privatising crown corps.

[DowntownWpg]

Now this really made my eyes roll. Hydro: $35 to subsidize Transit Passes (half the cost of a pass), $55 subsidy to park your car downtown.

If Hydro really wants to portray themselves as a visionary "green organization," does this incentive to subsidize car parking not just encourage people to drive their cars?

Further, it'll only further justify all the surface lots in downtown.

If they are going to do this for Hydro employees, to be fair the same deal should be given to all provincial government, arms-length, and crown corp employees. Why are the nervous surburbanites from Hydro who are too scared to take the bus (either scared, or incorrectly self-perceived elite status, that is) so damn special?

I also call BS on the whole contract negotiation thing. What percentage of the workers in the new corporate tower will be unionized workers? Not many, most will be out-of-scope, due to the very nature of the type of departments and oversight that will be in the building.

It came out of their own pockets? As if! Would they not rather get their $55 directly to them on their pay cheque, as opposed to having to submit forms and receipts? In other words, am I to believe that a car driver would rather go the route of forms, than just have a cheque $55 larger?

P.S., I wouldn't be pissed if it was only transit passes that was subsidized. I have no troubles with them getting a cash incentive to ride the bus. The last thing we need is even more nervous ninny downtown drivers, and our alleged "green friendly" Hydro encouraging people to drive their own cars by also having an incentive for this.

Rant over, now here with the 'article:'


Hydro subsidizing employee parking

Updated: Mon Nov. 17 2008 19:03:14
ctvwinnipeg.ca

2000 Manitoba Hydro employees moving to their new downtown building next month will get a break on parking costs.

The Crown corporation is giving employees a $55/month subsidy if they park downtown.

For those taking a bus, the company will split the cost of a $70 transit pass.

Hydro couldn't say how much it will cost the company, but even if half of the employees park and the other half take the bus, it adds up to more than $1 million a year, all out of the Crown corporation's coffers.

Hydro spokesperson Glenn Schneider says employees negotiated the parking subsidy into their latest contract.

"So this really comes out of the salaries for our employees," he told CTV News.

Manitoba Public Insurance, another crown corporation with downtown offices, does not subsidize for parking or transit.

[art deco]

I believe the parking subsidy will be phased gradually out over a period of time (3-5 years?), most of the employees live near the current office locations at the south end of the City and I think there is a park and ride option available as well from 820 taylor.

the real question is will/can hydro employees adapt to public transport...

cupe 998 represents something like 1200 technical and clerical hydro employees, not sure how many would be in the new building.

[Biff]

Hydro is paying to have 170 or so parking spaces constructed in the basement of the CityPlace building...their own private parkade.

[trueviking]

when is hydro going to start acting like a corporation instead of a babysitting service.....seriously....how can a company like that only work 9 out of 10 days and also offer parking to its downtown employees...why are taxpayers expected to provide such perks to this company?....its unelievable the way that organization is run....employees there have hit the mother load...all on the public teet...how can it be justified?

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by trueviking

when is hydro going to start acting like a corporation instead of a babysitting service.....seriously....how can a company like that only work 9 out of 10 days and also offer parking to its downtown employees...why are taxpayers expected to provide such perks to this company?....its unelievable the way that organization is run....employees there have hit the mother load...all on the public teet...how can it be justified?

If Hydro was sold off to the highest bidder we wouldn't have to care anymore.

Privatize Hydro today!

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by h0twired

If Hydro was sold off to the highest bidder we wouldn't have to care anymore.

Privatize Hydro today!

yea and watch all those jbs disapear and our power go through the roof

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

yea and watch all those jbs disapear and our power go through the roof

I pay ENMAX and my bill is only $60/month for a 2200 sq ft house. It seems like my bill hasnt gone through the roof.

Also ENMAX seems to employ a LOT of people in Alberta. Unless a private system in Manitoba would be run by an army of robots, I think most jobs would be safe.

[Biff]

^ sure wish i could milk the public's teet for some extra holiday's sometimes.

[Kris22]

Offering a $35 dollar bus pass is a wicked deal and is a financial incentive not to drive, but then offering cheaper parking just cancels it out. This is stupid.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Manitoba Public Insurance, another crown corporation with downtown offices, does not subsidize for parking or transit.

bull-shitola...i personally know someone at MPIC in CityPLace who has a parking spot PAID FOR. not an executive but a fairly high-up Finance gal. It's a 24 hr spot so she uses it when they go to events at MTS Centre.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

Manitoba Public Insurance, another crown corporation with downtown offices, does not subsidize for parking or transit.

bull-shitola...i personally know someone at MPIC in CityPLace who has a parking spot PAID FOR. not an executive but a fairly high-up Finance gal. It's a 24 hr spot so she uses it when they go to events at MTS Centre.

MPI is another perfect candidate to be privatized.

The Manitoba government really needs to get out of the insurance and hydro businesses and start actually governing instead.

Governments make piss poor business managers. Leave business to the private sector.

[rrskylar]

Government is not alone lately in making bad business decisions IE: GM, Ford, Chrysler, Can-West Global, AIG, Leahman brothers, Citi corp., Merril Lynch.......

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

Government is not alone lately in making bad business decisions IE: GM, Ford, Chrysler, Can-West Global, AIG, Leahman brothers, Citi corp., Merril Lynch.......

The difference is that private companies do not take all of the taxpayers with them, only those that chose to invest in them or work for them.

At any rate. Manitobans bitching about Hydro employees getting subsidized parking is funny while every Manitoban is currently getting subsidized power from Hydro.

Talk about sucking on the teat of government...

[Prairie Guy]

Originally Posted by h0twired

At any rate. Manitobans bitching about Hydro employees getting subsidized parking is funny while every Manitoban is currently getting subsidized power from Hydro.

Talk about sucking on the teat of government...

We need a finger waving icon for you sputnik, so you can really give us poor Manitobans a good lecture.

[drew]

Originally Posted by h0twired

The difference is that private companies do not take all of the taxpayers with them, only those that chose to invest in them or work for them.

At any rate. Manitobans bitching about Hydro employees getting subsidized parking is funny while every Manitoban is currently getting subsidized power from Hydro.

Talk about sucking on the teat of government...

Perhaps you can clarify what it is exactly that subsidizes the lack of a provincial sales tax in Alberta?

If you reply back with "good business environment" or some other vague economic drivel that leaves out oil and gas, I will figure out a way to reach across the internet and smack you...

All citizens suck off the teat of government. Not just Manitobans.

[Stephen LaRose]

Originally Posted by h0twired

The difference is that private companies do not take all of the taxpayers with them, only those that chose to invest in them or work for them.

At any rate. Manitobans bitching about Hydro employees getting subsidized parking is funny while every Manitoban is currently getting subsidized power from Hydro.

Talk about sucking on the teat of government...

Where have you been? If capitalism is the be-all and end-all, why are the major American banks and auto companies hauling a$$ to Washington asking for free money?

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by h0twired

MPI is another perfect candidate to be privatized.

The Manitoba government really needs to get out of the insurance and hydro businesses and start actually governing instead.

Governments make piss poor business managers. Leave business to the private sector.

I'll start with the disclaimer that i'm totally impartial towards crown corps..

That said, based on my limited understanding of how monopolies work it would seem that it would be impossible for MPI to achieve such low rates for car insurance without the absence of competition.

One way of thinking about this is in simple economies of scale.

For example, when a firm's average-total-cost curve continually declines, the firm has what is called a natural monopoly.

In this case, when production of a service such as car insurance is divided among more firms, each firm produces less, and average total cost rises. As a result, a single firm such as MPI can produce any given amount of insurance at the smallest cost.

This coupled with things such as our no-fault legislation keeps Manitoba rates for car insurance relatively low when compared to other jurisdictions.

[Only The Lonely..]

The privatization lie: Water utility critics using scare tactic

By TOM BRODBECK | Winnipeg Sun - November 20, 2008

It didn't take long for the big-government/union crowd to launch their misinformation campaign about the city's proposal to create a stand-alone water utility.

Critics of the plan are already trotting out buzz words like "privatization" to try to scare people.

The thinking is, if they can frighten enough people by lying to them that the city is trying to privatize its sewer and water services, there might be enough backlash to kill the plan.

They know they can't win the debate on pure facts and information. So they have to lie by claiming falsely that Winnipeg is looking to privatize its water services.

It's pure nonsense.

OWNED BY CITY

What the city is proposing has nothing to do with privatization. No private company would take over our water supply and taxpayers would still own their water treatment plants, sewer pipes and sewage treatment centres.

None of that would change.

Privatization is when government sells a public asset.

The Manitoba Telephone System, for example, was privatized in 1997. The former Crown corporation was sold on the open market through an initial share offering. Government no longer has anything to do with MTS, other than to buy telecommunication services from them.

Petro Canada and CN Rail were privatized. They were sold. Government can't get them back unless they buy back all the shares.

That's privatization.

If the city decided to sell Winnipeg Transit to a private company, that would be privatization. But that's not what we're talking about here.

What the city is proposing is to set up an independent water utility to replace the existing department of water and waste. It would not be a private company.

The organization would still be owned by the city and the unionized staff who work for water and waste now would work for the utility. That wouldn't change.

The difference is the organization would be run by a board of directors who wouldn't have to go cap-in-hand to city council every time they wanted to make a decision.

Their finances would be separate from the city's annual budgets and the money they collect would not go into city hall's general revenues.

But rather than debate those issues on their merits and ask intelligent questions about the proposal, the big-government/union crowd make stuff up, like "privatization."

I'm quite sure Mayor Sam Katz and city councillors are prepared to engage in a rational debate on the issue by discussing facts. What they can't do, however, is defend against lies, other than to try to expose the liars.

So why are the big-government/union types against this proposal?

The big-government crowd, for ideological reasons, always believes government can do things better than anybody else. So any move away from government is a threat to them.

The union types don't like it because it may erode their bargaining power.

Unions like to maximize the size of their bargaining units to have as much leverage as possible.

If a separate bargaining unit is created for the proposed utility, it would weaken the union's position.

And they don't like that.

Too bad.

If this plan makes sense for taxpayers, they should do it. If it doesn't, then we shouldn't do it. That's what we should be focusing on.

[rrskylar]

^ Got to love the way Filmon and his gang of thieves dumped millions into MTS (at taxpayer expense) before it was sold then undervalued the shares, let their friends know about it and all walked like thieves!

[sledhead35]

i guess he does raise a good point.