When private goes public – community wins

creynolds Article, Own Your NL, Privatization

Five years ago, the town of Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador, was facing problems with its privatized solid waste collection. Complaints were on the rise, and costs were headed in the same direction. In 2011, the town council voted to bring the service in house, ending 30 years of contracting-out. The CUPE local representing the town’s workers had worked tirelessly …

Five times provincial governments failed with P3 hospitals

creynolds Article, Fact Sheet, issues, Own Your NL, Privatization

A warning for taxpayers in Newfoundland and Labrador Time and time again provincial governments are forced to admit they were wrong to use public private partnerships (P3s) to construct health care facilities, costing taxpayers billions of dollars more than they would spend if those hospitals were publicly owned and constructed. Auditor Generals, researchers and journalists across Canada continue to report …

Letter: Red lights flashing — will Liberals heed the warning?

creynolds Article, issues, Opinion, Own Your NL, Privatization

The following letter to the editor by Wayne Lucas was published in The Telegram on February 2, 2017. In her Jan. 26 article entitled “N.L. Liberals follow PCs to P3s, but details scanty,” reporter Ashley Fitzpatrick shines a light on the Liberal government’s lack of transparency in their plans to use a P3 to design, construct, finance and maintain a …

Ball Government pushing ‘alternative facts’ through phony budget consultations

CUPE Article, issues

“It’s an alternative fact that the Ball Government is interested in listening to the public about what they want in their provincial budget,” says Wayne Lucas, president of CUPE Newfoundland Labrador. “There seems to be a trend in politics these days to promote your own hidden agenda using alternative facts,” says Lucas. “It’s an alternative fact that the consultations held …