User:Mindmatrix/Skunkworks/Privatization in Canada

Privatization is the process of transferring ownership of an asset from the public sector to the private sector. Assets transferred may include a business, enterprise (such as a Crown corporation), agency, public service, or public property.

The transfer may be executed as an asset sale, by issuing shares on a stock market, or by other means.

Background
The establishment of government-operated enterprises in Canada predates Canadian Confederation by at least 50 years. Canada is in the "middle ground" of industrialized economies with respect to its use of public corporations, relying on them more than Australia, Japan, Switzerland and the United States, but less than Austria, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

In 1979, President of the Treasury Board Sinclair Stevens proposed the sale of several Crown corporations during the 21st Canadian Ministry, though these plans were not executed before the 1980 federal election.

In October 1984, one month after the 1984 federal election, the Mulroney government announced plans to privatize several public federal assets. This included the completion of privatization deals initiated by the previous government. Input for privatization in the 1980s was provided by the Canada Development Investment Corporation, established in 1982 via the Canada Business Corporations Act to manage asset transactions for the government. Its mandate included identifying Crown corporations "no longer serving a public-policy purpose". Other public corporations identified for sale included some of those on Stevens' list from 1979. According to W.T. Stanbury, privatization was easier to implement in Canada by this time as it had been "on the policy agenda" of the two previous governments.

By 1991, the Office of Privatization and Regulatory Affairs had managed the sale of eight Crown corporations and other assets for $9 billion, the government had passed legislation authorizing the sale of Petro-Canada and other government assets, and inactive Crown corporations were dissolved.