It’s coming out tonight that the Ontario government plans to privatize the agency known as ServiceOntario. ServiceOntartio is a relatively new concept in Ontario, replacing direct contact between taxpayers and the government agencies that issue licenses, permits and the like. Now, according to ministers, the province’s cash strapped state requires it to sell the ServiceOntario interface and have a private operator put it online. What this means for those dingy ServiceOntario shops, like the one at 854 Eglinton Ave. E. — well, who knows. Maybe they will disappear. The government estimates that it costs about five times as much for you to wait in line and deal with a clerk at the ServiceOntario shop than to fight your way through the online process. Globe and Mail.
Let us hope it doesn’t go the way of ORNG and e-health!