To keep debt off their books the City of Cranbrook, B.C. privatized the building of an arena. It didn't work. In October 2001 the private company backed out of the deal. This left the City with the highest debt level in the province of B.C. , so bad that for this project alone it had to raise taxes 7% .

Maple Ridge, B.C. knows the cost of privatization. In 1995, the district council decided the downtown area needed to be revitalized. They privatized, but have since realized it's too expensive. Last summer the community voted in favour of buying back many buildings it had previously sold to the private sector.

This expensive buyout cost Maple Ridge a total of $49.1 million. This was cheap when they realized keeping it in the private sector would cost taxpayers $80 million. In 1996, Victoria City Council privatized the building and operation of a new arena. Three years later the project was cancelled because the company could not increase costs to the city.

Not learning its lesson the first time around, in 2002 Victoria's City Council once again privatized the project. This new private company said the project would cost $30 million. They were wrong. It cost the City of Victoria almost double that, a total of $52 million.

The new arena will be called the "Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre". Ice time will be at least 25% more expensive than other city arenas. The project was supposed to open in August 2004 but because of construction delays the earliest opening will be in 2005.

In 2001, the B.C. provincial government decided to create a privatized hospital in the city of Abbotsford . They paid $250,000 for a pro privatization accounting firm to show the private hospital would save taxpayers money. An audit paid for by The B.C. Hospital Employees Union (CUPE), however, found the predicted cost savings were based on "suspect data." A more recent audit found estimated costs of the project have jumped 94 per cent, lease payments have almost doubled and $393 million in debt repayment money is missing.