By Peter Ewart

There is an old proverb handed down from antiquity, and sometimes revived in modern day songs. It goes: “Hold onto what you got.”

We live in times when this proverb especially rings true when applied to public services, assets, real estate and infrastructure in the City of Prince George and other municipal jurisdictions across the country.

Powerful private interests covet these public resources, and, unfortunately, governments at all levels are making it easier for these private interests to take them over or make profit from them in one way or another, whether through Public-Private-Partnerships (P-3s), contracting out, selling off of civic properties, or outright privatization.

The latest addition to the power of these private interests is the recently concluded EU trade agreement which will allow globalized European infrastructure companies, some of whom have connections to the European mafia, even more access to bid on municipal procurement in Canada, as well as limit the ability of municipalities to buy local or establish new public services deemed to be “monopolies.”

Unfortunately, there are some politicians and administrators at the municipal level in Canada who seem to be quite willing to go along with this takeover of public assets and narrowing of public space. More than that – they actively promote it.

How is this done? One of the ways is to claim that there is no other choice but to close down or sell off existing public facilities and build brand new ones in their place.  The catch, of course, is that these new facilities must be built and operated in a new way, whether through P-3s, third party operators, or outright privatizations.

In this way, private interests are able to secure longstanding arrangements to feed at the public trough. So what if taxes and user fees are jacked up and services deteriorate?  So what if the municipality is plunged deeper into debt?  So what if city property is sold off, then flipped by private interests in questionable deals?  Long live the new model!  Down with public space and up with private interest!

In these current conditions, how can a new mayor and council in Prince George resist this pressure to get swept up in this wave of new P-3 projects, privatizations and sell-offs of assets?

That’s where the old saying comes into play – “Hold onto what you got.” Applied to today, that means that the new council must strive to preserve, renew and prioritize the public infrastructure and services we already have, and be very cautious about being lured into new, unnecessary, and invariably expensive mega-projects, or being seduced into privatization and dubious third party partnership schemes of various shapes and sizes.

It means the new council must rigorously examine (and if necessary reject) claims from city administration and outside consultants that such and such a facility has “reached its end of life” and cannot be renovated, or such and such an asset, property, or service is uneconomical and must be sold off, or a new expensive chalet or palace of some kind just has to be built.

A new council should be judged, first and foremost, as to whether it looks after and preserves existing public infrastructure and services, whether these be roads, sewers, recreational facilities, parks or other assets. If there is anything new to be built, it must come after that.  And it must be a public need and expansion of public space, not some developer or privatization pipe dream.

Such an approach is not as glamorous as polished wood columns, marble slabs and shining glass, and will undoubtedly mean fewer glitzy photo-ops. But, as another old saying cautions us in the brave new world of today, “all that glitters is not gold.”

Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca