(Halifax) – The president of CUPE Nova Scotia says, “This week’s announcement that the MacDonald government could be facing a $188-million lawsuit from the U.S. company that wanted to build a quarry on Digby Neck should be sounding the alarm bells about plans to privatize public services.”
Danny Cavanagh says, “Those very same Chapter 11 provisions in NAFTA give foreign companies, once they get their foot in the door here, sweeping powers over what governments - whether they be federal, provincial, municipal or even school boards - can and cannot do with public services in the future.”
Says Cavanagh, “Rodney MacDonald had better take some time to reflect on his grand plans to rely on P3’s for everything from roads, to schools to hospitals. Under NAFTA. once delivery of those services is handed over to a multinational, they are gone forever. We’ll never get them back.”
“Just to be clear,” explains Cavanagh, “the Chapter 11 section of the trade deal which Bilcon is using to argue they were treated unfairly, states that once a company gets a contract, no level of government can ‘impede its ability’ to continue to make money.”
“If the MacDonald government starts back down this P3 road, he might as well hand over the keys to any foreign companies that win contracts in Nova Scotia. Whether it’s our hospitals, our schools or anything else, he will be trading away our province’s sovereignty,” says Cavanagh.
For information:
Danny Cavanagh John McCracken
President, CUPE Nova Scotia CUPE Communications Representative
(902) 957-0822 (Cell) (902) 455-4180 (o)