Any time you start talking about privatizing human services, it's bound to raise concern among local government and community advocates.

It's a road we've been down many times before - as often as not, the push to privatize is driven more by a desire to save money than to improve, or even maintain, services.

We're aware governments need to mind the dollars and cents, but something like employment services needs to be looked at as an investment, not an expense to be pared.

Employment services can be broadly described as matching people who need work - in particular those receiving social assistance - with employers.

In 2016, Ontario's Auditor General reported the existing employment services system isn't working as well is it should. So it is no surprise the provincial government took aim at that issue, nor is it wrong to do so.

There was an open bidding process and three operators have been selected. Here's the rub. Even though some municipalities put in bids, none were selected.

All three are private sector operators that will take over management of employment services. In Hamilton-Niagara, an American firm called Fedcap will lead the work, in Peel Region an Australian company got the nod and in Muskoka-Kawarthas Fleming College was selected.

For Hamilton-Niagara, this raises troubling questions.

Why were municipalities unsuccessful? Why an American company instead of a Canadian one? What will happen to staff and institutions running existing programs? Will private sector management mean different priorities?

Since brokers typically get paid for getting people jobs, will clients with complex needs get overlooked in favour of simpler cases?

And, most troubling, is this the thin edge of the wedge in terms of privatizing social services?

We know the Ford government is ideologically bent in that direction. If this is the first of other privatization moves, Ontarians deserve to know.

Niagara's commissioner of social services, Adrienne Jugley, said she is anxious to meet with representatives from Fedcap.

"We need to understand what Fedcap's vision is, how they want the system to work," she said in an interview.

The fact she hasn't been told yet whether the company will continue to maintain all or some of the existing services, or directly deliver them itself, is also troubling.

Her department works with those community-based agencies, like the Job Gym and Employment Solutions, to help clients who receive Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Assistance Program benefits to find jobs.

Job loss is something we are all vulnerable to, and it's usually something you cannot plan for. As opposed to larger metropolitan centres, finding a good job in Niagara after you've lost one can be an ordeal.

Monte McNaughton, the minister of labour, training and skills development, says job seekers and employers will barely notice a change.

In a statement that sounds like it was lifted from some generic conservative politician's playbook, he said, "Government is getting out of the way and allowing local communities to tailor the program to their specific needs."

A director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, on the other hand, labelled it, "a recipe for disaster."

This director pointed to the "largely poor outcomes" that followed similar changes tried by other governments in Australia and the United Kingdom.

We're not against change; we're all for progress. Employment services, as is, could certainly use some improving.

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The province's approach so far, though, makes us wary.