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 Why are Canadians speaking out brilliantly and passionately against "privatization through public private partnerships" while we in the USA appear to accept this fate without so much as a whimper? Perhaps it is because the privatization agenda is several years further advanced in Canada than in the USA and because the Canadian man or woman in the street is already staring straight into the neoliberal abyss. Here in the USA, that abyss is seemingly invisible except to those who are actively paying attention.
I have been paying attention. When I read the appended Canadian news release this morning, I saw a clear depiction of what is happening to our own National Park System, to the recreational policies affecting public lands management in general, and indeed to the transformation of America from a once-proud nation of citizens to a marketplace controlled by corporate interests and populated with passive, unthinking, consumers.
In the days ahead, pay careful attention to what the National Park Service is saying about "public private partnerships" "outcome-based management" and "client service culture". Pay careful attention to what the US Forest Service is saying about these things. Pay attention to what city, state and federal governmental agencies are saying about them. Pay attention to what the Wall Street Journal and Libertarian Think Tanks are
saying and then think back upon what you've read in the news release which follows.
We are nearer to the abyss than you may think and as we approach, we are speeding up, rather than slowing down.
Scott
PS... be sure to check out the Imagine Ottawa website. It is a wonderful example
of people pushing back and actively working forward a positive and democratic
future.
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CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
July 11, 2007
Attention News Editors:
City's "strategic directions" promote corporate culture over
citizenship - Group demands full public debate on merits of privatized
service delivery& infrastructure
OTTAWA, July 9 /CNW Telbec/ - The City of Ottawa needs the right tools
to build a healthy and inclusive city, not more privatization and
"partnerships" with business, Imagine Ottawa told City Council today,
hearing from the public on its draft report of "strategic directions".
"We need to upload services back to the province, not download them
onto community groups," said Shellie Bird of Imagine Ottawa. "We need
to grow the city budget for a growing city and we need to start
treating access to social services as democratic rights, not client
transactions. On the environment, we need to implement plans to
immediately address concerns, such as reducing our carbon emissions."
Christian Rouillard, University of Ottawa professor of public
administration, noted that the draft strategic directions diminish
citizenship but boost the commercialization of civic life.
"We want to work with Council to get them the funding they need to
delivers services, but we are discouraged by this report which seems to
suggest a 1990's style "outcome-based" corporate "client service
culture" as the model for service delivery," Rouillard said. "Such an
approach undermines the notion of our democratic right to quality
health and social services and meaningful participation in city
decision-making."
Bird said that the "corporate visioning" sessions were compromised from
the start, with the community having to fight to get the doors open in
the first place.
"Community consultation has been an afterthought from the beginning,"
Bird said. "This is reflected by the fact that the positive principles
and values of the Ottawa 20/20 have been dropped from the discussion.
Ottawa residents engaged in the Ottawa 20/20 process over a two-year
period, and this Council is turning their backs on them."
"This bad process, not surprisingly, has led to some dubious proposals
to meet the city's needs, including using "innovative alternatives" to
meet the city's social housing needs. This is code for privatization
and costly "partnerships" with business," Bird said.
"We demand a full-fledged public debate, including well-publicized
public forums, on the merits of private service delivery and private
ownership of services and municipal infrastructure," Bird said. "Before
we undertake one more public-private partnership, before there is any
further outsourcing and before more city staff are gapped, let's have
the debate."
For more on Imagine Ottawa, see www.imagineottawa.ca
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- Privatization 
