Privatization: The “big bad mistake” Ontario is intent on repeating
“The stealth privatization of Ontario’s gas plants over the past decade set the stage for the inevitable payouts that we now face for decades to come.” – Martin Regg Cohn,…
P3s
On democratic exercises
The results are in from Regina’s wastewater treatment referendum. And unfortunately, the combined forces of the City and the corporate sector (with an assist from far too much of the…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Today is of course voting day in Regina’s wastewater treatment plant referendum – and you can get voting information here. And Paul Dechene…
On sucker’s bets
As the old saying goes, if you sit down at a poker table and can’t spot the sucker, you’re it. And there shouldn’t be much doubt that when the City…
#wwtp Referendum Roundup
A few links and notes as Regina’s wastewater referendum approaches tomorrow. – Jason Hammond explains that his Yes vote will be based largely on concerns about the City’s dishonesty and…
Regina’s P3 Columnists
As the referendum on whether to privatize Regina’s wastewater plant nears, the Regina Leader-Post is printing a column a day advocating the P3: John Gormley on Friday, Bruce Johnstone on…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Paul Krugman writes about the right-wing belief that “freedom’s just another word for not enough to eat”: (Y)ou might think that ensuring adequate…
On questions of trust
I’ll give Deputy City Manager Brent Sjoberg credit for at least partially answering one of my long-standing questions about a privatized water treatment plant: namely, who’s going to be left…
What’s the real risk and cost for Regina’s wastewater P3?
The City of Regina is engaged in a controversial debate about a proposed public private partnership (P3) for the city’s wastewater plant. Residents formed a Regina Water Watch group to…
Short Takes: Hillier’s remarkable labour conversion, the battle of the inequality authors and more
It is somewhat astonishing to see PC Randy Hillier vote against a Tory private member’s bill that would free construction giant EllisDon from a 55-year-old obligation to hire only unionized…
Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Toby Sanger asks who really bears the risk when governments agree to hand over billions to the private sector through P3 arrangements:…
Who really bears the risk for P3s?
Canada is now the second biggest market for public private partnerships (P3s) in the world, as a recent Conference Board report showed (on page 30, see my initial critique here).…
Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Lana Payne discusses Unifor’s goals in the wake of its founding convention: The hope is that, collectively, working people can push back in…
Juxtaposition
The Fouge sez: have no fear about corporate abuses or contract manipulation in a privatized wastewater system because…public procurement process! Hamilton Wastewater System – A sewage operation and maintenance contract…
New column day
Here, on the dangers of accepting advice from self-interested advisers – and the obvious conflict of interest of the consultants hired to push a wastewater P3 on Regina’s citizens. For…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Simon Enoch nicely challenges the City of Regina’s blind faith in “risk transfer” by pointing out how that concept has typically been applied…
P3 or No Federal Funding: A Third Option for Regina Wastewater?
The Queen City’s water debate has boiled over since I last blogged about it. City Council decided to build a new wastewater-treatment facility as a public-private partnership (P3), but a…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Polly Toynbee discusses how the UK’s attacks on social programs are based on gross ignorance about what social spending does (and who it…
Blissful Ignorance: another Conference Board report on P3s
The Conference Board of Canada has produced another report on P3s, funded by the federal and provincial P3 agencies and the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships (CCPPP). Unfortunately and…