It's a hostile takeover that would inflame any shareholder's meeting. Corporations are gaining control of our public services at an unprecedented pace. CUPE's Annual Report on Privatization documents for the first time the depth and breadth of the corporate takeover that's happening in our hospitals, schools, municipal services, community centres, social services and utilities. When the dots are connected, a clear picture emerges of the threat to good jobs, public safety, quality and accessibility. Deals struck with corporations leave governments and taxpayers to assume the risk for many ventures and pick up the pieces when a venture fails.
Privatized services continue to draw on the public purse.
But instead of supporting well-run, efficient services, tax dollars now subsidize the profit margins of multinational corporations. Facilities and infrastructure built with public dollars are sold at fire sale prices to privateers. Taxpayers pay to lease facilities they once owned and may eventually buy back. Higher private sector borrowing costs, inflated consulting fees, lengthy tendering processes, costly monitoring of private contractors, new user fees and many other hidden costs add up to a much higher price tag for the public. Recent examples such as leased schools in Nova Scotia, the New Brunswick toll highway and welfare reform in Ontario show going private is far more costly.