Harper government leads by example at Davos

That headline is lifted from a news release from Canada's Dept of Foreign Affairs. It's got about as much veracity to it as some of the headlines you've seen on this blog that claim to reveal the anti-Christ or the messiah. The difference is that when I'm flogging crop circles and such, most readers of average intelligence will assume I'm joking. When they read the above headline at a Government of Canada website, they assume it's true.

Guess the joke's on them!

I've read both the press release and the appended Quick Facts more than once, and the only item referenced that can be construed as being about Canadian leadership is that our banking sector is not  as bankrupt as those in some other developed countries. Does this have anything to do with the Harper government? Absolutely not. The reason Canada escaped the worst of the 2007-8 collapse is because we avoided the worst excesses of the deregulation frenzy of the 1990s, and avoided them only because we had the good fortune of not having a Conservative government at the time.

So we're "leaders" by default in that arena, but where the Harper government supporters can correctly raise a chant of "we're almost number one" is in the "Bloomberg Ease of Business" ranking. That's pretty much what it sounds like. How easy is it for foreign investors to set up shop here?  Ponder that for a moment. What sort of impediments might disuade foreign investors?

Strict environmental regulations?
Stringent protection of workers' health and safety?
A living minimum wage?..

Sounds to me like leading the Bloomberg Ease of Business ranking is another way of saying we're winning the race to the bottom!

What's shocking is that the news release itself concedes that foreign investment is responsible for only one in ten Canadian jobs. For this we're selling out our workers and destroying the environment?

That may be leadership, Mr. Harper, but I'm not sure it's where Canadians want to be led.

Tossed in as it is with all the bogus leadership jive, one barely notices Trade Minister Ed Fast congratulating FerroAtlantica on investing $375 millions in a new plant in Quebec. Seems chucking the environment and flushing the workers pays off when you can attrack big sums of foreign boodle like that, eh?

Not that I don't want to take Mr. Fast's good news story at face value, but lets see what else we can learn about this foreign investment.

Here's what the trade website PLANT tells us;

“Very favourable” conditions attracted the company to Quebec, said Pedro Larrea, the company’s director general. These include discounted rates for hydroelectricity and a 10-year tax holiday.

Oh look what Mr. Fast forgot to mention!

Discounts on electricity!

A ten year tax holiday!

Sounds to me like they're pretty much giving away the store, but that may be the price of leadership in this competitive era.

The Canadian way; funding cuts for Native groups, handouts for billionaires

Times are tough all over. That's why we all have to tighten our belts.

Especially our Native neighbours. God knows they've been living high on the hog long enough. Just listen to Atleo whining about clean water and infrastructure... get over yourself, Shawn!

We're all in this together...

Or maybe not. Just this past week International Trade Minister Ed Fast found a few millions to spread around among the lucky participants of the Global Opportunities for Associations Program. Right Honourable Ed made the announcement at one of the Linamar plants in Guelph. Linamar itself will be a beneficiary of the program due to its membership in the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.

Right Honourable Ed's announcement came a month after Linamar announced record Q2 financials.

Sales up 9% to over $900 millions in the quarter.

Profit up almost 40% to over $90 millions...

Yup, these folks need a government hand-out for sure!

But let's not be too harsh with the Harperites; they are merely doing God's work on earth.

Just like the Good Book says right there in the Gospel of Mathew, chapter 25, verse 29; "For unto everyone that hath, shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath."

Carry on, Ed.

Sorry about your luck, Shawn.

Canada pledges more "foreign aid" to Canadian mining conglomerates

This tidbit in the Globe and Mail today is remarkable for its complete lack of irony in reporting the latest ramp-up in Canada's orwellian policy of subsidizing Canadian mining multinationals and calling it "foreign aid."

Indeed, this is simply Harper trying to distinguish himself from the platforms of the Liberals (legalize pot) and the NDP (tax pot) in the next election. Since neither of the other parties have anything remotely this clever in their playbooks I think it's fair to call it a home run.

Apparently when Canadian-based (it's a bit of a stretch to call most of these companies "Canadian"; they are domiciled here for a variety of reasons around liability and access to capital markets) operators make billions in some of the most impoverished countries on the planet, they "support thousands of well-paying jobs across this country", which is a bit of a stretch, if not technically a "whopper."

What Dan Gertler's shake-down of First Quantum might have to do with this policy is unknown, but nevertheless Canadian officials seem to believe that it's their duty to spend tax-payer money on "improving the investment climate abroad" for the mining companies.

But why is it called "foreign aid?"