InHereVille
Well, whadd'ya know...
The fine, fine folks at the
Shocked, I tell you, to learn that their public money firehose is being shut-off:
Our staff and Board of Directors are shocked and disappointed by the introduction of legislation to cancel the International Business Activity (IBA) Program.
While we are still working to prevent the cancellation of the program, the AdvantageBC Board is eager for the organization to continue to fulfill its overall mandate of promoting British Columbia as a desirable place to locate international business. The IBA Program is an important tool in the toolkit; however, AdvantageBC’s work is broader than the IBA Program. Regardless of the future of the IBA Program, we will continue our work to attract the attention of companies and investors around the world...
So.
What, exactly, has Advantage BC done for us for our money?
Well, as Dan Levin of the NY Times pointed out back in early May...
...Participating companies have created few jobs, according to government figures, while more than 140 million Canadian dollars have been doled out in (BC provincial) tax refunds since 2008, when the initiative was expanded (by the BC Liberal government).
The incentives operate under a cloak of secrecy that is unusual for similar efforts in Canada and the United States, critics say. The province (of BC) will not name the companies that get the breaks. The only information available about them is on the website of a nonprofit that promotes the program.
“This is essentially a temporary foreign-worker program for the rich, with secret government subsidies for multinational corporations,” said Dermod Travis, the executive director of IntegrityBC, a nonpartisan political watchdog group based in Victoria, the provincial capital. “The government is selling B.C. as a tax haven for the global elite to park investment here, but not have to contribute.”...
And just how 'successful' was the program?
Super, super-duper, uber-alles successful.
Not:
...At one point, the tax breaks were projected to create more than 13,000 jobs in British Columbia. According to ministry figures, though, fewer than 300 have been created as a result of the program, and possibly as few as 122...
So, feel free to keep-on-keepin'-on fullfilling that overall mandate of yours Advantage BC'ers.
Just as long as you do it on yours and/or your patrons' (i.e. not the peoples') dime.
Because we've got better things to do with our money.
OK?
_________
You may recall the tizzy that Mr. Levin's report set off amongst local Club members given that an outsider came to Lotusland, dug around a little, and then wrote a(nother) big story about something that everybody already knew about but couldn't be bothered tell the rubes about a week before the election and all...
Tip-O'-The-Toque to Integrity BC for heads up on super fine 'blog post' from A-BC...
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6 comments:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-york-times-advantage-bc-colin-hansen-1.4106591
Anon-Above--
That CBC piece under Yvette Brend's byline was part ofthe tizzy mentioned in the post-script to the post.
Case in point, the following passage from the piece:
...The New York Times is suing a controversial B.C. agency set up to attract outside business that's helped market an estimated $140-million in tax rebates over the years, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper has been trying for months to ferret out information about what they call a "secretive" tax-incentive program operated by the province, through a society called AdvantageBC.
Their lawsuit targets financial records and names former B.C. Liberal Finance Minister Colin Hansen, who now heads up the program that lures international businesses by marketing tax advantages..."
Imagine!
A CorpMedia enterprise actually going after the Crony enablers for the details of their dastardly derring doo.
And during an election campaign, even:
"...The program became a hot-button issue in the provincial election after a New York Times piece exposed what it called "a sweet deal for businesses, offering them tax breaks in an unusually opaque arrangement."..."
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I expect no less from likes of Colin Hansen and these band of criminals that just got the boot there better be a bloody full investigation? and lawsuits with compensation to the Govt. Haul Clark, De Jong, Colman better still the Liarbel Caucus to testify.Some JAIl time would help and maybe their pensions should be in question.If not sue these rotten scumbags.Look what shameless no lives have done to the kids dying in Govt care and on the streets etc DIRTY ROTTEN RATS.
DAVID CLIMENHAGA:
DOCUMENTS SHOW B.C. ‘CLIMATE LEADERSHIP PLAN’ WAS COOKED UP IN CALGARY BOARDROOM OF POWERFUL PETROLEUM INDUSTRY LOBBY
http://albertapolitics.ca/2017/09/documents-show-b-c-climate-leadership-plan-cooked-calgary-boardroom-powerful-petroleum-industry-lobby/
On it Anon-Above--
Thanks.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KqKMJmvk4s
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