There are fears that the federal government's Social Finance Fund will be used to subsidize privatization schemes like Social Impact Bonds. This letter from NUPGE President Larry Brown to Jean-Yves Duclos, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development asks the Minister to respond to comments that appear to originate with federal officials in recent media reports on the Social Finance Fund.
Social Impact Bonds
July 8, 2019
Unless the Minister completely rejects the idea that the Social Finance Fund will be used to "bring private funding, incentives and discipline into social services," past experience shows we need to assume that it will be used to subsidize the privatization of social services.
January 23, 2019
Those pushing social impact bonds are taking the same approach as those profiting from P3 privatization schemes – focus on the new service being provided and hope it distracts people from the problems with the way it’s being funded.
December 4, 2018
When social finance is used to privatize public services, costs go up. In addition to investor profits, using social finance to privatize public services means new layers of bureaucracy.
September 18, 2018
Making sure children aren’t hungry, making sure they can see properly in school, and making sure they get help if they lose a loved one shouldn’t depend on where wealthy individuals or corporations decide to invest.
May 18, 2018
Both projects sponsored by the Saskatchewan government show how Social Impact Bonds can be structured to exclude those who are hard to help.
April 9, 2018
What’s needed is for governments to provide community services with adequate funding. And a first step would be to ask the wealthy and large corporations to pay their share of taxes — instead of allowing them to profit from the misfortune of others by investing in social impact bonds.
July 28, 2017
"Treating social and public health services like they’re just another option for an investment portfolio is risky for everyone." — Michelle Gawronsky, MGEU President
July 11, 2017
“The subsidies that privatization schemes like social impact bonds require are eating up funds that could be spent on front-line services Manitobans need.” — Larry Brown, NUPGE President
September 15, 2015
Social Impact Bonds “exploit the most vulnerable, poorest and others dependent on public services and the welfare state” so investors can make a profit. — Dexter Whitfield