noun A person who supports, or gains from, moving a public service into private hands.
- Privatization advocates, or “privateers,” peddle the simple message that privatization is always good.
— Peter Downs, Schoolhouse Shams: Myths and Misinformation in School Reform (2013)
- Privateers, such as Osborne and Gaebler, promise that good competition will not become bad — will not become cutthroat competition — if good competition is "carefully structured and managed;
— George Beam, Quality Public Management: What it is and how it Can be Improved and … (2001)
- This is a major victory, not only for CUPW because it will deter profit-hungry privateers from taking work away from CUPW members, but also because it gives union protection to those employed by the privateers.
— British Columbia. Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission, Summary of Proceedings (1985)
