The provincial government finally made the right decision by dropping its plan to sell off shares in a “SuperCorp” conglomerate of Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation, the LCBO and the Lottery Corporation, but the danger of one-off asset sales remains, says Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario President Fred Hahn.
“SuperCorp may be dead, but its ghost still haunts Queen’s Park,” Fred Hahn said today adding, “That’s why we continue to call for a hands-off policy on public assets and for the release of the secret Goldman-Sachs report.”
“Burning the furniture to heat the house was wrong when Goldman-Sachs recommended the idea, and we urge Minister Duncan to recognize that a bad idea is still a bad idea whether he’s talking about selling four major public assets or even just one,” Hahn said.
The CUPE Ontario President says he’s made the case against asset sales with every Ontario cabinet minster he has had the opportunity to meet with since he first took over as CUPE Ontario President last December.
“The Finance Minister, of all people, should know that getting rid of major revenue sources does not make economic sense especially when the province needs the revenue,” Hahn said.
CUPE Ontario is the province’s largest union representing 230,000 workers in every community. CUPE continues to press the Ontario government to end its secrecy and make public its rumoured ‘white paper’ on asset sales as well as the $200,000 CIBC/Goldman-Sachs report.
For more information, please contact:
Chris Watson
CUPE Communications
Tel: (416) 553-9410
Email: cwatson@cupe.ca