Britain, which led the charge for public private partnerships under both Conservative and Labour governments over the past decades, is now seeing problems with the projects. This month the new coalition government cancelled the controversial Building Schools for the Future program. Michael Gove, the Conservative Secretary of State for Education said the P3 school program [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Privatization, P3s & public services'
The U.K. having problems with its P3s
July 27th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · Education, Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services
Tags:
Quebec Auditor General slams P3s in hospital project
June 11th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
Quebec’s Auditor General has issued yet one more report slamming the use of public private partnerships (P3s). With P3s, private corporations finance and operate public facilities and services. The money they invest is more costly than money borrowed publicly. It is paid back to them, along with profits for the corporation, by governments over multi-decade contracts. [...]
Summer reading: two experts on privatization
May 20th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 3 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Recommended reading, Transparency & accountability
Policy Note has asked CCPA Research Associates who contribute to the blog to suggest some ideas for summer reading. I am going to cheat a bit by suggesting two books. I am going to cheat even more by admitting I haven’t read one of them. I spend a lot of my time reading and writing [...]
Tags: Summer Reading
Problems for the South Fraser Perimeter Road P3?
May 12th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Environment, resources & sustainability, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
There are some interesting recent developments on the South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) public private partnership project. A press release issued Friday afternoon announced the successful bidder in response to a Requests for Proposal. The results may not be what we were led to expect. The SFPR project is part of the Province’s Gateway project [...]
Tags: Gateway·Ministry of Transportation·P3·Partnerships BC·South Fraser Perimeter Road
BC opens door to private jails
May 2nd, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Human rights, Law & legal issues, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
The BC government has taken the next step down the privatization road by opening the door to private prisons. On April 28th Partnerships BC posted a request for qualification on the BC Bid web site for a public private partnership (P3) for the Surrey Pretrial Centre. You need to register with Bid BC to see [...]
Income Taxes are a steal: Seth’s tax confessions
April 5th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 10 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
I just did my taxes this weekend, and I’m wracked with guilt. Personally, I’ve never found completing my taxes particularly onerous. It takes me a few hours — no big deal. I’m paid well (and well above the average). I’ve never had to hire an accountant, as I’m not doing anything fancy. I’m only availing [...]
Tags: budget·public services·role of government·tax cuts·Taxes
Victoria’s billion dollar P3 decision
March 16th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 4 Comments · Environment, resources & sustainability, Municipalities, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability
On March 24th the Victoria area’s Capital Regional District (CRD) is going to make a billion dollar decision. The province has ordered the CRD to end its controversial practice of pumping raw sewage into the ocean. But it has also ordered the CRD to consider using a public private partnership (P3) for the project. Regardless [...]
Tags:
BC’s public sector: among the smallest in the country
February 25th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Employment & labour, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance
Have you heard pundits say that BC’s public sector is too big or “bloated”? It’s an argument frequently used as an excuse to advocate for government spending cuts, but is it true? You may want to take a look at the numbers for yourself. The CCPA just released a short report on the size of [...]
Tags: provincial spending·public sector employment·spending cuts
The business elite’s parking tax backlash
January 8th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 5 Comments · Environment, resources & sustainability, Municipalities, Privatization, P3s & public services
The media is reporting a “backlash” against the new parking tax in Vancouver. The Vancouver Sun reports it is a “slickly organized” backlash being run by Vancouver’s business elite. This is apparently a 30 member business coalition including the Board of Trade. This is not the first time Vancouver’s business elite has gotten organized around [...]
Tags:
AG’s office changes policy
December 9th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
BC’s Auditor General has made an important change in the way his office does its work that will help guarantee the independence of his office. In the past, part of the money that paid for the operation of the AG’s Office came from providing contracted services to organizations like crown corporations and other agencies outside [...]
Tags:
