Harper and $80 million for Ford

[Mot]

So now Harper wants more Corportate Welfare given to a poorly run business that kept producing dinosaurs. Ford didn't run their company well and they get rewarded by taking money away from the rest of us.

Free market capitalism without any risk. Go Tories!

 

[299 bloor call control.]

From Macleans blogs:

BTC: Coincidence, surely By Aaron Wherry | September 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm




Filed Under: Capital Read • The Commons
Tags: Election Watch • Jeff Watson • Jim Flaherty • Stephen Harper

Globe and Mail, January 16. “The Harper government has refused to provide financial aid to the auto industry, including funding to support a $300-million plan to reopen a shuttered engine plant in Windsor, Ont. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said this morning that Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it clear when he met with the premiers last Friday that Ottawa is not prepared to inject funding into specific projects.”


Globe and Mail, January 17. “Ottawa won’t dole out direct financial aid to help reopen a shuttered Windsor, Ont.,Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. engine plant, because the Harper government doesn’t believe in targeted subsidies to specific firms, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says.”


Windsor Star, tonight. “Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to pledge $80 million worth of financial support Wednesday toward a $600-million Ford investment to reopen its mothballed Essex Engine Plant in Windsor, Ont.”

 

[jade_lee]

gotta love this guy the polls say is leading in the election he has yet to call

This post is a comment from: "The Twain Shall Meet" http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/08/31/harper-dion.html

"I will gladly give my blessing to the Harper Government as soon as one of you staunch 'Conservative' (pronounced Reform) supporters explain away these few concerns that I have.

In and Out, Bernier, Income Trusts, Security Leaks, Funding Cuts for Women's Rights, Cadman Affair, Attack Ads, Frigates, Homophobia, Right to Life, Water Sales, Unregistered Firearms, Kyoto Accord, Kelowna Accord, Biker Broad, Listeria Outbreak, Looming Deficite, Fort PMO, John Baird, Big Oil, Bush Jr., Transparency, Accountability, $100.00 annual Daycare Costs, Afghanistan, CBC Funding Cuts, Cultural Funding Cuts, Conservative label used by Reformists, Tailings ponds, Pristine lakes, Mutant Fish, Zenn Vehicles, Taser Deaths, Religeous Fundamentalists, Attending Democratic Convention in US, Absent at Olympics, GG told to Forego Paralympics, Internet Copyright Legislation, Mulroney Affair, Nobel Winners Ignored, Only Bush Calls SH Steve, Atlantic Accord, Rona Ambrose, Information Data Base, Militarization of Arctic, Outsourcing Policy Research, Fixed Election Date, Ambassador's reports on Human Rights Overseas Made Secret, Attempt to Stop Same Sex Marriage, Advertisement Budget Doubled, Almost All Legislation Posed as Confidence Motion, Support for Biofuel, Insufficient Support of Alternative Energy, Failure to protect Canadians Abroad, Support for Guantanamo, Lost Nato Documents, Wheat Board Muzzled, Caucus Muzzled, Ontario Ignored, Canadians Executed in America, Cancelled National Childcare, Fired Nuclear Watchdog, Embarassment on World Stage.

...

Anyone?" FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL and now 80 million to FORD....failed organization alReady Dying....Harper picks who he wants to elect him and they aren't too bright.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

beez said it best...

What I do not agree with is taxpayer dollars going to support real businesses that would otherwise be financially not viable.

 

[Dichotomy]

Harper is only doing what Japan has been doing for years. Jim Press, who defected as chief of Toyota in the U.S. after 20 some odd years to work for Chrysler publicly admitted that the Toyota Synergy drive was paid for by the Japanese government.
It isn't whether Ford or GM or anybody else has a failed business model - it's the hyper Canadian dollar, mixed with record high gas prices. Nobody saw that coming. Toyota has just idled its $1.3 billion dollar truck plant that has only been open for 18 months! NOBODY saw this coming.
Ford is just the tip of the ice berg. We are losing ALL our industrial base. John Deere just announced 800 lay offs and a plant closure after 70 years in Welland. The $C is pounding our competitiveness.

Unless we all want to work for Starbucks and Wal-Mart, we have to get behind our remaining manufacturers and help them to be competitive.

Question: how many hundreds of millions did Texas give Toyota to open their truck plant there 2 years ago?

This corporate 'welfare' pits state against state and province against province. Ontario either has to play the game, or lose its industrial base.

 

[Mot]

Sure Dichotomy, that's why US manufacturers are now buying the old hybrid Toyota technology while Toyota uses the new generation.

Perhaps instead of giving $80 million to the idiots at Ford the money would be much better spent on Canadian based alternative energy sources.

I really enjoy seeing Conservatives praise corporate welfare then turn face and attack the welfare state for base votes.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

i think alberta gave us dutch disease.

 

[urbanfan89]

Those people who truly believe this isn't crass pre-election goodies will also be able to buy bridges.

 

[afransen]

i think alberta gave us dutch disease.

What we need to do is stop pretending that the BoC can do anything to stop inflation in Alberta. Take Alberta out of inflation calculations for the purpose of setting monetary policy.

A carbon tax would also be good, since it will cool carbon intensive industries such as oil and gas while reducing the corporate tax rate.

 

[Dichotomy]

Sure Dichotomy, that's why US manufacturers are now buying the old hybrid Toyota technology while Toyota uses the new generation.

Perhaps instead of giving $80 million to the idiots at Ford the money would be much better spent on Canadian based alternative energy sources.

I really enjoy seeing Conservatives praise corporate welfare then turn face and attack the welfare state for base votes.

GM is using a 2-mode system co-developed with Chrysler, BMW and Daimler. Ford 'licenses' Toyota's drive for their Escapes.

My minor in university was Japanese trade practices. I wouldn't buy or drive anything from Japan if my life depended on it.

 

[kEiThZ]

So now Harper wants more Corportate Welfare given to a poorly run business that kept producing dinosaurs. Ford didn't run their company well and they get rewarded by taking money away from the rest of us.

Free market capitalism without any risk. Go Tories!

Corporate welfare is the Canadian way. If the NDP were in power in Ontario or the Liberals were in power federally, the check would have been for 800 million not 80 million. And that little thing called Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) is a Liberal institution that probably adds about 20% to the cost of every government contract in Canada.

Yes, the Conservatives did rail against corporate welfare....but that was the Reform branch of the party which despised the IRB for favouring Quebec and the Maritimes. And there is some merit to this, to this day there is no Ontario equivalent of the ACOA. The old PC party never complained about it. In fact, it routinely played favourites, regionally, with contracts....anyone remember the CF-18 maintenance contract..... And the Liberals and the NDP have certainly never campaigned against it. In fact, the latter two keep demanding more corporate welfare, not less.

This is simply the reality of small countries like Canada. And its not necessarily wrong. Corporate welfare in Canada is not what it is in the US. It is more in line with the European/Asian way of promoting national industrial "champions" like Airbus in France, Daimler Benz and BMW in Germany, semi-conductor industry in Taiwan, IT industry in India, etc. Similarly, Ontario has its automotive industry, Quebec its aerospace industry, Alberta its oil, BC its pulp and paper and logging, Maritimes its fisheries, and the Prairies their big agro-business and regular agriculture.

That being said, there is nothing wrong imo with subsidizing industries that create high paying jobs and generate technological spin-offs. In fact, a good industrial policy, would support industries that were net economic contributors. Indeed, this is exactly why the Libs and NDP campaign for these practices. The Conservatives are just late to the party. And the way I see it, this is a small and weak attempt at countering the Dutch disease. At least they are trying....

 

[kEiThZ]

i think alberta gave us dutch disease.

I second that. Except, now its not just Alberta but the half a dozen provinces with oil and Quebec with hydro.

What we need to do is stop pretending that the BoC can do anything to stop inflation in Alberta. Take Alberta out of inflation calculations for the purpose of setting monetary policy.

A carbon tax would also be good, since it will cool carbon intensive industries such as oil and gas while reducing the corporate tax rate.

Forget climate change. This is exactly why we should study a carbon/energy tax, to counter the onset of the Dutch disease.

As to taking Alberta out of the inflation math. I am tempted to agree with you, but I also recall periods in our history when Ontario brought inflation to the rest of Canada. That idea can go both ways.

 

[urbanfan89]

Better yet, tell Alberta they will have to print their own currency.

One Alberta Dollar will initially be at par with one Canadian Dollar.

Within a month 1AB$ = 1.2CA$.

 

[kEiThZ]

Better yet, tell Alberta they will have to print their own currency.

One Alberta Dollar will initially be at par with one Canadian Dollar.

Within a month 1AB$ = 1.2CA$.

With potentially more oil than Saudi and half the population it'll be 1AB$ = 5 CA$. I have always thought that the Albertans had much more of a reason to separate than the Quebecers....

 

[lordmandeep]

Quebecors are rebels without a cause.

What is a leech if it has nothing to suck on?

A dead one...