New OPSEU film documents "epic failure" of privatization in Ontario

 

TORONTO, June 3, 2014 /CNW/ - Hiring private companies to deliver public services and finance infrastructure projects is costing Ontarians more and delivering less, a new short film from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says.

"When it comes to value for money, privatization has been an epic failure in Ontario, yet both Conservatives and Liberals continue to aggressively promote it," said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "Citizens who are concerned about how their money is being spent need to find out more about privatization, and our new video helps them do that."

The video, Epic Fail: A Short History of Privatization in Ontario, is online at www.opseu.org/epicfail and is accompanied by a research paper documenting 20 years of privatization failures. The paper looks at case studies involving highways, IT services, medical lab testing, hospital construction, air ambulance service and more.

"We've paid a high price for privatization in this province and it's time there was a serious public debate about it," Thomas said, noting that the NDP's Andrea Horwath has been the only leader of a provincial party to agree to debate the issue. "Like corporate tax cuts, privatization transfers wealth to private investors and away from public services, boosting profits but cutting wages as it goes. We don't need more of it."

Written by veteran journalist Bill Gillespie, Epic Fail features interviews and commentary from representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Ontario Health Coalition, the Parkland Institute and others.

"In Ontario, judges, auditors, consultants, journalists, government ministers and ordinary citizens have looked at case after case of privatization as it actually works in the real world," said Thomas. "Here's what they've found: it doesn't."

SOURCE: Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)

Warren (Smokey) Thomas, [phone]; Bill Gillespie, [phone] or email [email protected]; Watch EPIC FAIL the movie: www.opseu.org/epicfail