Governments make $200M investment in auto sector

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.

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.”