difficulty accessing necessary monies for expansion and pollution control, the most profitable arm of Epcor has both the city of Edmonton's high loan rating and its own recent successes and high profits to attract private investors to purchase bonds that would fund further expansion. The profits from Epcor in recent years have been a buffer against tax increases, and will only continue to do so if our utility remains fully in public hands, and under our watchful eyes.
Aileen Tayler
#43, 4020 21 St
Edmonton, AB
T6T 1T8
780-439-2303
I ask that the councillors who voted to privatize half of our public utility, Epcor, resign effective immediately for betraying the public trust. Mayor Mandel and city council have been informed on many occasions by Edmontonians that we did not want our public electricity and water and waste utility privatized. The mayor and several councillors disingenuously claimed during the last election that our concerns that the mayor was planning to sell off our public utility were groundless . Lo and behold, we discover in today's Edmonton Journal that they've been planning this for a long time, and were only prepared to tell us, the citizens who own the utility, after the point of no return. Well, ten councillors received no mandate from Edmontonians to offer our utility for sale on the Toronto Stock Exchange. And these same councillors will have to reverse their behind-closed-doors decision as soon as they return to city hall on Monday, resignation in hand, if they have any sense of honour. Is it any wonder that the public in ever larger numbers distrusts the politicians we pay to represent our interests, only to be betrayed by them?
As to the claim that Epcor's electricity arm would have difficulty accessing necessary monies for expansion and pollution control, the most profitable arm of Epcor has both the city of Edmonton's high loan rating and its own recent successes and high profits to attract private investors to purchase bonds that would fund further expansion. The profits from Epcor in recent years have been a buffer against tax increases, and will only continue to do so if our utility remains fully in public hands, and under our watchful eyes.
Aileen Tayler
#43, 4020 21 St
Edmonton, AB
T6T 1T8
780-439-2303
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