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Three years ago, taxpayers were forced to loan $13.7 billion to General Motors and Chrysler because no banks were crazy enough. Some of that taxpayers’ money has been repaid, but $5.5 billion will never be recovered.
Could you imagine if Alberta’s premier had campaigned against that bailout? Or even spoke out against it now? It’s not like the bailout worked, after all.
There are 2,000 fewer jobs at GM today and 800 fewer at Chrysler. As economist Mark Milke points out, the jobs that were “saved” — at least for now, until the next bailout — cost $90,000 each at Chrysler, and $474,000 each at GM. That’s not a typo. Taxpayers spent $474,000 to “save” each job at Government Motors.
What if Alberta’s premier had said: “If I had my preferences as to whether we prop up a failing, obsolete, over-unionized company in the East or lower taxes, I’ll tell you where I stand: With lower taxes.”
Such a premier would have been called an enemy of Canada. Such a premier would have been accused of being selfish, and money-grubbing, and un-Canadian and destructive of the economy.
But that’s exactly what Dalton McGuinty said Monday about Canada’s oilsands.
He says he’s against them.
He says they’re the cause of Ontario’s manufacturing recession.
Here are his exact words: “If I had my preferences as to whether we had a rapidly growing oil and gas sector in the West or a lower dollar, I’ll tell you where I stand: With the lower dollar.”
He claims that the oilsands are responsible for Canada’s high dollar — as if other commodities, such as Ontario gold, or Saskatchewan potash, or the relative strength of our economy compared to the U.S., weren’t most responsible for the high dollar.
As if the auto workers’ union’s demand for $75/hour had nothing to do with GM and Chrysler’s troubles.
But those explanations don’t suit McGuinty. Especially now that he has beggared Ontario and turned it into a have-not province, for the first time in history. So an external scapegoat is needed.
So the West can go to hell.
For the rest of this column, please go to the Toronto Sun website: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/27/ontario-needs-albertas-oilsands