There are some alarming signs that Canada’s government is getting ready to privatize huge swaths of Canadian institutions -- roads, airports, public utilities, the post office -- where public money will finance private profit.
You may have heard Finance Minister Bill Morneau announce his new Canadian Infrastructure Investment Bank -- which sounds great. But it’s actually a scheme that will deliver $15 billion of public money already earmarked for child care, transit and affordable housing to for-profit developers for “revenue-generating” projects.
Our money will fund infrastructure projects so that private sector partners can make boatloads of cash. Building roads? Expect tolls. Upgrading water or hydro systems? Expect waaay higher fees. New affordable housing? It won’t be.
This is a terrible idea. Tell PM Justin Trudeau you want to keep our public institutions in the hands of people, not profit.
This is no joke. And there’s reason to believe the CBC and Canada Post could be on the block too. The CBC building in Calgary just quietly went up for sale (likely because all the cronies Stephen Harper hired to dismantle our public broadcaster are still in charge).
Tens of thousands of SumOfUs members have supported an amazing campaign about the potential benefits of postal banking -- a Canada-Post led financial institution that could put an end to the high fees and ridiculous profits the Big Banks haul in every quarter. Why would we privatize an idea that could deliver millions in public funds every year?
The thing about privatization is that it Just. Doesn’t. Work. It never has. It costs more and delivers less. Ontario will end up paying $8 billion more than it needs to on the $26 billion worth of public-private partnerships it’s involved in. The rest of the world is realizing this and is actually buying back public utilities it privatized decades ago -- Paris made its water public again in 2010 and immediately saved €35 million a year.
We got rid of Harper so we could build the Canada we want. Not so that corporations could get rich off it. Tell Trudeau our public services are not for sale.
More information
Why is Canada still privatizing public services when most of the world is going the other direction?
rabble.ca. 25 October 2016.
rabble.ca. 25 October 2016.
Liberals redirect $15B to infrastructure projects that 'generate revenue' for private investors
Press Progress. 1 November 2016.
Press Progress. 1 November 2016.