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The Sport and Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich Are Stealing Canada’s Public Wealth
The story of how we as a nation collectively built promising national projects and are now selling them off to the rich.
In the early 1900s, thousands of citizens fought to create a public power company, freeing the waterpower of Niagara Falls from the control of wealthy interests. Another popular movement succeeded in establishing Canada’s public broadcasting system to counter American dominance of the airwaves. And a Canadian doctor created a publicly-owned laboratory that saved countless lives by producing affordable medications, contributing to medical breakthroughs and helping eradicate smallpox throughout the world.
In recent decades, however, Canadians have allowed their inspiring public enterprises to be privatized and their vital public programs downsized, leaving them increasingly dominated by the forces of private greed that rule the marketplace.
In this provocative book, Linda McQuaig challenges the dogma of privatization that has defined our political age. She argues that, particularly now as we grapple with climate change and income inequality, we need to expand, not shrink, our public sphere.
In the early 1900s, thousands of citizens fought to create a public power company, freeing the waterpower of Niagara Falls from the control of wealthy interests. Another popular movement succeeded in establishing Canada’s public broadcasting system to counter American dominance of the airwaves. And a Canadian doctor created a publicly-owned laboratory that saved countless lives by producing affordable medications, contributing to medical breakthroughs and helping eradicate smallpox throughout the world.
In recent decades, however, Canadians have allowed their inspiring public enterprises to be privatized and their vital public programs downsized, leaving them increasingly dominated by the forces of private greed that rule the marketplace.
In this provocative book, Linda McQuaig challenges the dogma of privatization that has defined our political age. She argues that, particularly now as we grapple with climate change and income inequality, we need to expand, not shrink, our public sphere.
264 pages, Paperback
First published August 31, 2019
About the author
Linda McQuaig
24 books86 followersDescribed as ‘Canada’s Michael Moore’ by the country’s National Post, Linda McQuaig is an award-winning investigative reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star. She is the author of seven Canadian bestsellers, which have earned her a reputation as a fierce critic of the establishment.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
September 14, 2019
An excellent review of decades of government incompetence or avarice in choosing to privatize public businesses to the detriment of the country.
It is both infuriating (to contemplate the routes that should've been taken) and informative (I lived through the sale of the 407 and Hydro, but there are many privatizations I was unaware of). I can't recommend it enough!
It is both infuriating (to contemplate the routes that should've been taken) and informative (I lived through the sale of the 407 and Hydro, but there are many privatizations I was unaware of). I can't recommend it enough!
January 4, 2020
Written from a Canadian context, The Sport & Prey of Capitalists tells a universal story of capitalism, and its most recent incarnation, neoliberalism.
"That narrative has things backwards, insists Polanyi. The free-market economy is actually unnatural and it had to be constructed through laws; what is natural is for people to seek the protection from society, through some sort of collective body or governments, to shield them from gluttonous private interests" (p.201).
And it is the persistence of these 'gluttonous private interests' that threaten the public interest - "achieving greater social well-being and equality, better health, and stronger economic security for all their citizens" (p.203).
McQuaig also offers a very nice synopsis of Alberta's squandering of opportunities in developing oil & gas (and bitumen), and the lack of planning for its staggering environmental deficit.
"That narrative has things backwards, insists Polanyi. The free-market economy is actually unnatural and it had to be constructed through laws; what is natural is for people to seek the protection from society, through some sort of collective body or governments, to shield them from gluttonous private interests" (p.201).
And it is the persistence of these 'gluttonous private interests' that threaten the public interest - "achieving greater social well-being and equality, better health, and stronger economic security for all their citizens" (p.203).
McQuaig also offers a very nice synopsis of Alberta's squandering of opportunities in developing oil & gas (and bitumen), and the lack of planning for its staggering environmental deficit.
May 1, 2024
4.5 — this was such a great read, I learned sooo much. I have to dock half a point for the tone/style of this sometimes. I found the exclamation points and asides really grating at times lol. But otherwise, highly recommend to all Canadians. RIP our strong public infrastructure 😭
July 10, 2026
A couple months ago I had the opportunity to read, via NetGalley, a book all about debunking climate change. I debated the ethics of taking that eARC when I knew beforehand I would give the book an excoriating review. In the end, I decided not to read it, simply because I don’t have the time or bandwidth to spend reading and breaking down such a book. But it also got me thinking about who the target audience is—surely not people like me. Surely, the author was targeting other climate deniers who want something they can point to as a reliable source, something they can nod along to that will reinforce their expectations. An echo chamber, if you will.
When I started The Sport and Prey of Capitalists, I was excited because so many capitalist critiques focus on the US, and this book is very specific to Canada. Linda McQuaig spends each chapter focusing on a specific example of public good in Canada that was then privatized or otherwise hollowed out by private capital, from railways to pharmaceutical manufacturing. And this book is informative! However, the more I read, the more I worried this book was like that climate change book—just for leftists. Was I sinking deeper into an echo chamber? See, I agree with pretty much everything McQuaig says in this book—I just don’t think it’s particularly well written or edited.
If you’re reading this simply as a history book, I think that’s fine, so long as you recognize its bias. McQuaig has references, cites her sources—but there is nothing journalistic about this book. As a history book, however, I found it really interesting. Most of us Canadians, I think, learn a very shallow version of our history. McQuaig dives deep into specific moments: the construction and privatization of the 407 toll highway in southern Ontario; the CNR vs CPR railway battles and inadvertent birth of CBC Radio; public hydro generation in Ontario; Connaught Labs (and insulin!); postal banking; and Alberta and the oil sands. Throughout these stories there are familiar characters, sometimes cast in a new light. All in all, McQuaig does a decent job of relaying the facts.
However, as a polemic, I think this book leaves a lot wanting. To be clear, I’m not complaining about the bias—as I said earlier, I agree with it! Nevertheless, there is always such a thing as … too much. McQuaig’s opinionated writing suffers in two ways: weak arguments and poor editing.
I’ll dispense with the latter issue first. If I were McQuaig’s line editor, I would be going through this manuscript and metaphorically striking out most of her adjectives and adverbs. Here’s just one example:
Nearly every paragraph is like this, just flooded with adverbs that make it really difficult to wade through McQuaig’s explanations because of her constant editorializing. Tone it down, please.
But that’s a style critique, and it’s possible you read the above passage and thought there’s nothing wrong with it. My other critique, of McQuaig’s arguments, is a little more nuanced and harder to shake.
Again, I agree with McQuaig’s thesis: privatization is not good, in general, and Canada should be building stronger public institutions. However informative I find each of these chapters, when McQuaig attempts to move from teaching us history to arguing a point, the sands shift beneath her. She employs too many counterfactual fallacies, such as this one:
Sure, it might have. It might also have lapsed into obsolescence from insufficient public funding. McQuaig always assumes that avoiding privatization necessarily results in a brighter alternative future for the examples in this book. I wish I could agree that’s the case, but I don’t see the evidence for that. You can’t simply say, “Here are all the ways privatizing this thing was bad. If we hadn’t privatized this thing, everything would have worked out fine!” That’s a sneaky non sequitur.
McQuaig’s arguments are also very reductive in how she portrays “Canadian culture” versus “American culture” and even "Norwegian culture.” I’m putting these in quotation marks because the idea that any of these nations, even Norway, have monocultures, is itself a very reductive one. It’s so tempting to be taken in by McQuaig’s assertion that Canada tended towards more public enterprises as a quirk of its geography and its polite, “may we please have independence, Great Britain, uwu?” attitude versus our more aggressive and expansionist neighbours to the north. Yet, as I think her own details herein illustrate, the white men in power in both nations were not substantially different! Her approach is markedly similar to John Ralston Saul’s A Fair Country , albeit with much less acknowledgement of Indigenous peoples.
Indeed, McQuaig’s framing of private vs public enterprise is entirely Eurocentric. There is no substantive discussion in this book about Indigenous peoples, colonialism, reconciliation (and the smokescreen that is “economic reconciliation”), etc. Even in the chapters about the railway across Canada West and the Alberta oil sands, McQuaig somehow manages to avoid discussing genocide or violations of Treaty rights. It’s quite the glaring omission, and if it had happened in 2009 I would (sadly) just barely be able to believe her editor and publisher let it happen … as it is, for a book from 2019, I just shake my head. Settler authors really need to do better—the bar is on the floor!
And it’s such a shame, because I think any anticapitalist movement that ignores Indigenous voices and values is doomed to failure. Truly dismantling capitalism requires us to surrender our extractive relationship with the land in favour of a more reciprocal one, a stewardship role rather than a dominion. Indigenous peoples have done this for countless millennia and have stood ready, ever since Europeans showed up, to teach. McQuaig’s failure to consider Indigenous worldviews as she ponders the value of public enterprise is not just about a lack of inclusivity: it is a huge missed opportunity to make her vision stronger.
I really wanted The Sport and Prey of Capitalists to be better than it was. I really wanted to enjoy it more than I did. I didn’t mind it, and it is short enough that it didn’t overstay its welcome with me. I recommend it if you want some good vignettes of Canadian history, with all the caveats I noted above.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
When I started The Sport and Prey of Capitalists, I was excited because so many capitalist critiques focus on the US, and this book is very specific to Canada. Linda McQuaig spends each chapter focusing on a specific example of public good in Canada that was then privatized or otherwise hollowed out by private capital, from railways to pharmaceutical manufacturing. And this book is informative! However, the more I read, the more I worried this book was like that climate change book—just for leftists. Was I sinking deeper into an echo chamber? See, I agree with pretty much everything McQuaig says in this book—I just don’t think it’s particularly well written or edited.
If you’re reading this simply as a history book, I think that’s fine, so long as you recognize its bias. McQuaig has references, cites her sources—but there is nothing journalistic about this book. As a history book, however, I found it really interesting. Most of us Canadians, I think, learn a very shallow version of our history. McQuaig dives deep into specific moments: the construction and privatization of the 407 toll highway in southern Ontario; the CNR vs CPR railway battles and inadvertent birth of CBC Radio; public hydro generation in Ontario; Connaught Labs (and insulin!); postal banking; and Alberta and the oil sands. Throughout these stories there are familiar characters, sometimes cast in a new light. All in all, McQuaig does a decent job of relaying the facts.
However, as a polemic, I think this book leaves a lot wanting. To be clear, I’m not complaining about the bias—as I said earlier, I agree with it! Nevertheless, there is always such a thing as … too much. McQuaig’s opinionated writing suffers in two ways: weak arguments and poor editing.
I’ll dispense with the latter issue first. If I were McQuaig’s line editor, I would be going through this manuscript and metaphorically striking out most of her adjectives and adverbs. Here’s just one example:
Then, bending over backwards still further, the St. Laurent government offered the U.S. oilmen an eighty-million-dollar loan to help them overcome their financing problems. It was an incredibly generous offer, since the government would be providing crucial upfront financing during the risky stage of the project. Even so, the oilmen responded by arrogantly insisting….
Nearly every paragraph is like this, just flooded with adverbs that make it really difficult to wade through McQuaig’s explanations because of her constant editorializing. Tone it down, please.
But that’s a style critique, and it’s possible you read the above passage and thought there’s nothing wrong with it. My other critique, of McQuaig’s arguments, is a little more nuanced and harder to shake.
Again, I agree with McQuaig’s thesis: privatization is not good, in general, and Canada should be building stronger public institutions. However informative I find each of these chapters, when McQuaig attempts to move from teaching us history to arguing a point, the sands shift beneath her. She employs too many counterfactual fallacies, such as this one:
If Connaught were still operating as a public entity, it might have branched out and stepped into this role, producing key generic drugs when needed.
Sure, it might have. It might also have lapsed into obsolescence from insufficient public funding. McQuaig always assumes that avoiding privatization necessarily results in a brighter alternative future for the examples in this book. I wish I could agree that’s the case, but I don’t see the evidence for that. You can’t simply say, “Here are all the ways privatizing this thing was bad. If we hadn’t privatized this thing, everything would have worked out fine!” That’s a sneaky non sequitur.
McQuaig’s arguments are also very reductive in how she portrays “Canadian culture” versus “American culture” and even "Norwegian culture.” I’m putting these in quotation marks because the idea that any of these nations, even Norway, have monocultures, is itself a very reductive one. It’s so tempting to be taken in by McQuaig’s assertion that Canada tended towards more public enterprises as a quirk of its geography and its polite, “may we please have independence, Great Britain, uwu?” attitude versus our more aggressive and expansionist neighbours to the north. Yet, as I think her own details herein illustrate, the white men in power in both nations were not substantially different! Her approach is markedly similar to John Ralston Saul’s A Fair Country , albeit with much less acknowledgement of Indigenous peoples.
Indeed, McQuaig’s framing of private vs public enterprise is entirely Eurocentric. There is no substantive discussion in this book about Indigenous peoples, colonialism, reconciliation (and the smokescreen that is “economic reconciliation”), etc. Even in the chapters about the railway across Canada West and the Alberta oil sands, McQuaig somehow manages to avoid discussing genocide or violations of Treaty rights. It’s quite the glaring omission, and if it had happened in 2009 I would (sadly) just barely be able to believe her editor and publisher let it happen … as it is, for a book from 2019, I just shake my head. Settler authors really need to do better—the bar is on the floor!
And it’s such a shame, because I think any anticapitalist movement that ignores Indigenous voices and values is doomed to failure. Truly dismantling capitalism requires us to surrender our extractive relationship with the land in favour of a more reciprocal one, a stewardship role rather than a dominion. Indigenous peoples have done this for countless millennia and have stood ready, ever since Europeans showed up, to teach. McQuaig’s failure to consider Indigenous worldviews as she ponders the value of public enterprise is not just about a lack of inclusivity: it is a huge missed opportunity to make her vision stronger.
I really wanted The Sport and Prey of Capitalists to be better than it was. I really wanted to enjoy it more than I did. I didn’t mind it, and it is short enough that it didn’t overstay its welcome with me. I recommend it if you want some good vignettes of Canadian history, with all the caveats I noted above.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
December 18, 2019
In The Sport & Prey of Capitalists, Linda McQuaig achieves two important things: she gives a lesson in Canada's history of public enterprise across numerous sectors, and then she makes a case for the continuation of that proud history in key industries of the future.
In both cases, her work here is vital.
In spite of this country's recent trend of reviling public institutions, McQuaig manages to make a real case for them, celebrating the great successes of Canadians in establishing a hydroelectric utility, a leading pharmaceutical laboratory, and more. This celebration is a necessary one for Canadians who may have forgotten, or -- as in my own case -- who never even heard about some of these endeavours.
McQuaig then builds on that celebration by suggesting ways we could spearhead public movements into sectors that will surely be vital in the future. The idea of revitalizing postal banking is an almost revolutionary one, but perhaps more important is the notion of converting the soon-to-be shuttered GM Oshawa into a publicly owned green vehicle manufacturer.
There are important ideas in this book -- ideas that show a breathtaking vision of what this country can be, and that Canadian leaders present and future should in the very least consider.
In both cases, her work here is vital.
In spite of this country's recent trend of reviling public institutions, McQuaig manages to make a real case for them, celebrating the great successes of Canadians in establishing a hydroelectric utility, a leading pharmaceutical laboratory, and more. This celebration is a necessary one for Canadians who may have forgotten, or -- as in my own case -- who never even heard about some of these endeavours.
McQuaig then builds on that celebration by suggesting ways we could spearhead public movements into sectors that will surely be vital in the future. The idea of revitalizing postal banking is an almost revolutionary one, but perhaps more important is the notion of converting the soon-to-be shuttered GM Oshawa into a publicly owned green vehicle manufacturer.
There are important ideas in this book -- ideas that show a breathtaking vision of what this country can be, and that Canadian leaders present and future should in the very least consider.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2020
This was interesting to me in that it introduced me to broader applications of public enterprise in Canada's history and what it could become, and for that, I appreciate it.
However, it was quintessentially Canadian in an awful way. It regularly compared Canadian history to American history to emphasize Canada's moral excellence, instead of relying more on Canada's own achievements to stand for themselves. When discussing Canada as a whole, it focused almost exclusively on Ontario. When it did talk about other provinces, it did so in a much more distant and unfamiliar tone compared to the spirited and personal tone used for people and institutions based out of Ontario.
The most egregious of the book's faults, though, comes when discussing the growth of public enterprise in Canada. Throughout, it centered almost exclusively around white Canadians and the benefits they receive under public enterprise. In fact, the book even seems to laud the Department of Colonization and Development created by the public CN Rail in the 1920s as something that propelled CNR to be a better service for Canadians than it's private service competitor, CP Rail. I wish the book had more accurately displayed how public enterprise has affected all Canadians, as opposed to a select few.
Overall, I enjoyed the histories of services described in the book. It fascinates me to learn about things like Connaught Labs, or banking through Canada Post, both things I had never heard of before, and services I would hope Canada invests in soon. However, I need a history that takes on a less exclusionary point of view than mainly white people in Ontario.
However, it was quintessentially Canadian in an awful way. It regularly compared Canadian history to American history to emphasize Canada's moral excellence, instead of relying more on Canada's own achievements to stand for themselves. When discussing Canada as a whole, it focused almost exclusively on Ontario. When it did talk about other provinces, it did so in a much more distant and unfamiliar tone compared to the spirited and personal tone used for people and institutions based out of Ontario.
The most egregious of the book's faults, though, comes when discussing the growth of public enterprise in Canada. Throughout, it centered almost exclusively around white Canadians and the benefits they receive under public enterprise. In fact, the book even seems to laud the Department of Colonization and Development created by the public CN Rail in the 1920s as something that propelled CNR to be a better service for Canadians than it's private service competitor, CP Rail. I wish the book had more accurately displayed how public enterprise has affected all Canadians, as opposed to a select few.
Overall, I enjoyed the histories of services described in the book. It fascinates me to learn about things like Connaught Labs, or banking through Canada Post, both things I had never heard of before, and services I would hope Canada invests in soon. However, I need a history that takes on a less exclusionary point of view than mainly white people in Ontario.
June 27, 2020
It used to be that I read Linda Mcquaig's new books as soon as her publisher made them available. This one took me over a year after publication to get to, but she didn't disappoint. Canada missed out by not electing the NDP in 2015: McQuaig would have been a kick-ass Finance Minister.
She has always had an incredible journalist's knack for explaining economic ideas that are easy to understand. It isn't that complicated, really: those that benefit from low taxes, "free trade", privatization, and deregulation find fancy ways to justify their self-interests, and Mcquaig eviscerates them.
This latest book focuses on privatization. The title is from a quote by a Conservative Premier of Ontario talking about preventing electricity and the tremendous water resources used to generate it in Ontario from becoming the "sport and prey of capitalists." Municipal governments teamed up with the province in the early 20th century to confiscate the energy companies of the wealthy and produce affordable electricity for ordinary Ontarians.
The book is full of inspiring public ownership stories from Canada's history, including a public pharmaceutical company and banks run by the post office. It also includes enraging stories of missed opportunities to prevent exploitation of our resources by private interests, which have left us vulnerable to tremendous inequality, job losses, and climate catastrophe.
For a non-fiction writer Mcquaig is very entertaining, and this book ranks among her best.
She has always had an incredible journalist's knack for explaining economic ideas that are easy to understand. It isn't that complicated, really: those that benefit from low taxes, "free trade", privatization, and deregulation find fancy ways to justify their self-interests, and Mcquaig eviscerates them.
This latest book focuses on privatization. The title is from a quote by a Conservative Premier of Ontario talking about preventing electricity and the tremendous water resources used to generate it in Ontario from becoming the "sport and prey of capitalists." Municipal governments teamed up with the province in the early 20th century to confiscate the energy companies of the wealthy and produce affordable electricity for ordinary Ontarians.
The book is full of inspiring public ownership stories from Canada's history, including a public pharmaceutical company and banks run by the post office. It also includes enraging stories of missed opportunities to prevent exploitation of our resources by private interests, which have left us vulnerable to tremendous inequality, job losses, and climate catastrophe.
For a non-fiction writer Mcquaig is very entertaining, and this book ranks among her best.
February 18, 2020
It’s okay as a popular book, but as a regular reader of academic books I would have liked to see more detail, more sources, more arguments counter-arguments and counter-counter arguments. It felt (and I say this knowing almost nothing about these topics) very surface level.
That said, it was very readable and fairly engaging.
That said, it was very readable and fairly engaging.
May 8, 2020
Plenty of ammo here in the fight against the privatization of public assets.
WARNING: This book will induce intense bouts of rage. Symptoms include uncontrollable swearing, contempt for sociopathic businessmen, and frequent lamentations over so many lost opportunities for growth in Ontario and Canada.
WARNING: This book will induce intense bouts of rage. Symptoms include uncontrollable swearing, contempt for sociopathic businessmen, and frequent lamentations over so many lost opportunities for growth in Ontario and Canada.
January 23, 2025
Corruption everywhere
Read
April 1, 2020Review by Yutaka Dirks:
In the 2015 federal election, author and journalist Linda McQuaig ran for Parliament as an NDP candidate in the riding of Toronto Centre. Her opponent was Liberal candidate Bill Morneau, who won the riding and went on to become minister of finance.
During the campaign, Morneau and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau championed the idea of creating a Canadian infrastructure bank, which would "provide low-cost financing for new infrastructure projects." The bank would help finance things like public transit and housing, by borrowing the funds from the public through the sale of bonds to Canadians or their pension funds. People in Canada would finance the construction of infrastructure they benefit from (and own it, collectively).
Keep reading: https://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2019/...
In the 2015 federal election, author and journalist Linda McQuaig ran for Parliament as an NDP candidate in the riding of Toronto Centre. Her opponent was Liberal candidate Bill Morneau, who won the riding and went on to become minister of finance.
During the campaign, Morneau and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau championed the idea of creating a Canadian infrastructure bank, which would "provide low-cost financing for new infrastructure projects." The bank would help finance things like public transit and housing, by borrowing the funds from the public through the sale of bonds to Canadians or their pension funds. People in Canada would finance the construction of infrastructure they benefit from (and own it, collectively).
Keep reading: https://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2019/...
June 29, 2020
An adequate cautionary look at the Conservative trait to privatize everything, only for the benefit of a few greedheads.
July 21, 2026
This book can be summarized in two words: public enterprise.
Linda McQuaig answered an extremely niche question that I had been struggling with for a while—"Is it possible for an ambitious individual based out of Canada to reconcile their desire to be enterprising with the contradictions of a capitalist society?" The answer is yes, but it requires thinking beyond the constraining beliefs of for-profit enterprises.
Public enterprises are inherently more holistic, and their overarching goals subsume those of private enterprises. In other words, profit isn't ignored entirely when building a public enterprise, but rather, it becomes just one of many goals that the organization has to contend with. Profit is of course nice and important given the realities of scarce resources, but what happens when profit conflicts directly with giving customers a better service, improving labour conditions, the broader national interest, or what's best for the environment (just to name a few)?
Private enterprises ignore these difficult questions. In some ways it is easier not to contend with them—just pick one metric, in this case shareholder value, and optimize for it. But the world is not so simple, and in hindsight it feels rather foolish to have ever believed that such a reductionist view of enterprising is the optimal way of organizing society. But these are exactly the indoctrinations of standard Econ 101 or Finance 101 classes. They were entirely faith-based, almost axiomatic, assertions. It reminds me of the allegory of the man looking for his keys at night near the lamp post, not because he dropped them there, but because the light made it easy for him to search. In other words, just because a metric is easy to optimize doesn't mean we ought to optimize for it.
Each chapter of the book gives a different example of how a public enterprise succeeded (or could have succeeded) in comparison with a private enterprise. The examples include Highway 407, Ontario Power, the CNR vs. the CPR, the lab that discovered insulin at UofT, Canada Post, and the Alberta oil industry. As a Canadian who's spent over a decade in Toronto, these examples are extremely close to home.
It pains me to think about how many years I've lost believing I was doing the best I could for the world, when in reality I was only blindly and zealously working to make rich people richer. It is hard to admit, especially when I believed there was no better option. This book offers an alternative.
Linda McQuaig answered an extremely niche question that I had been struggling with for a while—"Is it possible for an ambitious individual based out of Canada to reconcile their desire to be enterprising with the contradictions of a capitalist society?" The answer is yes, but it requires thinking beyond the constraining beliefs of for-profit enterprises.
Public enterprises are inherently more holistic, and their overarching goals subsume those of private enterprises. In other words, profit isn't ignored entirely when building a public enterprise, but rather, it becomes just one of many goals that the organization has to contend with. Profit is of course nice and important given the realities of scarce resources, but what happens when profit conflicts directly with giving customers a better service, improving labour conditions, the broader national interest, or what's best for the environment (just to name a few)?
Private enterprises ignore these difficult questions. In some ways it is easier not to contend with them—just pick one metric, in this case shareholder value, and optimize for it. But the world is not so simple, and in hindsight it feels rather foolish to have ever believed that such a reductionist view of enterprising is the optimal way of organizing society. But these are exactly the indoctrinations of standard Econ 101 or Finance 101 classes. They were entirely faith-based, almost axiomatic, assertions. It reminds me of the allegory of the man looking for his keys at night near the lamp post, not because he dropped them there, but because the light made it easy for him to search. In other words, just because a metric is easy to optimize doesn't mean we ought to optimize for it.
Each chapter of the book gives a different example of how a public enterprise succeeded (or could have succeeded) in comparison with a private enterprise. The examples include Highway 407, Ontario Power, the CNR vs. the CPR, the lab that discovered insulin at UofT, Canada Post, and the Alberta oil industry. As a Canadian who's spent over a decade in Toronto, these examples are extremely close to home.
It pains me to think about how many years I've lost believing I was doing the best I could for the world, when in reality I was only blindly and zealously working to make rich people richer. It is hard to admit, especially when I believed there was no better option. This book offers an alternative.
March 12, 2026
In this slim, highly readable book by Linda McQuaig - we get to look at all the publicly owned corporations - mostly in Ontario - which once provided Canadians with well paid jobs, corporate taxes, and revenue that was reinvested in our own economy.
Case by case, we see how US corporations, lobbyists, neoliberal think tanks, corrupt politicians, ideological university professors, foreign law firms, and our own media have conspired to strip us away from publicly owned corporations.
Although the book focuses on Ottawa - we see the same trends across the country. Conservative leaders have been leading is into a hyper-capitalist nightmare, calling to mind of US scenes of mass poverty, limited access to healthcare, and an increasingly disenfranchised working class.
The book explores various sectors that have been bulldozed by private interests: wartime manufacturing crown corporations that have been bought up or disappeared, our oil industry and how it has been monopolized by the US, the selling off of Connaught Labs - our once highly successful publicly owned medical research lab now US owned, etc.
What is most striking is our ignorance and apathy. How can everyday people, working class people continue to elect rich, upper class business men who continue to collide with private US interests to sell us down the river? Doug Ford, François Legault, Danielle Smith... even our prime minister, Carney - are all part of the same social class that represent the rich businessmen of the USA.
Anyways, the book goes on to show us how other countries continue to stand up for their public corporations, and how they also manage to confront and stand up to US multinationals - making us look absolutely pathetic. For example, McQuaig contrasts how Canada and Norway differed in their approach to managing their natural oil reserves. Obviously, Norway wins. They are not say no to American corporations, and as a result - the money gained from their oil has ended up benefiting the people. They also do a better job cleaning up the mess involved in oil extraction/production because public companies are beholden to the people, not not solely to the evil foreign shareholders/CEOs.
Canada, do better. Please vote for your own interests and the interests of your neighbors and citizens - stop voting for the elite, foreign educated, neoliberal assholes who keep us enslaved to US corporations.
This rant/review is over.
Case by case, we see how US corporations, lobbyists, neoliberal think tanks, corrupt politicians, ideological university professors, foreign law firms, and our own media have conspired to strip us away from publicly owned corporations.
Although the book focuses on Ottawa - we see the same trends across the country. Conservative leaders have been leading is into a hyper-capitalist nightmare, calling to mind of US scenes of mass poverty, limited access to healthcare, and an increasingly disenfranchised working class.
The book explores various sectors that have been bulldozed by private interests: wartime manufacturing crown corporations that have been bought up or disappeared, our oil industry and how it has been monopolized by the US, the selling off of Connaught Labs - our once highly successful publicly owned medical research lab now US owned, etc.
What is most striking is our ignorance and apathy. How can everyday people, working class people continue to elect rich, upper class business men who continue to collide with private US interests to sell us down the river? Doug Ford, François Legault, Danielle Smith... even our prime minister, Carney - are all part of the same social class that represent the rich businessmen of the USA.
Anyways, the book goes on to show us how other countries continue to stand up for their public corporations, and how they also manage to confront and stand up to US multinationals - making us look absolutely pathetic. For example, McQuaig contrasts how Canada and Norway differed in their approach to managing their natural oil reserves. Obviously, Norway wins. They are not say no to American corporations, and as a result - the money gained from their oil has ended up benefiting the people. They also do a better job cleaning up the mess involved in oil extraction/production because public companies are beholden to the people, not not solely to the evil foreign shareholders/CEOs.
Canada, do better. Please vote for your own interests and the interests of your neighbors and citizens - stop voting for the elite, foreign educated, neoliberal assholes who keep us enslaved to US corporations.
This rant/review is over.
September 6, 2026
This is a book that isn't sure what its thesis is supposed to be. It's clear from the last chapter and the blurb on the back of the book that the author wanted this book to be a repudiation of privatization specifically and neoliberal economics/politics generally. That ambitious goal for the book is out of sync with most of its chapters, which are focused instead on telling very specific stories of Canada's history of public enterprise and privatization.
The book is at its best in the front half, with the stories about the 407, Hydro, and Connaught Labs. McQuaig's storytelling is engaging, focusing on the intersecting interests of key players in business and politics. I had a general understanding of these pieces of our country's history before reading this book and I still came away feeling informed and a little bit inspired, particularly in the chapter about Adam Beck.
Unfortunately, the book starts to go downhill in the second half of the book and loses the plot in the final chapter. I found the chapter about postal banking to be completely unconvincing; not once does McQuaig engage in even a cursory review of any of the arguments against postal banking. Worse yet, not once does she even mention online banking; she decries the closure of bank branches across the country without any acknowledgement of how day-to-day banking is largely done online now (and was even back in 2019 when this was published). The whole chapter is predicated on a false dichotomy between the status quo and postal banking, as if no other alternative could be given consideration.
I was feeling quite disengaged with the book when I got to the chapter about Alberta's oil industry. McQuaig makes multiple references to Oil's Deep State by Kevin Taft, which I read around the time it was published. It felt pointless reading this chapter when Taft had already done a much more thorough examination of this topic. This helped crystalize my sentiments about the book.
Oil's Deep State has a clear thesis and spends its entire word count working to prove that thesis with a high degree of rigour. The Sport and Prey of Capitalists does not do that; it provides a few anecdotes and then tries to tie it all together in the final chapter. I was left unconvinced. Worse, I was left questioning whether I should trust McQuiag's accounts of the historical events in the chapters I enjoyed.
The book is at its best in the front half, with the stories about the 407, Hydro, and Connaught Labs. McQuaig's storytelling is engaging, focusing on the intersecting interests of key players in business and politics. I had a general understanding of these pieces of our country's history before reading this book and I still came away feeling informed and a little bit inspired, particularly in the chapter about Adam Beck.
Unfortunately, the book starts to go downhill in the second half of the book and loses the plot in the final chapter. I found the chapter about postal banking to be completely unconvincing; not once does McQuaig engage in even a cursory review of any of the arguments against postal banking. Worse yet, not once does she even mention online banking; she decries the closure of bank branches across the country without any acknowledgement of how day-to-day banking is largely done online now (and was even back in 2019 when this was published). The whole chapter is predicated on a false dichotomy between the status quo and postal banking, as if no other alternative could be given consideration.
I was feeling quite disengaged with the book when I got to the chapter about Alberta's oil industry. McQuaig makes multiple references to Oil's Deep State by Kevin Taft, which I read around the time it was published. It felt pointless reading this chapter when Taft had already done a much more thorough examination of this topic. This helped crystalize my sentiments about the book.
Oil's Deep State has a clear thesis and spends its entire word count working to prove that thesis with a high degree of rigour. The Sport and Prey of Capitalists does not do that; it provides a few anecdotes and then tries to tie it all together in the final chapter. I was left unconvinced. Worse, I was left questioning whether I should trust McQuiag's accounts of the historical events in the chapters I enjoyed.
May 22, 2020
A simply fascinating look at how the Big Business culture is robbing the average Canadian blind. Though told a bit too informally for my taste, this polemic lays out very clearly and very neatly why Canadians are being hoodwinked and almost literally robbed blind by private corporate interests.
From a country which has a long history of successful public construction and ownership (if was not private industry which raised the funds to built the transcontinental railroad) and public enterprise, from Hydro One, the Canadian National Railroad, Public Banks, ect we now find a country which is is being told the public sector can't do anything. We just can't trust the public to do something, how could they ever get it done? The simple truth is, we have, and can do so again, if the government merely put its foot down and corporate interests just got out of the way.
One need look no further than the Debacle which is Highway 407. Built largely with public funds, and for public use, the government gave private firms a 99 year lease, when the option to give a far more reasonable 30 year lease was on the table. Now, instead of being able to control how much is charged on that necessary piece of road, the government is powerless as its private owners will rake in untold billions in value from Canadians until the year 2098. All for a measly 100 million to attempt to show a balanced budget.
That is but one sad example of the public good being squandered by private interests. It's a fascinating read and well worth the time.
From a country which has a long history of successful public construction and ownership (if was not private industry which raised the funds to built the transcontinental railroad) and public enterprise, from Hydro One, the Canadian National Railroad, Public Banks, ect we now find a country which is is being told the public sector can't do anything. We just can't trust the public to do something, how could they ever get it done? The simple truth is, we have, and can do so again, if the government merely put its foot down and corporate interests just got out of the way.
One need look no further than the Debacle which is Highway 407. Built largely with public funds, and for public use, the government gave private firms a 99 year lease, when the option to give a far more reasonable 30 year lease was on the table. Now, instead of being able to control how much is charged on that necessary piece of road, the government is powerless as its private owners will rake in untold billions in value from Canadians until the year 2098. All for a measly 100 million to attempt to show a balanced budget.
That is but one sad example of the public good being squandered by private interests. It's a fascinating read and well worth the time.
March 23, 2021
Births, strengths and deaths of vital transformative industries, and the interplay between private and public interest. This is one of the greatest examinations advocating for increased public enterprise in Canada I've read. The 407 highway, hydroelectrical power, the railway industry and financial banking are a few insights delved into where any individual is going to come upon a history they weren't aware of before. It seems Canada actually does have a bit of colour to its past. The unsung recognition of leaders who have faded from the nations memory is especially noteworthy and greatfull. The history of past battles approaches current challenges addressed in todays Canada, involving the development of an infrastructure bank, oil decline, and universal pharmacies. This book is perhaps not meant to be objective as politicians, entrepreneurs or agencies as proponents of free markets are typically villanified with no redeeming outlooks. This of course can not be true to who they were or may be, nevertheless this a book of any easy read effective in enhancing perspective. Excellent rating.
June 15, 2026
2.5-ish stars.
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did -- the premise is great and McQuaig presents some pretty interesting research on the history of public enterprise in Canada. Overall, though, the book felt pretty superficial and not very in-depth... it focuses more on stories of individual public enterprise successes than any sort of comprehensive analysis, and I felt like it skimmed over the recent history of privatization (i.e. in universities, the decline of federal non-market housing, the sale of Crown corporations, etc) that would actually tell us more about how the rich are stealing Canada's public wealth. Also, as another reviewer pointed out, McQuaig effectively dodges any reckoning with the history of settler colonialism and genocide (even when it obviously needs to be addressed in relation to public enterprises like the Canadian National Railway). You shouldn't tell a story about public enterprise if you're not willing to grapple with the fact that a lot of Canada's infrastructure was only built to serve the needs of white settlers/the colonial economy.
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did -- the premise is great and McQuaig presents some pretty interesting research on the history of public enterprise in Canada. Overall, though, the book felt pretty superficial and not very in-depth... it focuses more on stories of individual public enterprise successes than any sort of comprehensive analysis, and I felt like it skimmed over the recent history of privatization (i.e. in universities, the decline of federal non-market housing, the sale of Crown corporations, etc) that would actually tell us more about how the rich are stealing Canada's public wealth. Also, as another reviewer pointed out, McQuaig effectively dodges any reckoning with the history of settler colonialism and genocide (even when it obviously needs to be addressed in relation to public enterprises like the Canadian National Railway). You shouldn't tell a story about public enterprise if you're not willing to grapple with the fact that a lot of Canada's infrastructure was only built to serve the needs of white settlers/the colonial economy.
August 6, 2022
A series of case studies about successful Canadian public industries (Connaught labs, CNR, a public bank, and some war-time R&D organisations) and their eventual privatization. Interesting both for the history and the lessons about public enterprises -- primarily that infrastructure should be funded directly by government (since they can borrow at very low rates), and that natural monopolies (trains, electricity, ...) can be effectively and efficiently run by the public sector.
There is also an interesting chapter on Alberta's tar sands -- Canada and Alberta have basically bent over backwards to appease international oil companies, for no good reason, rather than using their leverage and collecting on any of the surplus rent that should go towards the owners (i.e., Albertan's) of the land the oil is extracted from.
What is missing is any significant direct address of opposing arguments, or studies of failed public projects and malinvestment.
There is also an interesting chapter on Alberta's tar sands -- Canada and Alberta have basically bent over backwards to appease international oil companies, for no good reason, rather than using their leverage and collecting on any of the surplus rent that should go towards the owners (i.e., Albertan's) of the land the oil is extracted from.
What is missing is any significant direct address of opposing arguments, or studies of failed public projects and malinvestment.
April 20, 2025
A brilliant book that every canadian should read, especially in 2025 when our political scene has gotten worse. The book does a great job in pointing out how privatization in Canada has hendered its growth and hurt Canadians. If we want things to improve we need to rethink the love our politicians have for private/foreign investments and control.
One thing the book also points out is how GDP per capita isn't this great way to analyzing how a country is doing. Especially the majority of its people. Canadians recently seem to be obsessed with GDP as one in all measure.
Lastly I think after reading the book it might inspire Canadian to take action and get more politically involved. Like how once ontarions fought for public hydro generation. We can hopefully stop how our politicians today keep stripping our public services once fought hard by fellow Canadians
One thing the book also points out is how GDP per capita isn't this great way to analyzing how a country is doing. Especially the majority of its people. Canadians recently seem to be obsessed with GDP as one in all measure.
Lastly I think after reading the book it might inspire Canadian to take action and get more politically involved. Like how once ontarions fought for public hydro generation. We can hopefully stop how our politicians today keep stripping our public services once fought hard by fellow Canadians
January 14, 2021
Every Canadian should read this book as it demonstrates that privatization is not the route for delivery of services such as hydro and rail and also shows how major companies are basically ripping us off. A lot of the examples she gives are quite maddening. For example, ultimately the tar sands are going to cost us way more than they contribute because the companies have not invested even a fraction of the clean up costs. This book will teach you how to talk to politicians who think privatization is the answer to everything (and when they can’t privatize they just go out and buy a pipeline on Kinder Morgan’s behalf🙄)
March 2, 2026
I'm a little disapointed in the book. The stories are really intresting and good but were very focused on the english Canada and no mention of the public enterprise in Québec, which i taught was a little annoying.
What frustrated me the most was the fact that almost no mention of capitalism was made in the book. No mention in the book was made of how all these privatisation are facililated and incouraged by the capitalist system. I really thaught it was gonna be more anti-capitalist.
What frustrated me the most was the fact that almost no mention of capitalism was made in the book. No mention in the book was made of how all these privatisation are facililated and incouraged by the capitalist system. I really thaught it was gonna be more anti-capitalist.
April 24, 2026
This was a really informing book! I'm not necessarily a fan of learning about economics, but the way this book was structured was in a way that it talked about politics and social structure of Canadas wealth too so it was interesting that way. I learned a lot of unknown facts about the history of public enterprises in Canada, so I would probably consider this more of a history book as it offered a lot of the basis for modern day problems of wealth inequality.
January 24, 2020
A very well researched book that highlights how politicians of all stripes have sold off prime Canadian assets for a song to the detriment of Canadians. Tax-payers’ dollars created world-class institutions that were given away to private investors who are continuing to reap multi fold benefits years later.
December 24, 2020
This is my first McQuaig’s book and I really enjoyed it. I learnt a great deal about an important part of Canadian history. I love the fact that public enterprise was such a pillar in the country’s making but as we can see not only here but in most of the countries around the world, we succumbed to the capitalism, provocation and the needy greedy selfish bottom line.
October 15, 2021
A really good read outlining the slow privatization of Canada's public utilities and services. Linda McQuaig conducted a brilliant piece of analysis, her ability to research is clearly evident. I think this is a good book for all Canadians to read, it's extremely readable and captivating. Goes to show how leaning on neoliberal ideologies ultimately harms public interest.
January 14, 2022
Excellent read. I’m surprised at how engaged I was reading about Canada’s economic history but McQuaig outlines and explains, convincingly, arguments about the benefits for public wealth in Canada. I come away from this well-written book feeling informed and intrigued. Every Canadian -especially Ontarians and Albertans - should read this book.
March 24, 2026
Many points McQuaig makes rings very true, especially regarding private banking. Our local bank is closing down without any explanation why. Aside from increasing profits.
3 stars because I would have liked McQuaig to remain impartial in her writing when reviewing political history but she seemed to overly criticize Conservative mistakes and minimize Liberal ones.
3 stars because I would have liked McQuaig to remain impartial in her writing when reviewing political history but she seemed to overly criticize Conservative mistakes and minimize Liberal ones.
May 2, 2026
Where do I start... Every chapter was packed with such important facts and information, Linda McQuaig did such an amazing job choosing what to include, as well as the vocabulary she used wasn't full of political or business jargon. I have actually learned so much and recommend this to every Canadian even if reading isn't your thing or reading non-fiction. Wow! What an impact full read!
February 9, 2021
Powerful and disturbing at the same time. Ms McQuaig makes the case, with evidence, that corporations and their philosophies are creeeping insidiously into our governments. That includes the present Liberal government of Justin Trudeau.
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