OTTAWA - Since his election, Stephen Harper has been plagued by a creeping accountability gap. Dropped balls and broken promises on Senate reform, clean air, women's equality and open and transparent government - to mention but a few - have widened the gap between Conservative pledges and practices. That gap is about to get blown wide open, as Harper's Conservatives drop a privatization bomb on Canadian infrastructure.

In November, Transport, Infrastructure and Communities minister Lawrence Cannon launched a new federal push for P3 roads, bridges and other community infrastructure, including a highway linking Windsor and Detroit. Embracing P3s is a dangerous move for Harper in light of Canadian and international experiences that raise significant accountability concerns. A government as focused on efficiency as Harper's should be concerned that P3s cost more than publicly financed projects. It is as simple as the private sector not being able to borrow as cheaply as governments.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has called P3s "fascinating financial arrangements." This fascination doesn't come cheap. PEI's Confederation Bridge, cited as a successful P3, cost $45 million more because it was financed privately. Private financing of Winnipeg's Charleswood Bridge added an extra $1.4 million in present value costs to the project's $11.6 million cost. Multiply that level of added cost by the number of bridges and highways needing repair or waiting to be built and the result is a staggering misuse of tax dollars.

Harper and the Conservatives should look to their British counterparts, who are up in arms about the high price of privately-financed hospitals. The hospital scheme, first introduced by the Conservatives, will cost Britons an extra 45 billion pounds sterling over the next three decades. According to the Tories, private contractors will make a 540 per cent return on investment on hospitals worth 8 billion pounds sterling.

P3 proponents have tried to shift the goalposts, admitting the schemes cost more but arguing they deliver better service. Again, experiences from Australia, Britain and Canada tell another story - from the number of beds lost in British P3 hospitals to Hamilton, Ontario's failed sewage treatment P3.

Beyond their financial pitfalls, P3s run counter to the Harper government's pledge to increase openness, transparency and oversight in government. Far from being open to public scrutiny, P3s are shrouded in secrecy - leaving elected officials and concerned citizens in the dark and out of the loop. The lack of transparency built into P3 procurement makes public scrutiny of these projects -- including an independent value for money comparison and effective oversight - impossible.

When elected officials responsible for the final decision on a $2 billion rapid transit line between the Richmond Airport and Vancouver tried to access crucial documents related to the project, including a financial feasibility study and business case analysis, they ran into a P3-imposed wall of secrecy. In Ontario, health groups have waged a long court battle to get basic financial information about a P3 hospital - information that should have been readily available if it was a public project. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives as well as the Liberal Party rejected CUPE's proposals to increase the transparency and accountability of contracts, privatization and P3s deals as part of their proposed Federal Accountability Act.

The Conservatives certainly aren't alone when they push P3s. They are stepping onto the same shaky ground as provinces like British Columbia, Ontario and Québec. Faced with a growing PR problem about P3s in British Columbia, the Campbell government has adopted a policy forcing BC municipalities, and other public institutions to accept P3s as the price of provincial support for major capital projects.

In Québec, the Charest government forced a law through the National Assembly creating a pro-P3 government agency. Here, as elsewhere, P3s are meeting resistance. Provincial plans to build up to 5,000 long term care spaces as P3s have stalled since the board of a Québec City-area long term care facility rejected a P3. The new centre would have cost $14.4 million more as a P3, while delivering lower quality service.

In Ontario, the McGuinty Liberals are hiding a broken election promise by rebranding P3s as "Alternative Financing and Procurement". The Liberals also tried to fly under the radar on P3s while in power federally - publicly saying little while quietly attaching P3 strings to infrastructure dollars. Their Conservative successors are taking a much more brazen approach.

Those pushing public-private partnerships for Canadian infrastructure acknowledge Canadians are suspicious about P3s - and chalk it up to a communications problem. They underestimate the Canadian public. When Canadians learn the truth about what P3s entail, they reject these schemes that waste tax dollars and diminish democracy.

Paul Moist is national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, representing 550,000 workers providing public services in communities across Canada.

OTTAWA - A pro-privatization group's latest poll doesn't ask crucial questions about transparency, oversight and public scrutiny of secret P3 deals.

"This poll leads Canadians down the garden path. It flags the infrastructure crisis and then promotes P3s as the 'solution'. Let's give Canadians the whole story. P3s develop and operate under an undemocratic cone of secrecy. Canadians have a right to decide how their tax dollars are spent, and how their services are run," says CUPE National President Paul Moist.

The Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships' poll asks selective and hypothetical questions about privatization of public services, including water, hospitals, roads and other community infrastructure. The poll's central question assumes P3s don't come with access, cost and quality concerns - a major stretch, considering experiences in Canada, Australia and Britain. "Canadians are being backed into a corner and told there's no alternative to private sector financing and delivery," says Moist. "Canadians don't want deals that are structured to prevent public scrutiny."

"It's no surprise P3 pushers want to huddle behind the cloak of commercial confidentiality. When the facts do get out, P3s are revealed for the bad deals they are," says Moist.

"P3s leave citizens and decision-makers in the dark. Canadians deserve full disclosure of P3 deals before we get locked into decades-long contracts that cost more and deliver less."

In Ontario, health groups have gone to court to get basic financial information about a P3 hospital. In Vancouver, elected officials responsible for the final decision on a $2 billion rapid transit line were denied access to key documents underpinning the project.

The Harper government is renewing its push to privatize services through P3s, a move that will widen the Conservative's ever-growing accountability gap, says Moist.

"With a $13 billion surplus, it's clear we don't need to sacrifice public control to strengthen infrastructure and services. We can keep services in public hands, controlled by democratically-elected governments, not private companies," says Moist.

"When we observe that justice is being eroded and laws reduced to punishment, we believe we must speak out," writes United Church Moderator David Giuliano.

TORONTO - The United Church of Canada is calling on the Canadian government to withdraw legislation to amend Canada's Criminal Code because, says the church, "Bill C-9 plays only to people's fears."

"The proposed legislation to curtail conditional sentencing will hurt real people and real communities," says the United Church's Moderator, the Right Rev. David Giuliano. "We are committed to justice that serves the community and concerned about the reactionary and simplistic premise of Bill C-9, a bill that effectively handcuffs judges."

In a letter sent to all members of the House of Commons and the Senate, Giuliano writes, "We believe that Bill C-9 - which denies access to conditional sentencing for the 160 offences that carry a maximum of 10 years - is poorly designed. It plays to the sound and fury audience, but signifies next to nothing. It does not contribute to safer communities, allow for rehabilitation of the offender, or redress the victim."

Heather Macdonald is The United Church of Canada's program coordinator for restorative justice. She explains that in many of the church's outreach ministries across Canada, the United Church has witnessed positive results from the discretionary application of conditional sentences.

Macdonald adds that the United Church believes sanctions should fit the circumstances of the crime, the offender, and the victim. She says that sentencing should adhere to five goals: denouncing, deterring, separating, victim redress, and rehabilitation.

"As a church, we have always felt that the last two deserve prime consideration and offer the greatest promise to the community," says Macdonald. "If judicial discretion is removed and sentencing reduced to incarceration, the only sector to benefit is the penal industry. Justice is not served by construction of correctional empires or by automatic, simplistic responses. Separated communities are not safer communities."

OTTAWA - Recent U.S. legislative and enforcement changes have re-opened access by American patients to Canadian prescription drugs by personal "foot-traffic" importation, as well as by Internet and mail-order. What are the implications for the security of Canada's drug supply? What is the threat to the health and safety of Canadians? Will the dramatic power shift to Democrats in Congress bring solutions - or an escalation of the problems? Marc Kealey, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists' Association, puts these developments in perspective and spells out the challenges facing Canada's health-care decision-makers.

What: Marc Kealey luncheon speech to the Rotary Club of Ottawa.
When: Monday, November 13, 2006
1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Where: National Press Club
165 Sparks Street, 2nd Floor, Ottawa

The Ontario Pharmacists' Association is the professional advocacy association representing the views and interests of 10,000 practicing pharmacists and pharmacists-in-training in Canada's largest province.

Invitation:
Join us for a tour of this manufacturer of unsaturated polyester type products and specialized resins, powders and coatings for the composites industry.

Please Note: The tour of this facility includes a number of stairs to climb. There will be no high heeled or open toed shoes allowed.

WHEN: Tuesday October 24, 2006

5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: AOC Resins & Coatings Company

38 Royal Road, Guelph

COST: Members: $10.00 Prepaid or $15.00 at the door

Non-Members: $25.00 Prepaid or $30.00 at the door

(All prices include GST)

For a registration form please call the chamber at (519) 822-8081 or register on-line by clicking October BA5 Registration now.

OTTAWA - Canada's Certified General Accountants urge the federal government to improve Canada's productivity by reducing businesses taxes and reforming regulatory structures. Today, representatives of the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada) will deliver remarks to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance as part of the pre-budget consultation process.

In its submission, Canada's Competitive Edge: Honing Growth and Productivity, CGA-Canada recommends several measures that would enhance Canada's business climate including reducing businesses taxes and introducing a more efficient regulatory framework.

"Canada's productivity is dependent on a competitive tax system," said CGA-Canada President and CEO Anthony Ariganello, CPA (Delaware), FCGA. "The government needs to accelerate the introduction of those corporate taxes reductions previously announced; reduce even further the corporate income tax rate; reduce the small business rate from 12 per cent to 11 per cent; and ensure that capital cost allowance rates in Canada are appropriately aligned with the true life of the relevant asset," added Ariganello.

CGA-Canada also calls for regulatory reform to ensure Canada's future economic growth. "Canadian businesses are burdened by the cost, complexity and sheer volume of regulations that hamper productivity," said Ariganello. "The government should streamline the regulatory regime in an effort to reduce the compliance burden on businesses," added Ariganello.

CGAs advocate that all new programs and policies be subjected to a regulatory burden assessment. The result of this assessment would be shared with individual Canadians and businesses in the form of a regulatory impact statement.

CGA-Canada also recommends simplifying the tax structure as well as introducing a consistent tax compliance system which would increase efficiency in the application of tax regulations. "High regulatory standards, along with their consistent and efficient enforcement would go a considerable way toward improving the current business environment," concluded Ariganello.

CGAs believe implementing these recommendations would give Canadians the competitive edge they need to do business and prosper on the world stage. CGA-Canada's pre-budget submission can be read at www.cga-online.org/canada.