Mike Harris and the Ontario Conservative Party: CEOs of the Year?
Uploaded by TO28329 on Jun 25, 2001
Private universities, private jails, private health-care and private water testing. What do all of these things have in common? They are all services the Tory government in Ontario has been trying to privatize with some disastrous results and possibly more to come. The Ontario government, lead by Progressive Conservative leader Mike Harris, has been slowly trying to do away with services that are currently administered by the province. The ideology in question, privatization, has been a hallmark of the Common Sense revolution. But so far the Tories have been slow to make a success of it. Attempts to privatize the Liquor Control Board and TV Ontario were put on the back burner because of low public support. As well, privatizing hydro utilities has already led to charges of price gouging. But by far the biggest headache is coming from the public outcry over the deaths from the E-coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario. Regardless of who the Tories look to blame, the issue continually keeps coming back to the privatization of water labs by the province. Yet now, with these other efforts stalled or creating political turmoil, the government is pushing ahead with its prison agenda.
The first of the new “superjails” will be opened in Penetanguishine, a small rural community north of Toronto. This jail is slated to be home to the province's first privatized superjail and the issue has created a storm of controversy. In November of 1999, the Ministry of Corrections announced that the new 1200 bed facility would be turned over to the private sector, contrary to what the municipality had been previously told. Wayne Redditt is a member of a local citizen's committee opposed to the privatization venture. “The municipality entered into this deal because they thought they were going be getting a lot of good paying OPSEU (Ontario Public Sector Employees Union) jobs. People were told it was going to be a publicly run facility. Then after the election we are told that it will be private. People here didn't expect to be treated like guinea pig.” The Ministry of Corrections has defended themselves by stating there will be a strict code of standards imposed before private corporations are allowed to take control of the prisons. They have gone on to say that there will also be constant monitoring of the prison by ministry officials. This had done very little to quell public fear in...