TORONTO – Selling shares in profitable Crown
corporations like the Liquor Control Board of Ontario is a
bad idea that is not in the public interest, OPSEU President
Warren (Smokey) Thomas warns.
“Financially, the idea of selling off parts
of the LCBO or the Lottery and Gaming Corporation is
short-term gain for long-term pain,” Thomas said Monday. “As
far as social responsibility, a private corporation that has
a responsibility to boost profits above all else is never
going to take social concerns, like keeping liquor out of
the hands of minors, as seriously as one that is
publicly-owned.”
Thomas made the remarks after watching the
Speech from the Throne from the public gallery at Queen’s
Park. Several news stories had hinted that the Speech would
outline plans to sell shares in the LCBO, the OLG, and other
Crown corporations. In the end, the Liberal government only
announced a plan to “review” the government’s business
enterprises and use any “proceeds” for other priorities.
“I truly believe that partial privatization
now would lead to total privatization within 10 years,”
Thomas said. “If that happens, all the profits will go to
investors, and none of them to taxpayers.” And any private
sector Board running a Crown corporation would try to drive
down workers’ wages to boost returns to shareholders, he
added.
“The only beneficiaries of privatization
will be the people who can afford to spend $950 a plate to
see Dalton McGuinty give a speech, as they did two weeks
ago,” he said. “The rest of us will be left trying to pay
for public services with even less funding than we have
now.”
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