Putting fox in charge of the henhouse
Re Bay St. titan tapped to help fix fiscal woes, April 12
Getting TD Bank CEO Ed Clark to advise the Ontario government on privatization is like getting the fox to guard the henhouse. And the fact that he won’t be paid is of little comfort — why should our tax money go to pay someone to do us harm? Privatization is happening all across Canada — from our health care, to prisons, education, to protecting the food we eat and the water we drink. In every case it is profit over public services. This means hiring fewer workers and demanding more from them. The only winners in this war are the corporations and their CEOs, of which Ed Clark is one. Clark’s compensation last year was $10.75 million, so he’ll be fine. The many thousands of children forced to get their food from food banks every month, or the hundreds of thousands of men and women struggling on a scandalously low minimum wage, not so much.
Bert Deveaux, Toronto We cannot afford another collaboration between the Ontario Liberal Party and Bay Street. We are still paying for this dynamic duo’s forays into privatization such as e-Health, ORNGE and cancelled power plants.
And, let’s not forget their greatest hit: corporate tax cuts, a policy that robbed the provincial treasury of revenue and delivered none of the promised job creation, other than Dwight Duncan’s new gig. With this track record, it is unlikely that any cash that may be wrung out of provincial assets will actually end up being applied toward the deficit or public services.
Steve Gora, Kingston