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News releaseMarch 11, 2004 P3s not in public interest, must be transparent: federal public service unionOTTAWA – The Public Service Alliance of Canada has filed 75 Access to Information requests with almost 50 government organizations in an effort to get to the bottom of the government's move to transfer important public services to the private sector. In his widely reported comments on P3's in the Feb. 9, 2004 , Ottawa Citizen , John McKay, the parliamentary secretary for Private Public Partnerships, said, “I'm astounded at the amount of P3 activity which is actually going on, which I wasn't aware of, and I'm impressed by the creativity that's going on between public and private partners.” A Public Private Partnership (P3) is a situation where a private firm is paid to design, build, own and finance facilities and/or infrastructure, work that has previously been done by the government; or where private industry will be paid to deliver services financed by the government. “Public Private Partnerships are not in the public interest,” says PSAC National President Nycole Turmel. “In the long run they cost more. Often the real costs are hidden because the government cannot audit the way private industry spends public funds.” The sponsorship scandal clearly demonstrates that the auditor general can only limit her enquiries to publicly delivered services. The PSAC's fight in favour of strong whistleblowing legislation and publicly delivered services are one and the same because privatization means a lack of accountability. The PSAC believes the information about P3s that Mr. McKay was referring to belongs in the public domain. The public has a right to find out how much more of their tax dollars are being spent outside the scrutiny of the auditor general. Public accountability can only be guaranteed if strong publicly delivered services are guaranteed. -30- Information: Alain Cossette, PSAC Communications, (613) 560-4317
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