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May 10, 2007 Unions United in Opposition to Building Sale,
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PSAC National Executive Vice President Patty Ducharme joins activists from UNITE HERE at a Press Conference in Ottawa to denounce the Conservative Government's Plan to sell public buildings to the private sector. |
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The Conservative government has asked for offers from the private sector to buy nine well maintained buildings owned by the people of Canada in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The government plans to lease the buildings back for a period of 25 years. The sell-off will cost the government – and Canadian taxpayers – considerably more than it will to operate the buildings they already own.
Patty Ducharme asked the press if they would sell their houses and then rent them back again. “Where is the sense in selling these valuable assets and then having to pay rent for them?”
She also sounded an alarm about possible accountability issues around this sell-off. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates is not satisfied with the responses given by Public Works and Government Services Minister Michael Fortier and is demanding more information.
The PSAC believes that all Canadians have a right to know who is going to profit from this scheme and how much it is going to cost them.