Ontario Government and Privatization

Ontario’s leader, Kathleen Wynne, had an option a short while ago with respect to raising badly needed funds following the pseudo-Friedmanesque program of slashing corporate taxes.

There are many assets that Ontario could sell off, but the focus is increasingly on Ontario Hydro and potentially the LCBO.

The decision to sell off Ontario Hydro was a financially prudent one in that it shoved all of the bloated debt from nuclear days away from the liability of the Ontario government.  This move helped bring the private sector on board for managing and controlling this debt.

Ontario Hydro is also, in a very rudimentary sense, a single company that used to be owned by the public.  While there were many contractors that were beneficiaries of massive public spend (Enbridge, GE, Samsung to name a few), the company was at its very core a public company.  I’ll get to this in a sec.

However, it was not politically expedient and will prove to be Wynne’s downfall in the next election.  At a recent event, she was booed by the public.  This kind of show of disgust with a leader only boils over when the entire public has had enough of bad management.

But that won’t stop Wynne from ‘converting’ the public of Ontario to hydro through a series of ill-conceived plans that will only benefit a few bankers, car manufacturers and private citizens.

She won’t stop until we’re all complete indentured servants to a massive transfer of wealth from the hands of the people of Ontario to a select few.  Bills will increase, companies will leave and we’ll be left destitute.

This decision will prove to be a disastrous one.

On the other hand, the LCBO should be privatized.  What they are doing now borders on corrupt and again ill-conceived because they’re transferring the ability to generate cash-flow from alcohol sales to a select few like the Westons (Loblaws) and Walmart.

Instead, they should have proceeded with a ‘anyone can get a license’ approach that would have truly liberated the market and been of benefit to the hundreds of new craft producers of wine, spirits and beer in Ontario.

Also, the LCBO is nothing but a massive front for a small handful of companies such as Constellation Brands, AB InBev and such who use the LCBO to eliminate any competition.

Privatization is something that we should all consider as residents of Ontario, but the public has a right to know why so many bad decisions and hair-brained schemes are being pursued by our current leader.