CA: Gov. impressed by privatization in Canada

LA Times ^ | 6/2/07 | Evan Halper

[NormsRevenge]

VANCOUVER, CANADA — In a trip across Canada this week, as local leaders jostled one another to praise him as a statesman they could learn from, there was a moment when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might have taken some notes of his own.

At a Vancouver construction site that he dropped by, workers were busily boring a tunnel for the type of public works project that the governor has been unable to get off the ground at home: one owned and operated entirely by a private company.

A 12-mile rail line that will connect Vancouver's waterfront to its airport is one of dozens of ventures like it in Canada. ...

"The way they do it is, I think, the right way to go," Schwarzenegger said in an interview. "We don't have to exactly copy it, but we can learn from those ideas."

He said that Wall Street is clamoring to invest in private infrastructure projects and that California must examine ways to "benefit from all the private money that is out there."

The governor has long championed the sort of large-scale privatization seen in Canada, calling it a solution to bureaucratic inertia and inefficiency in state government. Put services in the hands of the private sector, his argument goes, and the potential for profit will bring a new urgency to providing for the public.

But as other governments in North America and elsewhere move swiftly ahead with such plans, Schwarzenegger's privatization campaign is faltering.

Days before the Vancouver visit, a legislative committee unceremoniously dumped the governor's proposal to hire a few hundred private-sector engineers to help Caltrans with the cumbersome business of designing roads. Ideas he backed for building private toll roads, enlisting private firms to construct courthouses and contracting out more prison operations have stalled. ...

[spald]

A report in last week's Wall Street Journal indicated that Canada has lost about $5 billion in lower revenue from American tourists in the past two years. Perhaps Arnold has a way to pipeline tourists up North and balance the books.

[calcowgirl]

This guy just won’t keep his hands out of citizens’ pockets, will he?

I will oppose *any* action that gives Arnold more cash to spend on his big-government programs.

[goldstategop]

Agreed. But the Democrats could learn from Canada about the benefits of privatization. If we're going to pursue mass transit projects, let the private sector do it - a lot better than government can. Government is doing way too much already at too much cost.

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[calcowgirl]

I have no problem with the private sector building roads. I have no problem with the private sector managing the building projects. But I have a huge problem with the private sector, most international corporations, owning the leases to these roads and being given the right administer tolls, thereby controlling when and where I can travel.

These roads are free today. The model being employed provides for huge upfront cash payments to state government (that is supplementing spending for bigger and bigger government) in exchange for the right to assess fees on all of us. It’s just wrong. That is what we are paying taxes for and our new “leaders” have decided that mortgaging state assets is an acceptable means to supplement tax revenues. It’s not! It stinks!

[goldstategop]

There's a difference between taxing free roads again - which have already been paid for with our taxes and constructing new roads to be paid for with toll fees. I would be in favor of seeing tollways built in California, which needs more limited access, high speed roads. We used to call them freeways. But the Democrats won't hear of it even though the current freeway system is virtually at the point of its carrying capacity. With 37 million people, a road system designed for half that many won't suffice today. The dollars Californians now spend on social programs could go towards improving their infrastructure. Ah and don't forget all those voter-approved bonds issue towards the same objective.

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus