Benns’ Belief

The public good means public enterprises RODERICK BENNS, PUBLISHER

In the early 1900s, a Conservative MPP named Adam Beck campaigned diligently for a public power utility in Ontario. The campaign was a success, thanks to the hard work of Beck and others. They knew there would be no benefit in creating a private corporation with the vast majority of profits going to share holders, versus creating a public enterprise where the money is returned to our province.

After the 1905 provincial election, though, a corporate syndicate applied for the rights to the water power generated at Niagara Falls. Would the government accept the deal and let big business run the show? Thankfully, this was averted at the time, with Premier James Whitney declaring that “the water power … should not in the future be made the sport and prey of capitalists and shall not be treated as anything else but a valuable asset of the people of Ontario.”

The Sport and Prey of Capitalists, in fact, is the name of Linda McQuaig’s latest book — a compelling look at Canada’s history of creating successful public enterprises. The question, she muses throughout the book, is why we don’t create more of them? And why are we letting slip away the ones we have, like Hydro One?

Unfortunately, Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, as most of us know, became the improbable champion of big business-in-waiting for Hydro One more than a century later, selling 60 per cent of the public utility. It’s a conspic uous blemish on her otherwise progressive legacy.

Hydro One is an asset that generates $750-million a year (back in 2014), so the sale will have a long-term negative financial impact for Ontario. It was no more intelligent than former Conservative Premier Mike Harris selling off the lucrative Highway 407.

In this month’s issue Trevor Hutchinson, contributing editor, looks at the potential for postal banking — something Canada had for a century, from the moment the country was born until well into the 1960s. This is one of those public enterprises that could revivify the idea of a strong public enterprise in Canada — a topic McQuaig tackles as well. The question is, do we have the political will to resist the big-business agenda that has hijacked Canadian society for decades now?

From power plants, to a national railway (CNR), a public broadcaster (CBC), public health care and coast-to-coast transportation infrastructure, McQuaig’s book is replete with examples of initiatives that benefitted Canadians, not big business. Pick up a copy of The Sport and Prey of Capitalists (at Kent Bookstore, Lindsay or at Dana the Book Lady, Fenelon Falls) and remember — or learn — of Canada’s historical legacy of social enterprises for the common good.

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