Not in the slightest. If anything, Crown corporations, public ownership, and community ownership of essential resources are even more relevant in recent years, where our economic system (capitalism) as a whole is less stable (prone to booms, busts, and crashes).
- Crown corporations can borrow money at more favourable interest rates and can finance such projects more cheaply than the private sector.
- Rather than seeking to maximize shareholder profits, Crown corporations try to guarantee access to their services at the lowest possible cost.
- Crown corporations can equalize access to services by ensuring that under-served communities and groups have access to necessary services.
- In good years, Crown dividends in Saskatchewan have been used to balance the provincial budget.
- Crown corporations can consider the economic effects of their operations on local economies and the province as a whole when making strategic decisions.
- Crown corporations have more ability to address environmental issues and concerns.
- Public services offer us tremendous value as taxpayers.
A very obvious example of all this is the weak services that are applying to replace the Saskatchewan Transportation Company’s routes. Most applicants only want to fill the Saskatoon-Regina route or a few others that can be made profitable. This strands thousands of people in the province who don’t own their own transportation.
If a Crown corporation is not doing these things, then the responsibility lies with government to make Crown corporations fulfill their mandates, not cancel them, privatize them or “wind them down.”