2013 Regina wastewater plant financing referendum

The campaign to call this referendum started in response of a vote by the city council to finance the new $224-million Wastewater plant through a P3.

A group called Regina Water Watch was created in opposition to this move, and started collecting signatures to force a referendum on the issue.

[1] However, the city clerk's report judged the petition was insufficient to force the referendum after ruling that over 4000 of the signatures were invalid.

[3] The campaign was also supported by the national Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which helped organize the group's first meeting.

[5] Federal finance minister Jim Flaherty expressed support for the goal of the campaign in an op-ed entitled "Why I’m giving Regina $58.5 million", in reference to his government's promise of funding part of the costs of the plant if the P3 option was selected.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees gave significant funds to Regina Water Watch, including registering their domain name reginawaterwatch.com,[5] and paying for the report "Flushing money away: Why the Privatization of Wastewater Treatment Plant is a bad idea", which estimates that a P3 funding scheme would cost the city $61 million more than a DBB.

[9] The Regina Chamber of Commerce also participated in the campaign by paying for numerous newspaper and TV ads advocating for the "No side".