Skip to content

Disgusted by contracting out of blue box program

Mill Bay - As British Columbians, we are disgusted at the thought of yet another service contracted out to another province.

First it was food in hospitals to Calgary (from a province that prides itself on growing its own produce), next they disastrously contracted out the cleaning services, again out of province. We sold out the ferries, that was always supposed to be our highway to the Mainland, and now we are set to contract out our own blue box recycling program, run locally by B.C. municipalities at an average of only $35 a year. None of those earlier programs have run as successfully as our original.The province has a perfectly well run system, that employs local people.Apparently this is an association from other provinces, run by big corporations with their executives, six of whom are out of Ontario, and one out of Montreal! Something badly wrong with this picture! If the past is any indication they will likely sack existing staff and rehire but at a lower rate. How is it that this comes to light when they are ready to change in a couple of months' time? In each of the instances above, it ends up with the new company increasing costs and cutting services, while the executives reward themselves with extra bonuses in spite of poorer performance.This is at least two votes the Clark government will not be getting.Paul WatkinsMill Baywww.cowichanvalleycitizen.com