British Columbia’s government today announced it had extended its agreement with Maximus BC, a US subsidiary corporation, to manage BC’s health information for another five years. The $264 million contract will run from 2015 until 2020. The original contract began in 2005. That ten year deal cost $324 million. On a comparable basis the new five year [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Privatization, P3s & public services'
BC governments extends outsourced health information management despite issues raised by Auditor General
March 11th, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance
A new government? It’s not as easy as it looks
February 28th, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Economy, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance, Transparency & accountability
If there is a new government in BC on May 15th, it will be confronted with issues that make the transition particularly challenging. The financial issues are a given. Debt has gone up. Possibly, given the economic recession we faced, it should have gone up even further. The dramatic rise in long term contractual obligations [...]
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Making the case for public dental care
January 10th, 2013 · Marc Lee · 3 Comments · Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services
There is a classic episode of the Simpsons, where Mr Burns cuts the dental plan for the nuclear power plant. With Lisa needing braces, Homer becomes a union organizer and leads a strike against the plant to get back the dental plan. I thought about that episode when had to get a root canal this week. Because [...]
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Are tax havens robbing the government of revenue from P3s? Nobody seems to care
January 2nd, 2013 · Keith Reynolds · 3 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services
When British Columbia sets up public private partnerships (P3s) to let the private sector operate hospitals, roads and bridges, one of the considerations is taxes. However, when down the road ownership of the P3 private operator gets moved to a tax haven, it appears there is no subsequent examination of the impact on provincial revenues. [...]
Tags: P3·Tax Havens
Getting it Wrong For Seniors in British Columbia
September 27th, 2012 · Jonathan Chapnick · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Health care, Law & legal issues, Privatization, P3s & public services
Seniors and their families need and should have access to useful information when they are making critical decisions about residential care and throughout the period of residence in facilities. – BC Ombudsperson, The Best of Care: Getting It Right for Seniors in British Columbia (Part 1) Mass replacement of staff can occur when facility operators switch [...]
Tags: contracting out·health care·labour·privatization·seniors
Construction industry accuses Partnerships BC of conflict of interest
September 15th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Privatization, P3s & public services
I think that Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association, is probably more hostile to the interests of working people than just about anybody else in British Columbia. So when I find myself agreeing with him on something, my fingers twitch at the keyboard. But that is just what happened with the [...]
The staggering future costs of the BC government’s contracts
July 27th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Energy, Privatization, P3s & public services, Provincial budget & finance
As usual, there has been quite a hubbub surrounding this week’s release of British Columbia’s Public Accounts. The provincial auditor says the provincial deficit is $520 million more than the government admits. And then there is the Auditor General’s review of finances at the legislature that found “substantial irregularities.” But all of the above is [...]
How the rules got fiddled to make sure a public private partnership got pushed through
July 12th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · 3 Comments · Health care, Privatization, P3s & public services, Transparency & accountability, Uncategorized
In 2008 British Columbia’s controversial public private partnership (P3) program was in trouble. With P3s private companies put up financing for public services and infrastructure and in exchange get to manage the projects with guaranteed profits for decades. The cost of private finance was always higher than if government borrowed the money itself, but in [...]
Tags: Fort St. John·P3·Partnerships BC
Seven reasons why you should support a move to low tuition fees for higher education
May 29th, 2012 · Iglika Ivanova · 11 Comments · Children & youth, Economy, Education, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Privatization, P3s & public services
Much of the media coverage of the Quebec student protests has dismissed the protestors as cranky middle and upper-middle class children trying to protect their unfair privilege. And in fact, the vast majority of today’s university students do come from relatively well-off families. But rather than weakening their position, this supports the protestors’ claims that [...]
So why is all the good writing on privatization of liquor distribution in the business press?
May 17th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · 9 Comments · Privatization, P3s & public services
Privatization of government assets is always a controversial subject. One side says the genius of the marketplace will cut costs and improve efficiency. The other side says costs will go up and the public will lose control. One thing both sides should agree on, however, is that the process should be transparent. Thanks to Business [...]
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