Fairly quietly, in every province across Canada, our public Medicare system is being undermined. Medical corporations see big opportunities for profits, but can the public afford the services? And are wait times really cut by private health care?

In the largest study of its kind the Ontario Health Coalition looks at how Medicare is being eroded:

One of the Campbell government’s first privatization binges came in 2002 when they fired thousands of hospital support staff workers and contracted the work out to international corporations. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives looked at the result and found that 8,500 people, mostly women, lost their jobs. The companies hired replacements and cut their wages by one third. The authors talked to these women about the impact on their families and their lives:

As public sector workers, CUPE members understand how important the services we provide are to our communities. And we also see many of our employers – whether they’re local governments, boards of education or universities – looking at the possibility of privatizing these services.

Our employers are too often taken in by arguments that privatizing services will be more efficient, will save money and will be more innovative. Instead, there is growing evidence that privatizing services actually costs more in the long run and provides less service to the public.

The City of Kitchener, Ontario, has decided to buy the Sportsworld Twin Pad Arena for $8 million, less than five years after the facility was constructed with a public-private partnership in mind.

Council made the decision this week after the current owners indicated they did not want to be in the arena business any longer.

City officials feared the arena could be demolished and redeveloped as commercial space if they didn't act.

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The Campbell government made big promises about a public-private partnership for the Port Mann Bridge. But the deal fell apart and the government pulled the plug on the P3. The result? Gordon Campbell’s privatization enforcer, Larry Blain, says going public will save $200 million.

Read all about in the Surrey News Leader

CUPE BC says Campbell gov’t made big mistake by issuing RFP to manage trade deal

BURNABY—The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the B.C. government has crossed the line by contracting out management of the Trade Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) to a private corporation.

The website Public Eye Online yesterday revealed that B.C. and Alberta plan to outsource the work and have issued a Request for Proposal to find a “neutral party” to manage the TILMA secretariat.

VICTORIA—In advance of World Water Day 2009, the Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition hosted a well-attended public forum to discuss new sewage treatment in the Capital Regional District, privatization and public-private partnerships (P3s).

The British Columbia government will borrow to pay for a $2.5 billion bridge expansion itself, after shaky P3 financing collapsed last week.

VANCOUVER—In a report released today, B.C.’s most respected forensic accountant, Ron Parks, along with his colleague Rosanne Terhart, find that public private partnerships (P3s) are costly for taxpayers.

BURNABY—In response to a report released by Ontario’s auditor general that finds taxpayers paid a high premium for a public-private partnership (P3) hospital in Brampton, CUPE BC has renewed its call for B.C.’s auditor general to take a stronger role in reviewing, recommending and reporting on P3 projects.