I viewed the information on Barry Randall's
website detailing the Ontario Hydro Buyout Project. I fully concur with all of
your ideas as set out.
I sent an email enquiry to the info address on the site but thought I might
email EOPriv as well.
Here in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, we
have been debating the issue of privatising electricity for some time as well,
in the context of an emerging national electricity competitive
grid.
As I believe unions are an important part of the
political mix when promoting Democratic Capitalism, I am most interested to know
whether there has been any positive involvement by unions in the Ontario
proposal.
My reason for saying this is I believe
that if you can come up with a product that is saleable to the unions in a
privatisation proposal then you can sell the idea anywhere.
Furthermore, if the penny dropped with the trade union movement worldwide
as to why model ESOPs with formal union input can be advantageous to workers,
than unions would do so much of the hard work that has to be done on this issue
to promote it globally.
Could Barry or someone else please tell me what
level of negotiations you have had with the MEU/Hydro unions in relation to the
Democratic Capitalist approach to privatisation?
In NSW, unions have prevented privatisation to
date but have never seriously been presented with the type of model you are
suggesting for Canada's electricity supply. We have a strong Australian Labor
Party (ALP) State Government that would dearly love to privatise these assets
along with some of tis rail assets but the unions are resisting, correctly I
believe, the trade sale approach.
This issue will continue to resurface in this jurisdiction.
Perhaps, over time Barry, we could share ideas on how we progress the Dem Cap
agenda in utility privatisation. Given the similarities between Australia and
Canada in terms of culture, law, scale and political system, this could be
fruitful for both of us.
Kind regards
Tim Mitchell
Senior Adviser
Office of the Minister for Fair Trading,
NSW
Sydney NSW
Australia
Tel: 61-2-9619-8606
Mobile: 0417-606-679
PS Barry, I've also read "The Ownership Solution" by Jeff Gates
and have been similarly inspired.