Debate on MTO Privatization Continues
Bill 65, the MTO Privatization
Bill, is once again back on the agenda at Queen's Park. The
government brought the bill back for Second Reading debate
Oct. 1. OPSEU restated our opposition to the Bill in a press
release Oct. 2.
OPSEU President Leah Casselman
said "Despite all the lessons the world has learned about
safety and security issues, this government persists in its
agenda as if nothing has changed. This is a scary thought for
Ontarians," Casselman said. "We are very concerned
about what happens when confidential public information falls
into private hands. Now more than ever, our public services
should stay public."
We've also been in constant
contact with the Liberals and NDP, and they've been helping us
out with questions in the house. The Liberals are also
presenting the OPSEU petitions opposing this bill.
Here are some debate excerpts
from the opposition parties:
Sean Conway, MPP, Liberal:
"The bill sets out . . . how privacy (is) going to be
protected. I don't believe it for a moment. And you know why I
don't believe it? I remember the POSO (Province of Ontario
Savings Office) example of two years ago. We as a Legislature
did nothing. In fact, people laughed about the fact that
50,000 provincial bank accounts were wrongly, and I believe
illegally, exposed to eyes that ought not to have seen them.
Was there any retribution? Was there any accountability for
that? Nothing. . .
We have a case going in Quebec
at the present time. You'll all remember the journalist Michel
Auger at le Journal de Montr‚al who was shot in the parking
lot in a gangland way. In the last press report I saw, a key
component in how the gang figured out who he was was that they
accessed his driver's registration data. . . . Just a very
recent reminder of how important and valuable this information
is and what can happen to it when it's in the wrong
hands."
Gilles Bisson, MPP, NDP:
" Let's look at what has happened in the driver
examination system. Most members in this House won't know
this, and I didn't know until I went out and did the research:
it used to be a private system.
Did you know that prior to 1961
the driver examination system in the province of Ontario was
run entirely by the private system? They did it for a number
of years. But there was such a problem with the system that
the then Conservative government of the day moved to put it
into the public system. Why? Because there was a real scam
going on where, for example, if people wanted to go get a
driver's licence test and there was a lineup, "Give us a
little bit more money and maybe you can pass ahead of the
line."
Yes, grease the wheel and maybe
you'll get ahead of the line. The whole issue of standards, of
why a person should get a driver's licence - and Timmins was
different than what you would get if you were getting it in
Ottawa or Toronto - they were not maintaining (the public or
provincial standards). . .
In the research that I've done,
prior to 1961 the system was in the private sector, and it was
the Conservative government of the day in 1961 that moved it
to the public system."
We will continue to work with
the opposition to try and force the government to back down on
Bill 65. Watch our web site at www.opseu.org for more updates!
Authorized for distribution by
Leah Casselman, President.
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