Harper government to sell AECL reactor business

[jdobbin]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090528/...s/aecl_for_sale

The Harper government plans to put Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s nuclear reactor business up for sale.

It's part of a major restructuring that will also mean private-sector management for AECL's Chalk River research facility.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt says the Crown company is being put on the block in the hopes of boosting global sales of Candu reactors.

Ah, the perfect time to sell.

I'm sure the company is going to cost to unload and no private buyer will step up unless there is a final decision on the Ontario plants that goes in AECL's favour.

Edited May 28, 2009 by jdobbin

[Moonbox]

I don't have a problem with this decision providing we get a good deal on the business and it's not another 407esque fire sale where we are out billions as a result.

If this is a Flaherty trick to make the budget look better in a given year then I'm definetly not impressed.

[Smallc]

I have no problem with sellinga few assets.....it all depends which assets. I'm OK with this...provided we get value for money.

[Dave_ON]

I don't have a problem with this decision providing we get a good deal on the business and it's not another 407esque fire sale where we are out billions as a result.

If this is a Flaherty trick to make the budget look better in a given year then I'm definetly not impressed.

Yes and this is precisely why it still baffles me that Flaherty got the Fed Finance Minister posting. Ontario will be paying for the 407 for decades longer than we should, due to this brand of Flahrety conservatism. Crown assets should remain with the crown, they're not there to make your second rate accounting look better.

Edited May 28, 2009 by Dave_ON

[Moonbox]

I am angry at Flaherty still for the 407 sale, but at least he made cuts to useless services that needed fixing. He inherited a mess from Bob Rae.

[Zachary Young]

It should be sold off, but they will not do it in the right way (put it up on the open market, let people bid on it) but rather will arrange some sweet heart contract for their friends, continuing to bilk the public. Privatization is always good, but what is called privatization is not always that. What good is it to privatize the profits if we socialize the costs?

[Moonbox]

It should be sold off, but they will not do it in the right way (put it up on the open market, let people bid on it) but rather will arrange some sweet heart contract for their friends, continuing to bilk the public. Privatization is always good, but what is called privatization is not always that. What good is it to privatize the profits if we socialize the costs?

Well said.

[jdobbin]

I don't have a problem with this decision providing we get a good deal on the business and it's not another 407esque fire sale where we are out billions as a result.

I'm convinced that it is likely going to come at a cost to the taxpayer and probably for a few years to come. A private buyer is going to want federal money and a deal with hydro in Ontario.

If this is a Flaherty trick to make the budget look better in a given year then I'm definetly not impressed.

What is record on selling assets in Ontario?

[Moonbox]

What is record on selling assets in Ontario?

Are you asking a question or sarcastically implying the answer? I can't tell sorry.

[jdobbin]

Are you asking a question or sarcastically implying the answer? I can't tell sorry.

I have no idea. I don't live in Ontario. I've only heard about the highway.

[Moonbox]

There were a number of sell-offs of Crown Corporations. I don't know a ton about it but the worst was the 407 highway. Sold it for like $2 billion and less than 10 years later it's independently valued at something like $11B.

It was a fire sale price. I liked a lot of what Flaherty did while he was in Ontario but I will always be disgusted in how much money he threw away on us with the 407.

[Remiel]

jdobbin, back in the day, Flaherty was behind "selling" (99 year lease, so same same difference) the 407 Highway for $1 Billion, a paltry sum compared to what it cost to build it, to buy the land that it was on (or the value of it, if the Crown already owned it), and so on, never mind what the government could have made from it over time. Basically, he screwed Ontario over, badly. If there is a record book for bad sales of Crown assets, the 407 highway is likely among the worst bad deals.

[Radsickle]

Are they worried about the security implications if something goes wrong with this taxpayer-built, crown corporation that the Leprechaun has no right to sell?

Hey, I know a way to prevent the spread of Nuclear Technology... offer ours up to the highest bidder! That way we can blame them! :angry:

Harper needs to go before there are no Canadian assets left...

Notice how they try to time this announcement with the Chalk River `Isotope Crisis' so it seems like privatizing it will solve the problem?

(I only call Flaherty names cause I suffered through him and Mike Harris in Ontario. Common Sense Revolution... yea right.)

Edited May 29, 2009 by Radsickle

[Bryan]

Selling off Crown assets that are not giving the government value was always part of the plan. Chalk River has turned out to be more trouble than it's worth to keep having blow up (pun intended) in the governments faces. At least examining the selling this particular asset is consistent and prudent as far as I can see.

[jdobbin]

I liked a lot of what Flaherty did while he was in Ontario but I will always be disgusted in how much money he threw away on us with the 407.

That is the one I always hear about.

I have no problem looking at selling assets if makes sense to do so. Some assets such as Hydro in Manitoba make sense as a monopoly. The government owned telephone company did not.

Still, I don't like being sold a bill of goods where people say that a good deal is happening when it looks like a real rip off to the public is the result.

[jdobbin]

jdobbin, back in the day, Flaherty was behind "selling" (99 year lease, so same same difference) the 407 Highway for $1 Billion, a paltry sum compared to what it cost to build it, to buy the land that it was on (or the value of it, if the Crown already owned it), and so on, never mind what the government could have made from it over time. Basically, he screwed Ontario over, badly. If there is a record book for bad sales of Crown assets, the 407 highway is likely among the worst bad deals.

A lease that long for a highway seems a little steep.

[Smallc]

Chalk River

No one is selling Chalk River.

[Bryan]

No one is selling Chalk River.

I meant the facility, not the actual river. (As opposed to selling all of AECL, which I'd need to see a lot more info on.

[Smallc]

I meant the facility, not the actual river. (As opposed to selling all of AECL, which I'd need to see a lot more info on.

That's what I mean. This isn't about Chalk River. The government is keeping the research facility and farming the running of it off to a private company, as the report recommended.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Smallc

[Radsickle]

That's what I mean. This isn't about Chalk River. The government is keeping the research facility and farming the running of it off to a private company, as the report recommended.

Farming isotopes? What does NAFTA say about such emerging markets?

This will eventually be about Chalk River too...

[Smallc]

This will eventually be about Chalk River too...

You're probably right. I was just pointing out that it isn't about Chalk River today.

[Bryan]

You're probably right. I was just pointing out that it isn't about Chalk River today.

When Lisa Raitt was on Don Newman the other day, she sure seemed to be saying that divesting of the Chalk River facility (or at least putting it in the hands of third party management) was one of the things they were considering.

[Oleg Bach]

When Lisa Raitt was on Don Newman the other day, she sure seemed to be saying that divesting of the Chalk River facility (or at least putting it in the hands of third party management) was one of the things they were considering.

How can a standing government - with all that brain power and resourses not maintain this facility? How hard can it be? Did they let the place fail so they could intentionally privatize the thing and hand it over to their private friends? Something is amiss here! They have a body that is supposed to run this thing - what did they do - hire the most inept they could find - or did they let the place melt down...in order to turn the Calk River faciity into a super lucrative venture - imagine - privately owned and the whole world would have to buy isotopes at tripple the price - not nice guys!

[Smallc]

(or at least putting it in the hands of third party management) was one of the things they were considering.

Yes, that's what they're doing. They're not selling it, but they are getting someone else to run it, as the report recommended.

[fellowtraveller]

I don't have a problem with this decision providing we get a good deal on the business and it's not another 407esque fire sale where we are out billions as a result.

If this is a Flaherty trick to make the budget look better in a given year then I'm definetly not impressed.

Out billions?

We'll be out billions if we keep AECL.

Sales of CANDU reactors are not slow, they are dead.

AECL is a miniscule player in the world market and that won't change with or without the sale