Taxpayers will pay through the nose

There’s a lot of discussion now about the sorry state of our Provincial Exchequer and about possible ways to get out of the hole. One solution, say private sector representatives, would be to “partner” with private companies to offer services that have been provided hitherto by the public service.

This would, it is claimed, relieve some of the pressure on the public purse. Exactly how ordinary Newfoundlanders and Labradorians would benefit from such an arrangement has not been explained, and remains shrouded in mystery.

It is axiomatic that a private com- pany seeks to profit by everything it does, and I take leave to doubt that companies providing public services would do any differently. I doubt also that such an arrangement would cause the government to reduce our taxes, and the consumer would pay twice for the same services.

The private company’s constituency is its shareholders, and shareholders are well known to be a greedy group of individuals whose appetite for profits seems to increase automatically year by year. It would not surprise me to hear that a Conservative government was contemplating public-private part- nerships, but I would find it odd if a Liberal administration adopted that arrangement

Like most people, I have no new proposals to put forward, but I hope that the common hands are not going to be the ultimate losers. This province has, throughout its history, been exploited by families and companies eager to amass unearned wealth, and it is my hope that the Liberal government will act liberally, rather than encourage more exploitation by profit-oriented private businesses. Ed Healy Marystown