THUNDER BAY - The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is calling on the Ontario
government to pay for an independent review into the Ontario government’s
privatization of highway maintenance.
The call comes on the heels of complaints by municipal officials in northern and
eastern Ontario that the quality of winter highway maintenance has dropped off sharply
since the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) privatized the service.
Liberal Transportation Critic Michael Gravelle (MPP for Thunder Bay - Superior North)
has also called for a review.
"Three years ago, when the Harris government started selling off highway
maintenance, we told them it wouldn’t work," said John O’Brien, OPSEU
vice-president for northwestern Ontario and a Transportation Enforcement Officer with MTO
in Thunder Bay. "When you privatize a service like road maintenance, the motive is
there for private operators to cut corners to increase their profits. They might they use
less salt or sand, or they might lift their plows off the pavement to save the blades.
"Whenever that happens, you’re putting the public in danger," he said.
"We need an outside person, totally independent of the government, to come in and
look at what they’ve done with these contracts."
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For more information:
John O’Brien (807) 767-2292; (807) 474-1314 (cell)
Paul Dunseith (519) 284-2802
