Excellent - everything going according to plan

redtory posted a fair comment about the Conservatives having a fire sale to avoid a deficit. Carried further, this could be seen as a planned strategy to reduce the size of government:

1. Act outraged at surpluses (which pay down debt)
   
2. Increase spending to avoid surpluses
   
3. Create a deficit by cutting taxes
4. Act surprised
5. Sell government assets to make up the shortfall (until we run out)
6. Cut those unnecessary social programs (because we're forced to, honest!)
   

I had no idea 407 ETR toll highway jumped prices by as much as 200% during peaks.

The PCs privatized Nova Scotia Power in 1992. In the last few years we've had some pretty bad weather which lead to multi-day outages. The weather may sound like an excuse (hurricane Juan is legitimate), but it seems suspicious at other times when the only company using the weather as an excuse is NSP... times when there were no collapsed roofs, bridges, etc. Why would the weather single out NSP?

Maybe because there is no profit in making more reliable or robust infrastructure, or maybe more profit in using the cheapest material regardless of quality. In case of disaster, wouldn't they expect a bailout? Certainly these losses shouldn't affect profit.

I try not to reject either privatization or nationalization without learning the details. But it seems odd that other countries are nationalizing banks, insurance companies, etc. and Canada is proceeding in the opposite direction. Is this sell low, buy high? Or is it that the companies are too restricted under government ownership, and need less regulation?