104 replies to this topic

[nitronuts]

CBC, VIA Rail considered for auction block: Documents
http://www.ottawacit...2330/story.html

BY ANDREW MAYEDA, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
JUNE 1, 2009 6:49 PM

The CBC Windsor, Ont., office. The federal Department of Finance has flagged several prominent Crown corporations as 'not self-sustaining,' including the CBC, VIA Rail and the National Arts Centre, and has identified them as entities that could be sold.

OTTAWA — The federal Department of Finance has flagged several prominent Crown corporations as "not self-sustaining," including the CBC, VIA Rail and the National Arts Centre, and has identified them as entities that could be sold as part of the government's asset review, newly released documents show.

In its fiscal update last November, the government announced that it would launch a review of its Crown assets, including so-called enterprise Crown corporations, real estate and "other holdings."

Finance Department documents, obtained by Canwest News Service under the Access to Information Act, reveal that the review will focus on enterprise Crown corporations, which are not financially dependent on parliamentary subsidies. Such corporations include the Royal Canadian Mint and Ridley Terminals, which is a coal-shipping terminal in Prince Rupert, B.C.

But the documents also reveal that the government will consider privatizing Crown corporations that require public subsidies to stay afloat.

"The reviews will also examine other holdings in which the government competes directly with private enterprises, earn income from property or performs a commercial activity," states a Finance briefing note dated Dec. 2, 2008. "It includes Crown corporations that are not self-sustaining even though they are of a commercial nature."

In the briefing note, the Finance Department identifies nine Crown corporations that fall in that category, including Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the CBC and VIA Rail.

The government announced last week that it will split AECL in two and seek private-sector investors for the Crown corporation's CANDU nuclear-reactor business.

The Crown asset review comes as the government struggles to contain the country's deficit, now expected to top $50 billion this year. The Jan. 27 budget assumes that the government will be able to raise as much as $4 billion through asset sales by the end of March 2010.

The budget identified four federal departments whose Crown assets are being reviewed first: Finance, Indian and Northern Affairs, Natural Resources, and Transport and Infrastructure. VIA Rail is overseen by the Transport Department, while the CBC and the National Arts Centre fall under the portfolio of the Canadian Heritage department.

The Finance Department documents confirm that all government assets will eventually be reviewed.

Privatizations tend to work well when Crown corporations enter a reasonably competitive market with a good chance of turning a profit, said Aidan Vining, a professor of business and government relations at Simon Fraser University. Unlike successfully privatized firms such as Canadian National Railway, it's not clear that CBC and VIA Rail could operate as profitable ventures while maintaining the public mandates they provided as Crown corporations, he noted.

"They're not the classic privatization candidates, where you sell and walk away," said Vining, an expert in Crown corporation privatizations. "Unless, of course, you're prepared to fully withdraw from the public purpose (of the Crown corporation)."

Certainly, the sale of a flagship Crown asset such as the CBC would be politically controversial. After the CBC announced this spring that it would lay off hundreds of employees, opposition critics accused the government of turning a cold shoulder to the public broadcaster's struggles.

Under the Financial Administration Act, Parliament would have to approve the privatization of any Crown corporation. "It's hard to believe that some of these sales would go forward in a minority Parliament," said Vining.

The Finance Department has also begun to examine the government's vast real-estate portfolio, which includes 31 million hectares of land, and more than 46,000 buildings totalling 103 million square metres — more than double the office space available in the Greater Toronto Area, according to the Finance documents. The government's holdings are worth at least $17 billion, Finance officials estimate.

A briefing note labelled "secret" said that the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs acquired $7 million in surplus properties between 1998 and 2006 for potential use in land-claims deals. Over the same period, the properties cost $2 million to maintain. Divesting such properties could not only generate revenue for the government, but also cut "ongoing operations and maintenance costs," states the briefing note.

A Finance Department spokeswoman said the asset review won't necessarily lead to sales in all cases.

"Reviews will assess whether value could be created through changes to the assets' structure and ownership, and report on a wide set of options including the status quo, amendments to current mandates or governance," department spokeswoman Stephanie Rubec said in an e-mail. "In some cases, it may be concluded that selling an asset to a private sector entity may generate more economic activity and deliver greater value to taxpayers."


Crown corporations identified by the government as "not self-sustaining":

(Company name, commercial revenues, parliamentary subsidy, expenses)

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., $614.2 million, $285.3 million, $1.3 billion

CBC, $565.5 million, $1.1 billion, $1.7 billion

Cape Breton Development Corp., $5.1 million, $60 million, $94.1 million

Federal Bridge Corp. Ltd., $14.6 million, $31.0 million, $42.9 million

National Arts Centre Corp., $26.0 million, $40.6 million, $65.7 million

Old Port of Montreal Corp., $16.7 million, $15.1 million, $32.0 million

Parc Downsview Park Inc., not available, not available, not available

VIA Rail Canada Inc., $293.9 million, $266.2 million, $505.5 million

Source: Department of Finance, Public Accounts of Canada

Note: Financial results are for 2007-08[/b]

[Harbinger]

Election Election Election

[tom_1]

typical conservative action; selling off assets that bite you later down the road.

typical stupidity

give a failure, bankrupt AMERICAN company BILLIONS and sell off Canadian rare assets for peanuts.

Edited by tom_1, 01 June 2009 - 08:32 PM.

[nitronuts]

What's amazing is that selling off assets to balance your interim budgets makes sense to the Conservatives.



If you ask me, perhaps they intentionally created that $50-billion deficit so that they would have an excuse to kill crown corporations like the CBC.

[Harbinger]

nitronuts, on Jun 1 2009, 08:37 PM, said:

What's amazing is that selling off assets to balance your interim budgets makes sense to the Conservatives.



If you ask me, perhaps they intentionally created that $50-billion deficit so that they would have an excuse to kill crown corporations like the CBC.

Doesn't this remind you of what someone did in BC. I'm not going to mention names. short term gain for long term pain.

[F-View]

disgusting

[Donky]

Time to chop these numbnuts down. They better not privatize the CBC. That is the one entity that keeps this country a country. If that does not tell you these frackers are in the pocket of American business nothing will.

[nitronuts]

Harbinger, on Jun 1 2009, 08:38 PM, said:

Doesn't this remind you of what someone did in BC. I'm not going to mention names. short term gain for long term pain.

Well I never said I agreed with it, very much the contrary.

[Dazzle]

This reminds me of Deifenbaker and our long beloved Avro Arrow Project.

You guessed it, he was a conservative.

It's not a wonder why Canada is so weak compared to the States.

[Electro Rock]

nitronuts, on Jun 1 2009, 08:37 PM, said:

What's amazing is that selling off assets to balance your interim budgets makes sense to the Conservatives.



If you ask me, perhaps they intentionally created that $50-billion deficit so that they would have an excuse to kill crown corporations like the CBC.

I can't speak for the others but VIA Rail has been looked at as possible sale since the Trudeau years, and several of the others since Chretien and Martin's time. It's not a case of profit off the sale but saving a huge amount of money over time.

I would also like to point out that much of the $50B deficit was forced on the government by the Threesome.

[nitronuts]

^ the opposition parties did force the government to create a economic stimulus package which did result in much of the deficit we see today, but the Tories never planned for anything near a $50-billion deficit in merely a year. That $50B is double what they had planned.

And for the record, I'm all for the stimulus....but when the Tories aren't even willing to give CBC $100-million to save 800 jobs, that says a lot about their real intent.

[Electro Rock]

The CBC is an eastern centric liberal propaganda agency that happens to soak up a lot of money, I mean why wouldn't the Conservatives want to get rid of it?

[HockeyNut30]

Hike the GST to 8%, that's an extra $18 billion a year. 1% GST = 6 billion dollars per year!

[silverpig]

HockeyNut30, on Jun 1 2009, 10:50 PM, said:

Hike the GST to 8%, that's an extra $18 billion a year. 1% GST = 6 billion dollars per year!

How long has the GST been at 5% now as opposed to 7%? That's $12bn a year for however long... That'd make a nice dent in the deficit.

[sirejoe]

I think it's pretty damn pathetic that I am forced to live with this government that doesn't know its asss from a hole in the ground. They have already sold off so much stuff I'd be surprised if there was ANYTHING left by the time we got a real government back in power.

I'd take corrupt liberals over idiotic conservatives any day. All politicians are corrupt anyways. Hows that for optimistic view on our government?

[Hordichuk]

Good.

Crown corporations are absolutely useless.

When was the last time you took a VIA train? Watched a program on CBC other than hockey? Buy a beer at BC Place without standing in line for 20 minutes?

I know people will really get in my grill for this, but I really don't think that a government company is a good thing. They're run by morons at taxpayer expense, and you don't get a consumer vote.

Actually, when I do use my consumer vote and watch Corner Gas instead of Little Mosque on the Prairie, the country goes bankrupt.

Doesn't seem right.

[nitronuts]

Hordichuk, on Jun 1 2009, 11:51 PM, said:

Good.

Crown corporations are absolutely useless.

When was the last time you took a VIA train? Watched a program on CBC other than hockey? Buy a beer at BC Place without standing in line for 20 minutes?

I know people will really get in my grill for this, but I really don't think that a government company is a good thing. They're run by morons at taxpayer expense, and you don't get a consumer vote.

Actually, when I do use my consumer vote and watch Corner Gas instead of Little Mosque on the Prairie, the country goes bankrupt.

Doesn't seem right.

VIA is very useful in Ottawa and Quebec.

CBC has taken a huge fall over the last 20 years because of a lack in funding. Its budget has been almost stagnant in the last 20 years, there's only so much they can do with inflation and a massive mandate.

And BC Place....well, it was a product of the 1980's and it's getting the renovations it needs. But I will say that the morons in charge didn't have the foresight to get it all done in time for 2010. Like really, the largest show in this province's history and they ignored its centrepiece until 2006????

Edited by nitronuts, 02 June 2009 - 12:17 AM.

[Harbinger]

nitronuts, on Jun 2 2009, 12:16 AM, said:

VIA is very useful in Ottawa and Quebec.

CBC has taken a huge fall over the last 20 years because of a lack in funding. Its budget has been almost stagnant in the last 20 years, there's only so much they can do with inflation and a massive mandate.

And BC Place....well, it was a product of the 1980's and it's getting the renovations it needs. But I will say that the morons in charge didn't have the foresight to get it all done in time for 2010. Like really, the largest show in this province's history and they ignored its centrepiece until 2006????

The centerpiece of the province is not a building. It's its sky line.

[nitronuts]

Harbinger, on Jun 2 2009, 12:25 AM, said:

The centerpiece of the province is not a building. It's its sky line.

The centrepiece of the Olympics is the Olympic Stadium....and evenmoreso with 2010 with the Olympic Stadium being the first ever in Winter Games history to also be the nightly medals ceremony venue.

[Harbinger]

nitronuts, on Jun 2 2009, 12:27 AM, said:

The centrepiece of the Olympics is the Olympic Stadium....and evenmoreso with 2010 with the Olympic Stadium being the first ever in Winter Games history to also be the nightly medals ceremony venue.

What is Olympic stadium?

[nitronuts]

BC Place.

[Harbinger]

nitronuts, on Jun 2 2009, 12:37 AM, said:

BC Place.

Well that's strange. It already has a name. I'm guessing this has to do with some sort of Olympic naming rights thing. It would be a shame if The province paying for the games isn't allowed to have it's name on a venue.

[Harbinger]

What are they calling GM place during the Olympics. I'm sure Bankrupt place doesn't cut it.

[nitronuts]

No, BC Place will remain as BC Place during 2010. But the stadium that hosts the opening and closing ceremonies (and in the summer edition, athletics as well) is called the Olympic Stadium. The host city might refer to it as something else, but it's the Olympic Stadium...akin to saying GM Place is the ice hockey venue. The Bird's Nest in Beijing was called "National Stadium", in Sydney during 2000 they called their 110,000-seater as "Stadium Australia", and in Athens it was OAKA.

As for GM Place, it's being dubbed as Canada Hockey Place.

Edited by nitronuts, 02 June 2009 - 01:00 AM.

[Harbinger]

nitronuts, on Jun 2 2009, 12:58 AM, said:

No, BC Place will remain as BC Place during 2010. But the stadium that hosts the opening and closing ceremonies (and in the summer edition, athletics as well) is called the Olympic Stadium. The host city might refer to it as something else, but it's the Olympic Stadium...akin to saying GM Place is the ice hockey venue. The Bird's Nest in Beijing was called "National Stadium", in Sydney during 2000 they called their 110,000-seater as "Stadium Australia", and in Athens it was OAKA.

As for GM Place, it's being dubbed as Canada Hockey Place.

Thanks for helping clear that up. I had no idea. Like I said a million times. I have had no Olympic spirit. Maybe this will be the start.

[Buggernut]

nitronuts, on Jun 2 2009, 12:16 AM, said:

VIA is very useful in Ottawa and Quebec.

It needs to restructure to place emphasis on shorter distance corridors in more densely populated areas, where it would be a more practical alternative to air travel (eg. Windsor-Quebec, Calgary-Edmonton).

It sends a pretty bad message that mass transport companies like VIA are sold off and auto manufacturers like GM are invested in by the government. So much for "going green".

Edited by Buggernut, 02 June 2009 - 03:07 AM.

[Electro Rock]

Buggernut, on Jun 2 2009, 02:24 AM, said:

It needs to restructure to place emphasis on shorter distance corridors in more densely populated areas, where it would be a more practical alternative to air travel (eg. Windsor-Quebec, Calgary-Edmonton).

It's a pretty bad sign that mass transport companies like VIA are sold off and auto manufacturers like GM are bought by the government. So much for going green.

The service is very good throughout Southern Ontario and Quebec, however it's mandated by the government to provide services in many regions where it'll never close close to making money. Those money losing runs are an anchor that prevents the company from expanding its services in places where it would make financial sense, and go a long way toward keeping it from modernizng its ageing fleet.

Also even where it does make money the ticket prices could be cheaper considering that most of its operating costs go towards the insane fees that CN and CP charge for using their {taxpayer built} track, for example it costs something like $100K just for the VIA passenger train to go from from the Main street station to outside of the Lower Mainland, I'm sure the WCE gets gouged pretty good too.

[ronthecivil]

HockeyNut30, on Jun 1 2009, 10:50 PM, said:

Hike the GST to 8%, that's an extra $18 billion a year. 1% GST = 6 billion dollars per year!

Sell the CBC, the lack of parlimentary subsidy will free up an extra billion dollars a year, no tax increase needed.

[ronthecivil]

Donky, on Jun 1 2009, 09:07 PM, said:

Time to chop these numbnuts down. They better not privatize the CBC. That is the one entity that keeps this country a country. If that does not tell you these frackers are in the pocket of American business nothing will.

How the hell does it do that? I would say that specialty cable channels have done more to increase the amount of Canadian content on TV than CBC has ever done. And they do it at a profit.

[Buggernut]

Cuete, on Jun 2 2009, 03:09 AM, said:

The service is very good throughout Southern Ontario and Quebec, however it's mandated by the government to provide services in many regions where it'll never close close to making money. Those money losing runs are an anchor that prevents the company from expanding its services in places where it would make financial sense, and go a long way toward keeping it from modernizng its ageing fleet.

Also even where it does make money the ticket prices could be cheaper considering that most of its operating costs go towards the insane fees that CN and CP charge for using their {taxpayer built} track, for example it costs something like $100K just for the VIA passenger train to go from from the Main street station to outside of the Lower Mainland, I'm sure the WCE gets gouged pretty good too.

Amtrak has its share of money losing cross-continental trains, but at least they connect big important cities as their endpoints. As for VIA, Jonquiere Quebec, Churchill Manitoba...WTF?

Those trains to nowhere routes should be downloaded to the provinces, if they want them so much.