Kinda but Canada Post and SaskTel are crown corporations which means pipsqueak can sell them like Manitoba sold MTS. A private workers’ co-op (could even be a non-profit) can’t be sold by an ideologue and its workers are likely to keep it sustainable and a good place to work. Theoretically they could vote to sell, but I think that would be unlikely since they would be giving up a lot. But don’t get me wrong, I’d prefer a crown corporation than a foreign grocer.
Mountain Equipment ~~Coop ~~ Company is a sad example of a coop that got sold pretty much out from under it’s membership.
I’d posit the best option would be a crown corporation operated at arm’s length, for the reasons you cite about MTS (and Potash, and Telus, and Petro Canada, etc, etc.) so that the company could remain solvent, but would be relatively immune from the neoliberal addiction to public/private partnerships.
I’m mostly in agreement, and would prefer worker-owned co-ops over crown corporations in theory, my only issue is one of scale, and that’s unfortunately where a crown corp wins out, unless UFCW starts opening union co-ops across the country to compete with Loblaws.
Which they should, but UFCW doesn’t have the guts to try
So a publicly “invested” coop. You know like those publicly invested private EV battery plants.
I would make the comparison to SaskTel or Canada Post
Kinda but Canada Post and SaskTel are crown corporations which means pipsqueak can sell them like Manitoba sold MTS. A private workers’ co-op (could even be a non-profit) can’t be sold by an ideologue and its workers are likely to keep it sustainable and a good place to work. Theoretically they could vote to sell, but I think that would be unlikely since they would be giving up a lot. But don’t get me wrong, I’d prefer a crown corporation than a foreign grocer.
Mountain Equipment ~~Coop ~~ Company is a sad example of a coop that got sold pretty much out from under it’s membership.
I’d posit the best option would be a crown corporation operated at arm’s length, for the reasons you cite about MTS (and Potash, and Telus, and Petro Canada, etc, etc.) so that the company could remain solvent, but would be relatively immune from the neoliberal addiction to public/private partnerships.
I’m mostly in agreement, and would prefer worker-owned co-ops over crown corporations in theory, my only issue is one of scale, and that’s unfortunately where a crown corp wins out, unless UFCW starts opening union co-ops across the country to compete with Loblaws.
Which they should, but UFCW doesn’t have the guts to try