Canada: the Land of Corporate Welfare and Money-Laundering

But don't take MY word for it:

The network of an elite Chinese Mafia suspect with significant industrial assets in British Columbia has been implicated “in recent RCMP investigations of CCP police stations in Canada, and other countries,” according to a sweeping new report from a United States anti-corruption NGO.

The report cites a collection of stunning cases and statistics to argue that transnational criminal networks with ties to China, Iran and Russia are using Canada to launder tens of billions annually, and related economic and political operations are undermining safety and democracy in the West.

Calling for urgent action in Ottawa, including legal and institutional reforms, it says: “Canada has become a safe zone for the world’s most notorious crime groups and threat networks that are harming Canada’s national security and imperilling the security of other nations.”

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When the Ontario and federal governments greenlit one of the biggest corporate subsidy payouts in Canadian history last summer, their main pitch was the deal would create jobs.

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“The governments of Canada and Ontario are partnering to attract once-in-a-generation projects that will anchor our auto manufacturing sector and keep good jobs in Canada,” reads the opening line of a July 6 joint statement announcing a record-breaking $28 billion in government “performance incentives” to secure two foreign-owned EV battery factories in Southern Ontario.

The subsidy-per-job ratio was never great. Even according to the most optimistic estimates of government spokespeople, the two factories — one operated by Volkswagen, the other by Stellantis — would create about 5,500 jobs. Per job, that’s roughly $5 million in lifetime subsidies and tax credits.

But now, it appears that many of those jobs may not even go to Canadians.

Last week, during a visit by South Korean Ambassador Woongsoon Lim to Windsor, Ont., a social media post by the Windsor Police casually mentioned that “1,600 South Koreans” would soon be arriving in the community to staff the Stellantis plant, which is set to open next year.

The CEO of NextStar — the Stellantis joint venture operating the factory — hasn’t confirmed the 1,600 figure, but said in a statement that the “equipment installation phase of the project requires additional temporary specialized global supplier staff.” He added that the company was “committed” to hiring Canadians to fill the 2,500 full-time jobs at the completed plant

The revelation has sparked a wave of confusion and finger-pointing among the very officials who, mere months ago, were championing the plant as an unalloyed triumph for Canadian manufacturing jobs.

When the subsidy arrangement was first announced in July, Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli called it a “historic deal” and “a great agreement” that “protects the thousands of jobs quite frankly that were at stake.”

But on Monday, Fedeli’s cabinet colleague, Labour Minister David Piccini, said he’d never heard of any plans to bring in foreign workers when his government approved $5 billion in provincial subsidies to the plant. “My message is simple; Ontario jobs first,” he told reporters, while adding that since borders are Ottawa’s jurisdiction, it was a “federal process” that brought in the South Koreans.

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In a Monday scrum on Parliament Hill, federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said “we obviously want to maximize Canadian workers,” and said he’d been on the phone with the CEO of Stellantis to “make sure of that.”

“This is a new technology … so you’ll have a few people, a very few people, selected people, who need to come to transfer technology,” he said.

The head of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, has said that both levels of government should have seen this coming. “This is something that we’ve known, especially with a plant of this nature and magnitude,” Rakesh Naidu told CBC Windsor this week.

With the Stellantis plant set to receive up to $15 billion in payouts and tax credits, it represents the largest single outlay of government subsidies in Canadian history. Bombardier — which used to rank as the “most-subsidized” Canadian company — collected a mere $4 billion in public funds over 50 years.

The full text of the deal has never been made public, but the arrival of the South Korean workers seems to indicate that it was struck without any kind of provisions mandating that the plants would need to hire Canadian.

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Feds confirm gov’t has begun issuing permits to foreign workers to build taxpayer-funded #ElectricVehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont.
PM @JustinTrudeau announced subsidies March 23, 2022 on promise to “create middle class jobs.” https://t.co/jxuW0D10LY #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/WByYkecYnv

— Holly Doan (@hollyanndoan) November 21, 2023

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Liberal MPs on the Commons government operations committee yesterday opposed public disclosure of federal contracts with electric auto battery manufacturers. The Opposition has asked to check whether taxpayers are subsidizing foreign workers: “If they’re so sure this is a good deal for Canadians, they’re certainly not acting like it.”

Keeping Canadian oil and gas in the ground, using taxpayer money on batteries that don't work, hiring people not Canadian, no investment, and keeping pensions Canadians have to pay for.

We are being robbed.

Gradually.