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COMMENTARY: P.E.I. can’t afford another corporate welfare cheque

If a P.E.I. politician shows up to a ribbon cutting, check your wallet on the way out.

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That was the lesson last month when Premier Rob Lantz stood beside the federal industry minister at Slemon Park to announce $110 million in taxpayer subsidies for a single private company. The provincial government put up $55 million. Ottawa added another $55.7 million.

The beneficiary: MDS Coating Technologies, an aerospace facility.

This kind of cheque doesn’t come cheap. And it comes at a time when the province can’t afford it. The Lantz government just tabled a budget plan to borrow $410 million this year. The government is increasing the provincial debt by nearly 20 per cent in a single year.

Yet on top of all that, the government is writing nine-figure cheques to one private company.

And this isn’t MDS’s first........

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