CUPE’s name was on the lips of privateers gathered at a recent meeting in Toronto and they weren’t singing our praises. Members of the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships clearly identified CUPE as one of the main roadblocks to the selloff of public services. The ongoing and growing resistance to privatization came up at CCPPP sessions on how to privatize hospitals, water and other critical infrastructure.
While the conference was shameless in its P3 promotion, some of the CCPPP’s own ’experts’ weren’t so hot on P3s. The CCPPP flew in speakers from around the world, yet many of them openly admitted there are plenty of P3 problems and failures. Their admissions expose the lie behind the CCPPP pitch that P3s are risk-free, win-win situations.
The former chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional District Water Board, who was pro-P3 during the recent water privatization fight, also made some reluctant reflections on the trade risks of P3s. He told the conference the more I have examined this issue, the more I think our decision to withdraw from the [water P3] was correct. There are uncertainties in trade treaties.
But these setbacks won’t stop the CCPPP. Speakers at the conference sent a clear signal that the P3 assault on health care is just beginning. Presenters from Canadian health facilities and authorities actively promoted P3s and were openly seeking investors for a variety of unnamed projects.
While the conference was shameless in its P3 promotion, some of the CCPPP’s own ’experts’ weren’t so hot on P3s. The CCPPP flew in speakers from around the world, yet many of them openly admitted there are plenty of P3 problems and failures. Their admissions expose the lie behind the CCPPP pitch that P3s are risk-free, win-win situations.
The former chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional District Water Board, who was pro-P3 during the recent water privatization fight, also made some reluctant reflections on the trade risks of P3s. He told the conference the more I have examined this issue, the more I think our decision to withdraw from the [water P3] was correct. There are uncertainties in trade treaties.
But these setbacks won’t stop the CCPPP. Speakers at the conference sent a clear signal that the P3 assault on health care is just beginning. Presenters from Canadian health facilities and authorities actively promoted P3s and were openly seeking investors for a variety of unnamed projects.