Letter to the Editor: There simply is no place in the free market for government ownership

To the Editor:

Re: Daily Commercial News, “Aecon vehemently defends sale amidst CCA opposition,” March 28.

For those who would suggest, including Aecon CEO John Beck, that the sale of Aecon to CCCI, is at the very least benign, or at its best a great way to open up foreign markets for a Canadian business entity, I’d like everyone to consider this:

Companies that are owned by private interests, as opposed to governments, have an inherent self-interest to make profits, either for the private owners or the shareholders that control such companies. Government owners have a wide variety of reasons for operating such companies, but rarely for the reason of profit.

If CCCC International Holding Ltd. is allowed to purchase Aecon, they will be able to use trillions of dollars of government assets to prop up under bid projects in order to skew the Canadian construction market, and by extension put other privately-owned companies out of business with no regard to the bottom line.

There simply is no place in the free market for government ownership, especially foreign governments whose motives are not aligned with the citizens of the country’s in which they wish to operate.

Regards,
Terry Clarke, GSC