In the News May 10
Ontario Election 2022
Matters of Concern
Public Pay-the-Rich Handouts on Eve of Ontario Election
The Ontario government is giving $8.7 million to Heddle Shipyards. The government says the handout announced May 2 will allow Heddle to pay for “cutting edge Shipyard 4.0 technology and train Heddle’s workforce in Hamilton, Port Weller and Thunder Bay on state-of-the-art equipment.” Hamilton area government MPP Donna Skelly said the handout to private interests would “be a catalyst to capturing a significant share of federal shipbuilding contracts in the future. … Our government has a workers-first plan to deliver a stronger Ontario.”
The Prime Minister’s Office announced on May 2 an extremely large joint federal/Ontario handout to the global private cartel Europe-based Stellantis. The federal government is giving up to $529 million and the provincial government $513 million to the private interests in control. The announcement says, “Project funding for automaker Stellantis will secure thousands of jobs and modernize assembly plants for the clean tech economy.” Stellantis says it plans to retool its plants in Windsor and Brampton to increase production of electric vehicles and for research and development.
Earlier in April, both the federal and Ontario governments announced unspecified hundreds of millions in handouts to the Europe-based Stellantis and LG Energy Solution from south Korea “to build a $5-billion electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor.”
A month earlier, the federal and Ontario governments announced that $263 million in public funds will go to the owners of the Japanese-based Honda empire. The Honda oligarchs said the public money will go toward retooling its Alliston, Ontario plant where presently 4,200 workers produce 400,000 vehicles and 190,000 engines annually. Jean Marc Leclerc, President and CEO of Honda Canada said, “This investment ensures our product and manufacturing competitiveness within Ontario, Canada and abroad.”
For his part Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that handing money to the rich, “Is more proof that there is no better place for auto manufacturing than right here in Ontario.”
Other billions of Ontario and federal public monies have been handed over in recent months to the private interests who own and control GM, Algoma Steel and ArcelorMittal.
Ontario Political Forum, posted May 10, 2022.
|
|