Yup it's funny as hell.

[ZR]

http://tu9srvbirvvtocrzdg9yywdllnrvcm9udg9zdw4uy29t.g00.t orontosun.com/g00/2_d3d3LnRvcm9udG9zdW4uY29t_/TU9SRVBIRVVTOCRodHRwOi8vc3RvcmFnZS50b3JvbnRvc3VuLm NvbS92MS9keW5hbWljX3Jlc2l6ZS9zd3NfcGF0aC9zdW5zLXBy b2QtaW1hZ2VzLzEyOTc5NDA4MTUyMzlfT1JJR0lOQUwuanBnP3 F1YWxpdHk9ODAmc2l6ZT00MjB4JmkxMGMubWFyay5pbWFnZS50 eXBl_$/$/$/$/$/$

Discussion was surely about how long it'll take us to pay off their latest spending spree.

[ZR]

WINDSOR - The federal and Ontario governments are each spending more than $100 million to help Canada’s auto sector — an old-school engine of economic growth — and speed the dawn of the driverless, eco-friendly, Internet-connected car.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced conditional grants of up to $102.4 million each during an event Thursday at a Ford Canada engine plant in Windsor, Ont., the cradle of Canada’s auto industry.
The money is meant to support a $1.2-billion partnership with Ford Canada to create 300 jobs and maintain 500 more in Ontario, and help create an advanced manufacturing program in Windsor and a research and engineering centre in Ottawa.
The latter project is focused on developing connected car technology, including research and development on features like infotainment, in-vehicle modems, gateway modules, driver-assist features and autonomous vehicles.
Trudeau later elaborated on the high-tech theme during a visit to auto parts pioneer Magna International Inc., where he highlighted Ottawa’s five-year, $125-million investments in artificial intelligence — what he called a “platform” technology.
“In the same way that electricity revolutionized manufacturing, and the microprocessor reinvented how we gather, analyze and communicate information, artificial intelligence will cut across nearly every industry in Canada,” Trudeau said in Brampton, Ont.
“It will shape the world that our kids and grandkids grow up in, and we can either be a part of that, help steer its direction and take advantage of the good, middle-class jobs it will create, or we can watch other countries step in.”
Critics, however, denounced the auto-sector money as an archaic, horse-and-buggy approach to fostering economic growth that does nothing but drain government coffers and line corporate pockets.
“It is ludicrous to suggest that Ford ’needed’ a $200-million handout from Ontario and Canadian taxpayers, as the company earned a global pre-tax profit of more than US$10 billion in 2015,” the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said in a statement.
“Corporate welfare is an unsustainable, wasteful and unfair approach to economic development that creates perverse incentives and teaches businesses that the key to success is to cosy up to governments for free taxpayer money.”

[5.4MarkVIII]

Thanks this is in the heals of me reading this

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bombardier-executives-quebec-payout-1.4047290

Now I'm all fired up.

[ZR]

No end to the federal n provincial fuck ups managing money. How is it no one was smart enough to attach reasonable assurances to the bail out funds????


Bombardier is being slammed for its "sense of entitlement" after awarding $32.6 million US to senior executives even as it laid off thousands of workers and sought government aid.
The payout represents an increase of nearly 50 per cent for its top five executives and board chairman, compared with 2015.
"At the very least, it demonstrates a rather incredible sense of entitlement, doesn't it?," said David Baskin, president at Baskin Wealth Management, a Bay Street investment management firm.
"Here's a company that basically went begging to the province and the federal government for money, saying that if you don't give us all this money, we're going to lay off all these workers."


Bombardier's senior execs saw pay rise by nearly 50% (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bombardier-compensation-1.4047150)
Should public dollars go to private companies? (http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-february-9-2017-1.3972476/canada-s-bombardier-loans-should-public-dollars-go-to-private-companies-1.3972509)

The federal government issued a $372.5-million loan last month for the CSeries and Global 7000 programs, while the province recently poured $1 billion US into the CSeries program in exchange for a 49.5 per cent stake.
The province's pension fund manager, the Caisse de dépôt, also bought a 30 per cent stake in the company's railway division for $1.5 billion US.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood by his government's decision to put money into Bombardier.
"Investing in Bombardier is a way of ensuring good long-term jobs in the aerospace industry right across the country," he said at an announcement at a Ford engine plant in Windsor, Ont.
'Lack of judgment'Baskin told CBC Montreal's Daybreak that, if he was the federal civil servant who negotiated the terms of the agreement with Bombardier, he would have said, "'Please don't embarrass us by raising your pay by 50 per cent after giving you all this money.' But I guess nobody thought of that."
Last year, CEO Alain Bellemare got paid $9.5 million US, up from $6.4 million US a year earlier. His annual bonus almost doubled to $2.36 million US.
The chief financial officer and heads of business and commercial aircraft, meanwhile, each received more than $4 million US, while the head of the railway division's compensation increased 93 per cent to $4.7 million US.

[RedSN]

...a way of ensuring good long-term jobs in the aerospace industry right across the country
Did Justin Trudeau steal that quote from Louis St Laurent? It sounds a little familiar.

[ZR]

I sure hope it would be different.

[RedSN]

“Corporate welfare is an unsustainable, wasteful and unfair approach to economic development that creates perverse incentives and teaches businesses that the key to success is to cosy up to governments for free taxpayer money.”


The aircraft- and train-maker landed in hot water last week over its plan to give six members of its leadership team [B]large bonuses — in most cases an increase of up to 50 per cent — in a year when the company spun its wheels. Last year, the Quebec government bailed out the company with $1 billion, and Ottawa followed up with another $372.5 million in federal funds as recently as February.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bombardier-executive-compensation-1.4052533

So, your company has had a few rough years, bad enough that you need bailing out. And you reward your company execs with a bonus for a job well done?
https://media.giphy.com/media/YoKDHux783GY8/giphy.gif

[RedSN]

"We didn't do a good job of communicating it," Chief Executive Alain Bellemare told a Quebec radio show on Monday. "If you look at it at face value, I can understand why people were so angry, so unhappy."

The compensation packages for the executives and the board chairman included salary, bonuses and stock options. The company was able to defer part of the raises because the remuneration tied to options is forward dating, a spokesman said on Monday.
Fancy way of saying the optics are really, really bad.
Then he pulled a Wynne and just deferred it down the line to a point in time that everybody will have forgotten.


Bellemare said the pay was needed to retain top talent.
Why is this the excuse in almost every ludicrous executive bonus? Top talent my ass.

[ZR]

Top talent would have meant they'd not have needed the funds in the first place.

[Burns]

Top talent would have meant they'd not have needed the funds in the first place.

And we have a winner! How much would they have increased their pay if they were actually turning a profit?

[ZR]

^ we can only imagine.