In his recent budget, federal finance minister Jim Flaherty again relied on the possible sale of unnamed federal assets to supplement his revenue forecasts. And got away with it. When he tried this in the ill-fated economic statement last November I could have sworn that the opposition was unanimous in their criticism of this kind of fudging with figures. But that was then and this is ... different.
And of course we residents of Ontario can tell you that this kind of thing is a pattern with Flaherty. Now the speculation has begun.
The Harper government, under pressure to prevent the federal deficit from ballooning, is pressing ahead with an asset review that could lead to the sale or privatization of several well-known Crown corporations, including Canada Post, Via Rail, the Royal Canadian Mint and the agency that oversees security at Canada's airports.
Emphasis added. Under pressure from whom? To the extent that the deficit we're facing isn't the result of a financial crisis that can best be mitigated with government spending, it's the result of Flaherty's ideology. And any pressure to reduce the deficit through the sale of assets like the Post Office is self-imposed. It's the result of the same ideology that saw Flaherty push ahead with policies such as the cuts to the GST against the advice of just about everyone in a position to offer an informed opinion.
This kind of asset sale is a policy that Flaherty would have loved to pursue under any circumstances. The current economic situation is merely providing an excuse. This is what disaster capitalism looks like.
What a sorry state of affairs. Have any of the opposition parties issued a strong statement against this move? Is anyone on the Hill paying attention?
Y'know, when I were a tad, growing up among some real conservatives, the Queen's Mail was just this side of holy. People knew that some institutions represented a lot more than "efficiency," and they took pride in those institutions, the very ones Flaherty apparently thinks of as nothing more than assets.
The Cons seem to revel in being crass for its own sake. There isn't even any practical purpose in behaving as they do; they just are that way.
I can just imagine big corporations licking thier chops at getting a gem like Canada Post etc.and decimating the work fource and cutting the pay at starvation rates.
And then discontinuing service to remote areas because it's inefficient and unprofitable.
I can foresee absolutely no problems whatsoever with turning the country's monetary system over to a private corporation... :P
At Red Tory's someone commented that CBC, AECL and Canada Council for the Arts might also be up for sale.
Those especially, BY. They really hate those. Reform-Alliancers can probably fuel their houses on their irrational hatred for the CBC.
You ask "Under pressure from whom?". I would say, the Liberals. The Tories know that they are almost certain to get a free pass in March when their first probation is over (since the Liberals will still not be in financial shape for an election). So, they have to work really fast to get this done before the next probationary report in June, when the Liberals might have scraped together both the cash and the guts to vote non-confidence.
This is really bad. History has shown that once you privatize a crown corp there is no turning back, unless you are lucky enough to be led by a revolutionary (Chavez comes to mind).
I don't understand why the Liberals, who had the upper hand when Parliament resumed, didn't demand that pay equity and plans of privatizing crown assets (items that were in the November update) be taken out of the budget? Harper wasn't in a position to balk at the request. If Ignatieff truly meant that he supported the coalition as a weapon to keep Harper in line, why didn't he use "said" weapon? Frankly, I think it's because doesn't give a damn about these things.
As I've said elsewhere, WTF does Iggy actually care about? Helping the US with their neo-imperialist plans through the War on Terriers?
Beijing York, at least a couple of times a day I try putting something like those questions to the Young Liberals of my cyber-acquaintance. In my experience, most of them just do not want to know. They can satirize Harper (well, who can't?), but they are in profound denial about Ignatieff as enabler. It is an amazing thing to watch.