Premier Dalton McGuinty’s minority Liberal government is backing off a money-saving plan to privatize more public services — and improve the “customer” experience — unless it puts it to a majority vote in the legislature, the Star has learned.
The move is seen as a sop to the New Democrats, who hold the balance of power at Queen’s Park, as the government struggles to eliminate a $15-billion deficit and avoid further credit downgrades.
“It’s a bit of a shift but one that strikes a balance,” a senior government source told the Star on Sunday.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said last week she was concerned about the lack of public oversight for services to be privatized in the budget legislation and demanded hearings to ensure greater “transparency.”
“We do have to do our due diligence and make sure that we’re looking after the interest of the public,” she told reporters.
Until recently, Duncan had promised the government would not go into privatizations beyond the sale and leaseback of eight government buildings, winding down the Ontario Northland Transportation Corporation serving northern Ontario, and allowing more private sector involvement in casinos through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
The change of position on privatizations, which follows another budget deal with the NDP and Progressive Conservatives just days ago, will come in the form of an amendment to Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s 327-page fiscal blueprint.
The amendment is also intended as an olive branch to public sector workers worried about losing their jobs with more privatizations at the same time as McGuinty seeks to impose wage freezes on them through contract talks.
“We want to be clear and give valued public sector workers some certainty at a difficult time,” the government source added.
About 2,600 labour agreements covering more than 1 million workers in the broader public sector are up for negotiation.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is urging the premier to impose wage freezes by legislation now instead of waiting to see how talks play out.
The PCs have vowed to vote against the budget, forcing the government into the arms of the NDP support that will avert a summer election.
Duncan’s budget is slated to go to a vote in the legislature on June 20, following last week’s deal to grant five days of public hearings on the budget and three extra days for the legislative committee probing the ORNGE air ambulance scandal.
Under a previous budget deal, Horwath won a new tax bracket for people earning over $500,000 a year, along with other concessions.
The implications of the shift on privatization for the government’s schedule to trim its red ink were not immediately clear, but Duncan has promised to eliminate the deficit in five years.
Last February, Duncan said the government was looking to save money by privatizing more services, with businesses able to offer them more cheaply on the Internet and otherwise unencumbered by higher public sector wage and benefit payouts.
For example, two-thirds of Service Ontario operations are now privatized with online transactions costing $1 each, much lower than the $3 to $8 per transaction conducted in person, such as renewing a driver’s licence or getting a birth certificate.
In his report on public financing, former TD Bank economist Don Drummond warned the deficit could grow to $30 billion in five years unless drastic steps were taken to cut costs.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Rob Ferguson
The move is seen as a sop to the New Democrats, who hold the balance of power at Queen’s Park, as the government struggles to eliminate a $15-billion deficit and avoid further credit downgrades.
“It’s a bit of a shift but one that strikes a balance,” a senior government source told the Star on Sunday.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said last week she was concerned about the lack of public oversight for services to be privatized in the budget legislation and demanded hearings to ensure greater “transparency.”
“We do have to do our due diligence and make sure that we’re looking after the interest of the public,” she told reporters.
Until recently, Duncan had promised the government would not go into privatizations beyond the sale and leaseback of eight government buildings, winding down the Ontario Northland Transportation Corporation serving northern Ontario, and allowing more private sector involvement in casinos through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
The change of position on privatizations, which follows another budget deal with the NDP and Progressive Conservatives just days ago, will come in the form of an amendment to Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s 327-page fiscal blueprint.
The amendment is also intended as an olive branch to public sector workers worried about losing their jobs with more privatizations at the same time as McGuinty seeks to impose wage freezes on them through contract talks.
“We want to be clear and give valued public sector workers some certainty at a difficult time,” the government source added.
About 2,600 labour agreements covering more than 1 million workers in the broader public sector are up for negotiation.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is urging the premier to impose wage freezes by legislation now instead of waiting to see how talks play out.
The PCs have vowed to vote against the budget, forcing the government into the arms of the NDP support that will avert a summer election.
Duncan’s budget is slated to go to a vote in the legislature on June 20, following last week’s deal to grant five days of public hearings on the budget and three extra days for the legislative committee probing the ORNGE air ambulance scandal.
Under a previous budget deal, Horwath won a new tax bracket for people earning over $500,000 a year, along with other concessions.
The implications of the shift on privatization for the government’s schedule to trim its red ink were not immediately clear, but Duncan has promised to eliminate the deficit in five years.
Last February, Duncan said the government was looking to save money by privatizing more services, with businesses able to offer them more cheaply on the Internet and otherwise unencumbered by higher public sector wage and benefit payouts.
For example, two-thirds of Service Ontario operations are now privatized with online transactions costing $1 each, much lower than the $3 to $8 per transaction conducted in person, such as renewing a driver’s licence or getting a birth certificate.
In his report on public financing, former TD Bank economist Don Drummond warned the deficit could grow to $30 billion in five years unless drastic steps were taken to cut costs.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Rob Ferguson
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