Privatization of Crown Corporations (CCs) and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Canada: goals and aspirations of government and participating businesses

Privatization of Crown Corporations (CCs) and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) has become an important worldwide phenomenon. Over the last few years, CCs and SOEs have been privatized in both developed and developing countries. In Canada, privatization emerged in the 1970s however, it became fully operational as a federal policy in the mid 1980s when a number of both federal and provincially owned corporations were sold to private companies. From 1985 to 2005, federal government has collected close to $12 billion from the proceeds of privatization and more than $1.5 billion in lease revenues from airport authorities. There has been a lot of discussion as to whether privatization has succeeded in meeting the goals and aspirations of the policy initiative as well as of participating businesses. In evaluating the program, the original objectives of privatization have been achieved and the goals and aspirations of both government and participation businesses have been met. However, these were not without some challenges. Some recommendations and solutions to these challenges, and how to make privatization policy more effective, have been made in the study which the writer believes will enhance the policy initiative in future privatizations of CCs and SOEs. The study relied on exploratory, secondary, and primary sources data and information. Exploratory research took the form of casual discussions around privatization with professionals from the public and private sectors to design a framework for the study. Secondary data was gained through a review existing literature. Primary data was mainly used to answer the research question by interviewing senior and middle managers of public-to-private companies, public institutions, and private companies were interviewd. It is hoped that the study will add to the existing knowledge on privatization of CCs and SOEs, as well as other forms that exist in public institutions, and local governments --P.ii.