Municipal workers in Québec have launched a broad new push against P3s. CUPE will get its message out through a four-week billboard campaign as well as three weeks of radio and newspaper ads.
The campaign sounds the alarm about the damage P3s do to a municipality’s public services – and its finances. Yet the provincial government continues to aggressively push privatized municipal infrastructure through a publicly funded agency.
Quebecers don’t want to wake up one day to discover a corporation has control of their water systems for the next 25 years, says CUPE Québec vice-president Michel Parent, who is also president of the Montreal Outside Municipal Workers’ local.
Sherbrooke’s decision to contract out management of a sports facility is just one example of the dangers of privatization. A CUPE economist calculated it will cost the city $21.3 million over the 40-year contract – more than triple the $6.2 million public management would have cost.
Learn more about the campaign at CUPE Quebec’s website.