The federal Conservatives and Canada Post Corporation (CPC) might call P3s “Public‑Private‑Partnerships”, but for working families, P3s are all about privatization.

P3’s are another way of contracting out public services. Instead of governments and Crown corporations (like Canada Post) providing public services, the private sector gets involved in financing, designing, building, operating, and owning public services, facilities and infrastructure.

The federal Conservatives, P3s and the global economic meltdown

The federal Conservatives recently filled the top positions at PPP Canada Inc., a Crown corporation tasked to speed up the privatization of public services.

Communities suffering from the fall-out of the global financial crisis and in urgent need of public infrastructure funds will suffer unnecessarily because P3s are plagued by secrecy, lack of public accountability, legal disputes and lengthy time delays. Solid research also proves how P3s:

• cost more;
• lower the quality of public services;
• lower labour standards;
• harm local communities;
• create extremely complex negotiations and contracts;
• become subject to international trade deals.

P3s cost more

Public financing is less costly than private financing. Governments and Crown corporations can borrow money at a rate of interest that is lower than the rate available to private companies because governments and Crown Corporations have a better credit rating.

The private sector also always expects a profit which they work into lease payments they receive from governments. Private lease payments cost governments more than public debt repayment. So P3’s do not lower or avoid public debt in the long term. They simply hide public debt on some private company’s books – public debts which are deferred into long-term private sector leasing arrangements.

Canada Post and P3s

Canada Post recently appointed Jodie Parmar to focus on Public-Private Partnerships (P3s). He presented at the 16^th Annual P3 National Conference on November 25^th, 2008, in Toronto. There Mr. Parmar said that Canada Post intends to build more facilities and that if they are to be P3s then they will be full P3s, including private investors’ goals to design, build, finance, maintain (facility and equipment) and operate public postal facilities.

Our members (and the communities we serve) do not share that vision of the future of the public post office. In the coming months, we will need to expose P3s for the privatization schemes they are and convince Canada Post and the federal government to abandon their economic idiocy.