If Jim Flaherty is Going to Start Selling us Off, we Have Some Demands

The Harper government has been releasing a lot of new policies the past few days, hoping everyone is too busy with the Holidays to notice. But one of them should be getting our attention.

Jim Flaherty announced that he would be selling off Canadian assets.

He and his colleagues did the same in Ontario when with the Mike Harris government. Valuable prime real estate was almost given away to his party's campaign contributors. Real Estate that we cannot afford to buy back.

A couple of examples from the Ontario Legislature debates at the time:

... I believe people should take responsibility for their actions, and today I want to speak to you about your actions in connection with some land deals in Ontario. In particular, on June 16, 1998, the Ontario government sold a piece of land in Brampton for $1.27 million. Six days later, that property was flipped for $3.92 million. That meant the taxpayers lost out on over $2.5 million in connection with that deal alone.

... Let's go on to the next deal. On March 29, 1999, the Ontario government sold land in Mississauga for $1.92 million. In November, that parcel was flipped for $4.39 million. From the speculator's perspective it was a flip, but from the taxpayers' perspective it was a flop. In that particular case, they lost out on $2.4 million.

... Here's another deal now. On March 3, 1999, you approved a sale of government property for $5 million. According to industry standards, that property should have been sold for $10 million.

I don't believe that this is the way to go, but we already know that what the neocons want, the neocons will get, so we must make a few demands, before the gavel is dropped. Not that they'll listen to us, but we should at least try.

1. That the Crown corporations are sold only to Canadian buyers.

2. That all jobs are protected and the unions kept intact. We are losing all of this country's good union jobs and it's going to have a devastating affect in the long term.

3. That all sales are transparent and Canadians are kept in the loop.

4. That prices given reflect fair market values, not fair to Conservative contributors' values. Canadians are not interested in Flaherty's buddies having a "flipping" good time ... again!