[Whoaccio]

The following companies should be privatized:

Ontario Lottery Gaming Corp: This one has always puzzled me. It is pretty clear that anybody with a pair of dice and some chips could become a casino of sorts, so it can't be that Ontarians need a Crown Corp to let us gamble. The Casino divisions could easily be privatized to private sector partners, as could the lottery and slots division. As long as the goverment retained a kind of licensing and regulatory committe to make sure guidelines were followed, where is the downside? We also know this one is managed like crap.

Canada Post: Uhh, it's called email. We don't need a public sector monopoly on this sunset industry.

Hydro Quebec: I have no standing on this as an Ontario resident, but this thing is an easy target. It is an open secret that the it is organizationally inept, politically dominated and otherwise incompetent. Its estimated to have an EV in the 20-180b range, and is just a financial drain on competitive parts of Quebec. As an Ontarian, their subsidized power generation also seems counter to the spirit of national free trade. As an environmentalist, they keep building projects they don't at all need, pointlessly scarring much of Northern Quebec, so as to keep politically sensitive regions happy. (Manitoba has a similar get up, don't know enough about it though).

SaskTel: Government owned communications companies are a bit 1980s.

Highways: There is no official crown corp for this, but most highways could easily be monetized by relevant governments. The total value of the 400 series highway system alone would be in the tens of billions, if not hundreds. Privatizing them would decrease congestion and environmental harms associated with zero-cost road consumption.

LCBO: We clearly don't need some kind of Mother-corporation in order to stop Ontarian's from doing Jaeger bombs on street corners. The LCBO has billions in inefficiently deployed resources (i.e. parking lots in urban areas) that could be sold at a premium. Simply moving to competitive auction prices for alcohol licenses could boost revenue intake significantly.

CBC: Specifically, commercial broadcasting. We should redefine it as a broadcaster providing what commercial broadcasting "can't." Educational programming, for instance, or more specifically non-commercial than the status quo. I don't really think it is necessary to subsidize them to broadcast Jeoperdy! though.

Feel free to throw out any activities you think should be privatized. Alternatively, throw out any private companies you think should be nationalized.

 

[afransen]

Canada Post could benefit from extensive outsourcing. I'm not sure it makes sense to completely deregulate mail delivery, so either we have a highly regulated 'private' firm (with guaranteed profits), or we have a crown corp. Paper mail isn't going anywhere, to be clear. Mail volumes have been steadily increasing.

Funny you mentioned Hydro Quebec and neither Hydro One or OPG. These, again, likely could benefit from extensive outsourcing. However, I'm not sure we could get large enough corporations interested in signing contracts that would not simply become insolvent if the contract didn't go their way (counterparty risk).

LCBO: I'm coming around the opinion that we should begin liberalizing alcohol sales. Beer and wine convince me more easily (the Beer Store is a pretty egregious monopoly). I could see these being sold in well-audited corner stores. But realistically, when there are so many outlets it would become incredibly easy for minors to purchase alcohol. Thus, it's probably wise to limit spirit sales to larger, dedicated stores. It's harder to give yourself alcohol poisoning with Bud Light...

 

[kEiThZ]

Deutsche Post is privatized and they seem to be doing quite well. I am not sure I support the privatization of Canada Post. However, I hate it when people say that privatization would result in the collapse of mail delivery.

 

[kEiThZ]

As a military member I would not mind getting a bigger paycheque from a private company....oh wait they call that company Blackwater....yikes!

 

[GraphicMatt]

The following companies should be privatized:

Ontario Lottery Gaming Corp: This one has always puzzled me. It is pretty clear that anybody with a pair of dice and some chips could become a casino of sorts, so it can't be that Ontarians need a Crown Corp to let us gamble. The Casino divisions could easily be privatized to private sector partners, as could the lottery and slots division. As long as the goverment retained a kind of licensing and regulatory committe to make sure guidelines were followed, where is the downside? We also know this one is managed like crap.

I'm neutral on this one, since I don't think it really matters. State-owned lottery corporations exist all over because they can be big money-makers, if managed well. Theoretically, isn't it better that the government makes money off lottery proceeds and funnels that cash back into public services, as opposed to GeneriCorp giving some CEO an extra billion dollars a year?

Canada Post: Uhh, it's called email. We don't need a public sector monopoly on this sunset industry.

The issue is that, especially in Canada, there are towns that private delivery companies like FedEx are unlikely to bother with. Like the railroads, mail delivery EVERYWHERE was a critically important piece of infrastructure in the early days of nation building.

Canada Post should operate at a profit, anyway. (And I think it does. See here: http://www.canadapost.ca/corporate/...annual_cost_study_contribution_analysis-e.pdf) If it doesn't, raise stamp prices.

SaskTel: Government owned communications companies are a bit 1980s.

SaskTel has some of the lowest prices on phone/internet/television in Canada. Were they to go private tomorrow, they'd undoubtedly be bought up by Bell or Rogers. The duopoly Canadians face in the telecommunications industry needs to be addressed first and foremost. (ESPECIALLY if Bell and Telus end up merging.)

Highways: There is no official crown corp for this, but most highways could easily be monetized by relevant governments. The total value of the 400 series highway system alone would be in the tens of billions, if not hundreds. Privatizing them would decrease congestion and environmental harms associated with zero-cost road consumption.

Why do we need to privatize to toll the roads? Wouldn't it be better if toll revenue went back to the public? Selling highways for a one-time huge pay-out is a dumbass idea.

You could contract out toll collection, though. That'd be a smart move.

LCBO: We clearly don't need some kind of Mother-corporation in order to stop Ontarian's from doing Jaeger bombs on street corners. The LCBO has billions in inefficiently deployed resources (i.e. parking lots in urban areas) that could be sold at a premium. Simply moving to competitive auction prices for alcohol licenses could boost revenue intake significantly.

Sure can. Of the two Ontario alcohol distributors, though, the Beer Store is far more offensive.

CBC: Specifically, commercial broadcasting. We should redefine it as a broadcaster providing what commercial broadcasting "can't." Educational programming, for instance, or more specifically non-commercial than the status quo. I don't really think it is necessary to subsidize them to broadcast Jeoperdy! though.

CBCTV is a mess these days, you'll get no argument from me. (Buying the TV rights to movies like "Wild Hogs"? Really?) I'd love them to completely overhaul the current TV line-up and instead go commercial free with lower-budget programs more similar to what you hear on CBC Radio. Local commentary, bits of culture, new music, comedy, etc. Trying to compete with CTV is such a dumb idea.

Feel free to throw out any activities you think should be privatized. Alternatively, throw out any private companies you think should be nationalized.

I think the government should offer baseline wireless broadband internet service to every Canadian. The educational, economic and civic benefits to universal internet access are just now starting to become apparent and moves like this would go a long way to making Canada a leader in innovation.

Also, the Government of Ontario should sell off Ontario Place. Or give it to The City and make it more of a public space.

Is Green P parking owned by a government? Because I always thought it was ridiculous that they had a goddamned marketing budget with radio ads. Like someone is going to choose a parking lot for any reason beyond cost and availability.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Canada Post: Uhh, it's called email. We don't need a public sector monopoly on this sunset industry.

Oddly enough Canada Post has branch out to other business over the years other that just mail. They own 91% of Purolator Courier Ltd and for awhile they had a I.T company that help other small business setup their I.T Infrastructure(if i could find the link).

LCBO: We clearly don't need some kind of Mother-corporation in order to stop Ontarian's from doing Jaeger bombs on street corners. The LCBO has billions in inefficiently deployed resources (i.e. parking lots in urban areas) that could be sold at a premium. Simply moving to competitive auction prices for alcohol licenses could boost revenue intake significantly.

The problem of privatizing the LCBO was that the province could make a ~$12 Billion dollars in one time profit. However they would lose ~$2 Billion in yearly revenue for the province. They did at one point look at easing access to alcohol licenses, but it seems to have died off. Probably groups like MADD put a stop to it.

 

[CDL.TO]

Is Green P parking owned by a government? Because I always thought it was ridiculous that they had a goddamned marketing budget with radio ads. Like someone is going to choose a parking lot for any reason beyond cost and availability.

Green P is the marketing name for Toronto Municipal parking, owned by the city.

I get the feeling that Green P advertising is meant to be like Transport for London ads or old TTC ads. They're meant to encourage people to go out patronize local stores and restaurants by reminding people that finding parking in locations that don't have big, free parking lots shouldn't a hassle because of the presence of Green P lots.

 

[Northern Light]

No Sale

The argument for most of these privatizations is No Sale.

I am opposed to nanny-statism and wasting tax-payer dollars, but in most cases these issues just don't appy to the states assets.

Let's deal with these:

Canada Post

There is a natural monopoly here for a specific reason, the rural routes of Canada Post do not, and never could make any money. The cost of sending mail to the North-West Territories or Timmins for that matter, basically means the mail loses money before it ever arrives in the City in question, never mind local delivery.

A privatized service would make a stamp to send mail to remote places $5.00 for a letter!

Instead, we pair those money-losing routes with all the money-making ones (like mail within Southern Ontario); and in turn, Canada Post actually produces a profit, while selling a highly desirable/needed service, everywhere that it is needed.

No Private company would agree to deliver mail at a loss, unless they were guaranteed the very same monopoly on the money-making operation as Canada Post.

So No Sale.

***

CBC

While I would fully agree we ought not to subsidize Jeopardy; we don't

So its a moot point.

The excess revenue (or profit) generated by a show like Jeopardy goes to subsidize news operations, arts programming, and Commercial-Free CBC Radio.

If you wish to remove U.S. shows from the schedule, you have my full support! However, the reduced profit means you need about another $450,000,000 in subsidy to balance the books. I'm sending the bill to your house!

*******

LCBO

Again, this one makes a big profit for the government.

In returned almost $2,000,000,000 (that's billions) profit back to the government last year.

Now I absolutely would like to see better hours, more locations, and selective lower prices (like 10% off on a case!) but there is no reason that can't be done within the existing system.

If we privatize it AS A Monopoly its worth about $30 Billion (or 15 years forward profit)

But if your aim in privatization is to eliminate the monopoly with an eye to competition forcing lower margins and sales in grocery stores that would likely make the LCBOs smaller locations dead weight assets; then the value plummets.

Its difficult to say how much it would be worth under the above conditions, but I think its safe to assume you are looking at 60% discounted value at best or about $12 Billion.

That makes the sale of this chain extremely unprofitable over even a 10 year time horizon, and the likely reduction gov't revenue means a likely increase in taxes! No thanks..

No Sale

**********

AGCO

Badly run?

You sure?

Extravagant expenses sure, some dubious contract awards, no doubt....

BUT....it turned in a 1,800,000,000 (billion) profit last year.......

Again, the problem of sale is, the corp. is worth lots of money if you sell it as a monopoly. But if you lifted monopoly restrictions, its next to worthless on the lottery side of the operation (the Casinos would retain some value)

Finally, on the AGCO, the casinos are already private partnerships run by major U.S. casinos, they pay a fixed percentage to the gov't and keep a cut as 'the operator'.

**********

400-series highways, Tolled, sure, absolutely, tomorrow, please!

Sold, no. The sales process is messy. For instance, what if you sold the 401 and some intelligent business noticed that it passed right through Toronto and occupied over 2,000 acres of land? I can see the rezoning application now, ......request rezoning to residential/commercial, permission for 700 30-storey towers,......


If you impose as a condition of sale that the highway can't be closed, developed, re-used, reduced, etc......then why privatize it, you are insuring it will managed just like it was as a public asset, except the public will now pay tolls to a private company!

I fail to see the benefit

No Sale

**********

Now....what would I like to see sold......

Public Housing, no strings, all at once, flood the market, drive down the cost of real estate by selling 100,000 units in Toronto all at once! Real Estate drops a good 30%, I will happily buy a nice home on the cheap!

We will have the problem of all those displaced people of course......

But that's another thread!

******

Note the person who asked about Green P...

They make a profit too; they paid the City about $27,000,000 last year in net profit.

 

[afransen]

^ Yes, yes. Many of these Crown Corps run 'profits' but that is often due to monopoly power and despite rather inefficient operation.

In the case of LCBO, if all you cared about was the $2 billion in revenue (and LCBO counts the alcohol tax as part of their 'profit'), then take $2 billion, divide it by alcohol consumption and slap that rate of tax on alcohol sales. There may be other reasons to keep the LCBO, but revenue is not a good one.

Canada Post may very well be charging much higher stamp rates than are strictly necessary, if there are inefficiencies in their operations. And I almost guarantee there are inefficiencies, in the form of unproductive, highly paid unionized labour. This is an opportunity for Canada Post to remain public, but run as a cost-minimizing firm--outsource mail distribution to private logistics operators, contract out mail delivery where it can be done cheaper by private operators.

I agree about the 400-series highways. I find it hard to imagine a scenario where it would make sense to sell these assets. Any firm looking to buy has to cover a much higher cost of capital than what the government faces, and still expects a return on investment of at least 8 - 10%. Why should government sell an asset that has such a yield? The only merit I would be able to see is that it would get toll rates out of the hands of politicians (to some extent--see 407). Maybe set up a truly arms-length crown corp to manage the highway system--I'm thinking as arms length as the CPPIB.

 

[lordmandeep]

No you should never sell highways, we always tend to undervalue what they are worth.

IMO the 401 is priceless and its so vital it should not be under control of a private firm.

The other smaller highways it does not matter, but important ones like 401, QEW and the 400 should stay with the govt.

 

[Long Island Mike]

Ontario Privatization...

Everyone: Interesting topic on what should and should not be privatized in Ontario - there are good points pro and con here but sometimes having the public sector do the job in a monopoly position is the best thing but competition does wonders for others - imagine how things would be today if the "evil empire" of the Bell System had not been broken up in the 80s?
Would cellphones be everywhere like they are today?
Living in NYS - one that allows grocery store beer sales and allows private liquor stores - I understand how Ontarians feel about Brewers Retail but realizing how much money they take in for Ontario I wonder though...
Thoughts from LI MIKE

 

[CodeMonkey]

In the case of LCBO, if all you cared about was the $2 billion in revenue (and LCBO counts the alcohol tax as part of their 'profit'), then take $2 billion, divide it by alcohol consumption and slap that rate of tax on alcohol sales. There may be other reasons to keep the LCBO, but revenue is not a good one.

LCBO revenue and alcohol tax are two different income sources. Yes, the LCBO does charge alcohol tax on their stuff, but so does The Beer Store or when you buy a beer at a pub.

The problem with alcohol tax is that if you privatize they will come back around arguing that the tax is killing their business and would want it reduced. So in the end the province and taxpayers don't win.

Just remember Mike Harris, the king of Privatization didn't go after the LCBO because in his mind "it made a profit and didn't require taxpayer money"

 

[urbandreamer]

Privatize the government!

 

[CodeMonkey]

Privatize the government!

They're already privatize.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

the sun!