Province studying sale of Crown corporations to reduce hefty debt burden
Karen Howlett With files from Andrew Willis and Boyd Erman
Toronto ? Globe and Mail Update
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says his debt-burdened government has a responsibility to get ?the best bang for the buck? from its assets.
Mr. McGuinty's comments Wednesday followed a report in The Globe and Mail that his Liberal government is reviewing the possible sale of all or part of its Crown corporations, including the provincial lottery company and its retail monopoly on liquor sales.
?We've got a responsibility to take a look at all of our assets to make sure that we're getting the best bang for the buck, and especially now in the context of a global recession and a significant deficit,? Mr. McGuinty told reporters.
Ontario has hired CIBC World Markets Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., both experienced in privatization, to draw up a blueprint for potential sales. Among the possible sales are Hydro One Inc., the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and Ontario Power Generation, sources said.
The bankers are charged with drawing up a plan in about two months, laying the groundwork for a government decision.
?Our responsibility at this point in time is to take a look at our assets and to make sure that they are in fact serving the public interests,? the Premier said.
Asset sales would mark a policy U-turn for Mr. McGuinty, who denounced the previous Tory government for trying to sell off Hydro One in a ?fire sale,? but he told reporters his government is dealing with extraordinary circumstances arising from the biggest global economic recession in decades.
As recently as October, the government appeared to rule out asset sales. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan dismissed them as a ?one-time opportunity? that would do little to address structural deficits for the foreseeable future.
Wednesday, Mr. Duncan confirmed the government retained CIBC and Goldman a couple of weeks ago to assess whether there are better ways to manage the province's Crown-owned assets.
Asked by reporters whether the government is looking at selling any of its assets, he said: ?We haven't even looked at that, other than to say, ?are the assets being properly managed? Is there something we can do differently, better?'?
If the government were to sell assets, Mr. Duncan said there would be plenty of potential buyers, including pension funds.
?We routinely get people coming to us and saying, ?We'd like to buy this or we'd like to buy that.' We routinely say, ?Thanks for your interest, but no thanks.'?
The dependable infrastructure assets currently owned by provincial taxpayers are sought after by income-hungry individual and institutional investors, while the LCBO and gambling properties are viewed as steady businesses that are recession-resistant.
Sources say pension funds such as Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System have already expressed an interest in the 604-outlet LCBO. The company made $1.4-billion in profit in 2008, almost all of which was handed over to the government in the form of dividends, and it has seen its profit rise for 15 straight years.
The other assets are more problematic for buyers because each has perceived problems ? though the flipside of that is they would be more attractive for the government to shed. Banking sources said Ontario Lottery and Gaming, or OLG, has ?governance issues? following scandals, while Ontario Power Generation's three nuclear stations have hard-to-quantify legacy costs, and the LCBO is considered ?too political? to sell outright, due to public concerns with control on sales of spirits and wine.
Opposition members denounced the government, saying it was looking at selling off assets at fire-sale prices.
?These fire sales of public assets are absolutely a bad deal for the public,? New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath said. ?These are publicly owned assets that we need to maintain over the long run.?
The former Progressive Conservative government sold off the province's Highway 407 to a private consortium, but Tory MPP Peter Shurman said the sale was a strategic, one-time event that is not at all comparable to what the Liberals are considering.
"This is a non-strategic approach to grabbing money and putting it in the hands of somebody who can't handle money," he told reporters.