Mike Harris and the Ontario Conservative Party: CEOs of the Year?

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 the area.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, or OPSEU for short, which includes prison guards in its union, is also unimpressed with impending privatization of the Penetanguishine superjail. They feel the risk to staff in a private prison would be much greater than in a public facility. The Ministry of Corrections was hoping correctional officers from jails that were being replaced by the new superjail would be transferring to the privately run jails. According to OPSEU, only 24 of those correctional officers would transfer to a privately run facility, compared to 175 who would transfer to the Penetanguishine facility if it were still run by the province and the corrections ministry. Provincial correctional officer representative, Barry Scanlon, is not surprised by the lack of enthusiasm for the new private jails. “Our members are well aware of the inherent dangers of working in a maximum-security facility. Hardly any of them want to risk their lives in a jail run by a profit-driven corporation. There are just too many opportunities for cutting corners which will endanger lives.” There have been numerous horror stories about low pay, short staffing, assaults, murders and escapes from private prisons in the U.S. and Great Britain that will cause experienced public service correctional officers to quit correctional services rather than take the additional risks associated in a privatized facility. Letters have been sent to Premier Mike Harris on the privatization issue from many Ontarians from all walks of life asking him to dispose of the privatization of jails with little success. There was also a letter sent from Robert F. Hagan, a State Senator from Ohio, telling Premier Harris that private prisons did not work in his state and have not worked in other states. He believes the Premier should rethink the matter, but unfortunately he did not receive a response.

There are currently no Canadian companies in the private prison field, which means the most likely contenders are the American companies Wackenhut and CCA. Both of these companies have come under extreme fire across the United States for problems that have arisen in their prisons, including the grave mistreatment of inmates, excessive use of force and improperly trained prison staff. Brian Dawe, director of Corrections USA, says private prisons are there to make money, period. “If anybody in Ontario thinks there's going to be a board meeting at CCA headquarters in Nashville Tennessee or at Wackenhut head office in West Palm Beach Florida and the topic of conversation is `how do we keep the good folks of Ontario safe,' you're out of your mind. The only thing that will be mentioned is `why aren't we making enough money there. How do we cut corners?' Because the only thing the shareholders care about is making money and that's how this whole thing plays out”. In fact, many of the states that had implemented private prisons are now taking back control of those facilities. North Carolina became the latest in a number of states to take back control of prison populations from the private sector and there are certainly more states to follow.

The one question that everyone was asking the government, including OPSEU, was why they had decided to privatize prisons. It was clear from cases in the United States, Britain and Australia that private prisons were a safety risk, so they couldn’t use the excuse that the prisons were safer. Many started asking it the government was trying to save money by privatizing prisons, but this does not appear to be the reason either. The bottom like, according to Mary Lou Daniels, spokesperson for the Ministry of Community and Social Services, is that, “This was never meant to be a cost saving exercise. It was about the province getting out of the business of delivering services.” This begs the question, If the province doesn’t want to deliver any services, what’s the point in having a provincial government?

When Ms. Daniels mentioned “services”, she must have been talking about some of the other services the provincial government has been trying to relinquish from their control. The attempts to privatize the LCBO and TV Ontario have already failed or been put off indefinitely, but other privatization routes have gone through with some serious problems.

In the spring of 2000, residents in the small town of Walkerton, Ontario became ill due to high concentrations of e-coli in their drinking water. When all was said and done, 7 people were dead and dozens deathly ill from the contamination of their water source. The blame fell squarely on the shoulders of the Ontario provincial government and the Ministry of Environment. This was because water testing had been downloaded to municipalities where rules and testing cycles were not as heavily enforced as they had been when the province was doing the testing themselves. It was also a problem because certain municipalities did not have the funds, nor the resources to test the water as frequently as it had been tested before. This sparked an outrage from Ontario citizens because the problem with contamination was known long before the events in Walkerton had taken place.

Because of the tragedy, the Ontario government sought to implement new legislation that would ensure Ontarians had access to clean and safe drinking water. The Ontario Clean Water Agency was formed to ensure that testing was done properly by municipalities and funds would be available for more testing, but this still meant that the provincial government would not have sole control over the testing of drinking water and the upkeep of the facilities. The president of OPSEU, Leah Casselman, says the whole tragedy in Walkerton could have been avoided if the Harris government had not downloaded responsibility for water quality control to the municipalities in the first place. “Safe drinking water must be a provincial responsibility,” said Casselman. “Tragically, the Harris government has been anything but responsible. They’ve cut the Ministry of Environment budget by 42 per cent, laid off 900 staff, and told those who are left that they can’t perform surprise inspections because it’s too expensive. This is the price you pay for a tax break.” Casselman goes on to say, “The fact that the government has now put the Ontario Clean Water Agency in charge of the Walkerton water facilities is an admission that the safety of our water must be a provincial responsibility. Control and accountability for the quality of water should remain with a government agency. OPSEU represents 580 staff at the news Ontario Clean Water Agency and another 1100 at the Ministry of Environment. The cuts to the Ministry have meant that testing cannot be enforced, even with the new agency. Doug MacDougall, OPSEU chair of the Ministry of Environment’s Employees Relations Committee says the agency will fail because of a lack of funds. “It takes expert and qualified staff, not just the government’s deep desire to get out of a political crisis, to enforce this new regulation. The Harris government should immediately hire more staff on a permanent basis and bring back the specialized water inspection teams that used to inspect all water treatment plants in the province.” Since the Ontario Clean Water Agency is still in it’s infancy, it remains to be seen how effective it will actually be. Again, now that 7 people are dead and many others are still recovering for the effects of e-coli, not to mention the fact that the people of Walkerton have been without fresh, clean water for over 8 months, the hope is the government will come see the need for their intervention on such an important issue.

In what is sure to be another hotly and contested issue in Ontario, the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Diane Cunningham, announced a new and frightening development in the post-secondary education system in the province. Private universities will be allowed to set up shop in Ontario starting in the very near future and will be allowed to offer degrees for many different disciplines. The Post-secondary Education Choice and Excellence Act contains the legislation which would allow these changes to take place in the education system. The legislation has yet to be passed in the legislature, but plans are already being made as if it had been. This has made some Ontarians wary because it shows the signs of a two-tier education system (and not unlike the two-tier health system that many citizens fear is just around the corner). This act basically says if you have the money to pay for a degree, you can probably get one. Cunningham is pleased with the announcement, saying that it will help alleviate the predicted influx of university students when both OAC and Grade 12 students begin University in the same year. That is expected to happen in September 2002 and it is also expected that the private universities will be up and running at that point to help accommodate the large volume of students. “Our government is promoting excellence throughout the post-secondary system by giving students the opportunity to choose privately funded institutions,” said Cunningham. “Today’s announcement is an important step forward in improving quality of education in our colleges and universities.” This news does not sit well with members of OPSEU, which has 6500 members working as support staff in colleges and universities around the province. President of the Union, Leah Casselman, says if more money was put in to Universities and college today, there would be no need for private facilities. “Essentially, the post-secondary system in Ontario is a good public system, hampered by chronic under-funding.” There is also a worry by the union that private universities, while not funded by the government, would be allowed to use OSAP loans as tuition, which would essentially mean they are getting money from the government and profiting from public funds. OPSEU believes that if a student decides to attend a private institution, then they should foot the bill completely. “Our challenge is to ensure that post-secondary education survives in Ontario as a public system, answering to the people of Ontario,” Casselman adds.

Since the new private universities have not opened their doors at this point, it is hard to tell how detrimental they might be to the education system in the province of Ontario, but if predictions are right, people with money will be able to “buy” a degree without having to go through the stringent processes most publicly-funded universities abide by.

One of the last issues on privatization hits very close to the private health care nerve. Air ambulances will soon be privatized, much to the dismay of the 80 highly trained paramedics who use the crafts in their rescues. Ministry of Health officials met with paramedics in September of 2000 and gave them a week to decide if they will resign or stay on with a private company. Salaries and safety concerns are reasons why many of the paramedics have decided to leave. “I’ve already signed the severance package and I’ve told them I’m leaving,” said Darryl Taylor, a paramedic for 15 years and unit steward for OPSEU Local 628 at the Sudbury air ambulance base. The privatization is expected to take place in October of 2001 with all of the 35 full-time, permanent paramedics opting for the package, rather than working for a private company. Once again, the provincial Tories gave no reason for their need to privatize air ambulances, but this has many people worried. Air ambulances are a crucial part of the health-care system, especially in rural areas. If these can be privatized, can the health-care system be far behind?

There are concerns from people in various job-related positions around the province as to what privatization will mean for them. It would seem that there isn’t very much the Mike Harris Tories wouldn’t privatize at this point. Water treatment, correctional services, post-secondary education, public television, liquor stores and air ambulances have all been touched by the “privatization fever” that the Ontario provincial government has been implementing. What other service is next? Will there be private welfare firms doling out money and then taking your house if you don’t pay it back? Will there be two lines in the emergency room; One for the wealthy who can swipe their credit cards and one for the “others” who will use their health cards? Since these services have felt the pressure, you can be sure that it won’t be long before other important and crucial services in this province feel the pinch. In essence, if private corporations are going to be running all the services that the province of Ontario used to run, why bother having a provincial government? Maybe some day soon we’ll all be electing a CEO and not a premier.

Bibliography 1. Redditt, Wayne. Interview. HighGrader Magazine Summer 2000 2. Scanlon, Barry. Press Release. OPSEU Website Sept. 7, 2000 3. Dawe, Brian. Interview. HighGrader Magazine Summer 2000 4. Daniels, Mary Lou. Press Release. OPSEU Website Dec. 03, 1999. 5. Casselman, Leah. Press Release. OPSEU Website May 26, 2000. 6. MacDougall, Doug. Press Release. OPSEU Website Aug. 08, 2000 7. Cunningham, Diane. Interview. Ministry Website (Hansard) October 2000. 8. Casselman, Leah. Press Release. OPSEU Website June 23, 2000. 9. Taylor, Darryl. Press Release. OPSEU Website Sept. 21, 2000.