Privatizing CMHC?
In a recent interview with the Globe and Mail, Canadian Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty expressed worries about the financial burden laid on taxpayers by having the Canada Mortgage and Housing...
View ArticleA Tale of Two Telecoms or Actions Speak Louder than Words
Where does the Saskatchewan government stand on the privatization of provincial Crown corporations? You’d be hard pressed to come up with a definitive answer after the government’s partial...
View ArticleThe City of Regina’s Unquenchable Thirst for Bad Ideas
It seems the City of Regina just can’t get enough of bad deals. Hot on the heels of the City Plaza debacle and the stadium funding mess, the City has now announced its intention to enter into a 30-year...
View ArticleA Referendum on Referendums?
With the deadline for Regina’s wastewater privatization petition fast approaching and rumours of signatures gathered close to 19,000, the City of Regina is beginning to sweat a little. According to the...
View ArticleThe Unappetizing Record of Prison Food Privatization
In the United States, prisons and privatization have become as American as apple pie. Today, approximately 130,000 people are incarcerated by for-profit companies in the United States, an 1,664%...
View ArticlePrivatization and promises
When it comes to privatization, it seems the Saskatchewan government has a tough time recalling past promises. Heading into the 2007 election, then-Saskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall stated...
View ArticleUncorking the Liquor Lobby in Saskatchewan
As the debate over liquor privatization in Saskatchewan begins to heat up, a common refrain from the current government is that arguments for the superior social responsibility of the public system...
View ArticleGet back in line, Mr. Premier
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall once again stirred the privatization pot yesterday when he took to social media to ask: “Is it time to allow people to pay for their own private MRI’s in Saskatchewan...
View ArticleAn Initial Response to the Government’s Green Paper on Liquor Options
Today, the Government of Saskatchewan released its’ Green Paper,“Future Options for Liquor Retailing in Saskatchewan” in anticipation of a province-wide liquor privatization debate. Firstly, the...
View ArticleHigh-priced help: Spending on consultants increases by 228%
I am not sure which is more alarming: the fact that the Saskatchewan government increased its spending on consultants by 228% in the last five years, or that Provincial Auditor Judy Ferguson found that...
View ArticleStacking the Deck: Consultation or Manipulation?
To paraphrase Leader-Post columnist Murray Mandryk, the government’s Liquor Retailing consultation process is looking more and more like manipulation and less and less like consultation. University of...
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Road to Ruin: Use of costly highways consultants has skyrocketed.
If you love the feeling of cruising down a brand-new stretch of highway, the last few years have been full of good news for you. And if you’re in the business of designing and overseeing the...
View ArticleGot a problem? Privatize it (and pay the price for selling off Hydro One later).
The provincially appointed panel led by former TD Bank CEO Ed Clark has released its final report and the Wynne government has said it will act on its recommendations. It includes fully privatizing...
View ArticleWall expands private pay clinics despite warning from Feds
The Saskatchewan government’s controversial for-profit MRI plan has now drawn the ire of the federal government. Federal health minister Jane Philpott has written to Provincial Health Minister Jim...
View ArticleToronto garbage collection privatization politics: sniff test fail
This week Toronto city council will revisit the question of further garbage collection privatization despite evidence that suggests privatization politics don’t pass the sniff test. Right now, the west...
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Brad Wall, SaskTel and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
Brad Wall has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea for Saskatchewan; privatizing SaskTel. While the suggestion of privatizing Sasktel has been floated by the government for the past year, the...
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Ford’s “value-for-money” audit a political trick with predictable outcome
Paul Martin, David Cameron, Kathleen Wynne and Doug Ford all sought external legitimation for austerity. One of Doug Ford’s first acts as new Premier of Ontario was to put a freeze on most government...
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