Goldman Sachs Set to Plan Sell-Off of Ontario Assets

Ontario's Liberal government has put Goldman Sachs, the huge banking and investment firm being investigated by the US Congress for fraud, in charge of selling off Ontario's public assets. For some reason, the involvement of this ethically challenged firm has, to date, failed to ignite controversy in Canada.

In its March budget, the government announced a plan to raise money by placing Crown assets, including public power, liquor stores, and the lottery commission into a combined fund and sell 49 percent of it privately. Goldman Sachs, which has specialized for decades in organizing privatizations around the world - often representing both buyers and sellers - is being paid $200,000 to organize the scheme. In the USA, for instance, the company has supervised highway privatization deals in which it acted as a financial advisor to the state at the same time as it invested in companies vying for the highways.'

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