TORONTO: An election must be in the air, because the Conservatives are having another fire sale of Ontario’s assets, OPSEU said today.
The announcement that the Province of Ontario Savings Office will be sold to the Desjardins Credit Union for $50 million, with $7.7 million of that going to employee severances, shows just how desperate the Eves government is to balance its books before an expected spring vote.
“This is Highway 407 all over again,” said OPSEU President Leah Casselman. “The Tories must think we are fools because the sale is timed for April 1. This bank earns more than $10 million for the taxpayers every year.”
“While OPSEU wholeheartedly supports the Credit Union movement, we feel this popular bank would have been best left inside the Ontario Public Service, to help finance the much-needed rebuilding of our public services,” she said.
Casselman said Eves ignored the outcry from loyal depositors who signed petitions in the thousands to save their bank. “No doubt about it, there will be a price to pay at election time, particularly in places like Woodstock, St. Mary’s and Seaforth,” she said.
“I want to thank the many OPSEU members, POSO customers, municipal leaders, opposition members, and others who worked so hard to save this piece of Ontario’s heritage,” she said.
OPSEU, representing about 150 employees at POSO, is still looking into any legal means to stop the sale, including asking federal regulators to step in.
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For further information:
David Cox, OPSEU Communications 1-800-268-7376 x 314
