Canada: No return to privatization! Defend public jobs and services!

In a move that would put Dr. Seuss’ Grinch to shame, the Ontario government gave Ontario workers a nasty surprise for the Christmas holidays—the renewed threat of mass privatization of public services across the province. When Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals were first elected in 2003, McGuinty promised that the bad old days of attacks and privatization that characterized Mike Harris’ “Common Sense Revolution” were finally over.

For years, we have been warning that when push came to shove, McGuinty would be ready to shed his “Mr. Nice” image and reveal the Liberals’ true class interests. The capitalist crisis has given him this opportunity.

In November, we predicted that it would be the working class that would be forced to pay for the $25 billion+ provincial deficit that the Liberals have incurred. This is a deficit that has largely been driven by bailouts towards the manufacturing bosses and in corporate tax cuts. But, even though all of the spending has gone towards the bosses, the Liberals are demanding that the workers pay to get out of this crisis!

The Globe and Mail reported that the Ontario government had hired consultants from CIBC World Markets and Goldman Sachs, two banks “with experience in privatizations,” to explore the market value of several crown corporations and agencies, and to develop “a blueprint for possible privatizations of agencies.” Among the agencies that appear to be on the block are Ontario Lotteries and Gaming (OLG), Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation (OPG), and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). If these privatizations go ahead, the effects would dwarf even the cutbacks and privatization that Ontarians witnessed under the Harris Tories.

Many have questioned whether the Liberals truly would sell these assets off considering that some of them, particularly OLG and the LCBO, are fantastically profitable for the government. Combined, OLG and the LCBO contributed nearly $4-billion in profit to the provincial treasury. However, the government is desperate for money to pay off the deficit and they are clearly unwilling to pass the bill onto Bay St. Moreover, there is a tremendous amount of pressure from the capitalist class to privatize these government entities. It has long been a dream of the bosses to break up and privatize the LCBO; the LCBO is estimated to be worth as much as $10-billion in the open market. For over a decade, both the Tories and Liberals have issued reports that have recommended that the LCBO be sold off to private interests.

However, as much as the government may desire to sell these Crown corporations, they may very well be stopped by working class mobilization. The memory of Mike Harris’ privatization schemes continues to resonate with most Ontarians. In fact, in just the last year alone, scandals involving eHealth and the private Highway 407 consortium have been constantly on the front page. In an ironic twist a couple of months ago, it was Dalton McGuinty who was lambasting the previous Conservative government for having privatized Highway 407 after the Toronto Star published an investigation that revealed the highway’s owners were charging criminal interest rates in a willy-nilly fashion. Some motorists who had not even driven on the toll highway would subsequently be charged thousands of dollars in penalties and not be allowed to renew their insurance unless they paid.

In addition, the Liberal government has sunk to new lows in the polls largely due to the introduction of the HST (harmonized sales tax) later this year. The HST would see the GST and PST be combined. Many goods and services that used to be exempt from one of the taxes will now have both taxes applied to them. Items that workers depend upon, such as small food purchases, heating fuel, and gasoline, will instantly become more expensive. The only beneficiaries of the new tax will be businesses. Even the government is expected to earn almost no new money from the HST. According to a December Angus Reid poll, Dalton McGuinty is now the second least popular premier (18% support) in the country after Alberta’s Ed Stelmach.

The future may look bleak but it is far from hopeless. If anything, the bosses are the ones who are most worried that all of their plans may not go forward. The Globe and Mail writes, “Bay Street sources said governments regularly look at asset sales without pulling the trigger and there is considerable skepticism among bankers that this time will be any different…. Any plan to sell Crown corporations that touch the lives of every Ontario voter would likely run into opposition on a number of fronts, including from unionized employees.”

It is little surprise, then, that governments at all levels have attempted to pit public-sector workers versus private-sector workers. McGuinty personified this by claiming that private-sector workers had borne the brunt of the economic crisis so far, and now it was the public-sector’s turn. The corporate media played this up in last summer’s civic workers’ strikes in Windsor and Toronto, as well. They asked why were public workers not willing to “sacrifice” like their private-sector counterparts?

Of course, private-sector workers were not asked whether they wanted to sacrifice pay, benefits, or their jobs for the well-being of their boss. In most cases, these workers have not been unionized and as such, had that “choice” made for them. In other cases (especially at the auto plants), the CAW leadership unfortunately caved into the pressure put on them by the Big Three and the government. However, the public sector unions have remained relatively strong with a relatively strong leadership that has (in most cases) refused to back down. This was certainly evidenced in the Toronto civic workers’ strike.

The strength and successes by public-sector workers are a source of strength and inspiration for all workers. The benefits that are won by one sector or one union can affect all workers. Similarly, a defeat for one sector or one union can mean defeat for the working class as a whole. The bosses and the government understand this and this is why their attacks are now focused on the public sector. As they did with the CAW (who used to be the strongest union in the country), they are now trying to break the public-sector unions so that they can weaken the working class as a whole. It is more important than ever that all workers unite to fight back against this program of attacks and privatizations that the Liberals are proposing.

The attacks on workers can be stopped through workers’ mobilization, and this is where the unions and the NDP need to step in. As this article is being written, a by-election in Toronto Centre-Rosedale has been called. The NDP has nominated Cathy Crowe, a very well-known street nurse who is seen as being on the left. Even though the riding contains neighbourhoods like Regent Park and St. Jamestown (two of Canada’s poorest neighbourhoods), the NDP has rarely polled well in this riding. A good showing based on stopping privatizations and defending public jobs and services would send a strong message to Dalton’s Liberals. The NDP won a Toronto by-election in 2007 because of their $10/hr minimum wage campaign, and it played a key role in forcing the Liberals to increase the provincial minimum wage in the following provincial election. If the NDP is able to successfully mobilize the working class and poor in Toronto Centre, it will go a long way in building momentum towards fighting privatization in Ontario.

However, this struggle is not going to be won through parliamentary arithmetic alone. The reality is that the Liberals still have a $25-billion deficit and they are going to make the workers pay for it, one way or another. The workers’ organizations need to start preparing now for mass demonstrations and if necessary, strike action, in order to defend the standards of living of the working class. Sid Ryan, the newly elected president of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), needs to act in accordance with his left-wing reputation and not sell out to the government. We can learn a lot from the Metro Days of Action in the late 1990s. This time it is vital that the workers control their leadership. A decisive struggle is in preparation.