A former Liberal Party president is raising questions over the Trudeau government’s $13 billion grant to Volkswagen to build electric vehicle engines..Stephen Ledrew probed the topic on his Three Minutes with Stephen Ledrew interview program. The May 10 YouTube episode was entitled, “Justin Trudeau Just Handed 13 Billion Dollars to Volkswagen — Will We Ever See It Again?”.The Toronto resident, who presided over the federal Liberals from 1998 to 2002, said initial excitement over the German manufacturer setting up a plant in St. Thomas, ON gave way to questions..“The federal government announced Volkswagen was coming to Ontario, everybody stood up and applauded. Oh! Then it came out, well, we're funding them for $13 billion. And as more details come out, more and more questions.”.Ledrew asked Jay Goldberg, Ontario director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, why he thought the deal stunk..“The deal does stink. It's the biggest corporate welfare handout in Canadian history, we're handing over $13 billion to Volkswagen for them to build a $7 billion dollar plant. Now does that it really work out for you — 13 billion for 7 billion?” said Goldberg..“Well you’ve got to have some profit for Volkswagen people in Germany!” joked Ledrew..Goldberg replied, “You’re giving $13 billion to a company that had $33 billion of profit last year. And all of this is for potential jobs. They're saying the estimate for direct jobs, at least, is 3,000… You're paying $4.3 million a job!”.Ledrew had an even better idea..“So just give me the cheque instead and I don’t have to work!” joked Ledrew with a laugh. .“Listen to people now say, ‘Yes, but it’s not just those jobs. There’s all the other jobs created along the way in the auto industry.”.Goldberg said there would be some, but if subsidies had to be that high, there was something wrong with our economy..“You can't just cherry pick certain companies and get them here with billions of taxpayer dollars. We need to make it more competitive, more attractive for businesses to come to Canada, to come to Ontario.”.Ledrew, a self-described “lawyer, broadcaster, responsible father, and a believer in fairness and good manners,” asked if the Trudeau government was gullible..“Were our officials and the federal government, [Minister] Champagne and the prime minister played for suckers on this, because they said otherwise we wouldn't have the factory?”.Goldberg said it will be worse if Ottawa dishes out for “every possible factory that comes along.”.“What if Toyota wants $10 billion next year, and Honda $15 billion the year after that? Are we going to keep paying and paying and paying with a massive deficit, huge debt interest costs, and runaway public finances?”.Ledrew wondered about the US federal and state governments that subsidized companies. “So, should we let them be foolish, not us?”.Goldberg said even children were smarter than that..“Well, listen, if your friend does something silly, I think your parents told you when you were quite young, don't do the same thing. Just because they're doing it, we don't have to,” said Goldberg..“Why don't you lower the corporate tax rate so we can attract not just Volkswagen but all kinds of companies?”.Ledrew had one better. “Or maybe have a good workforce and mine our resources, so that there’s some advantage to working in Canada.”.Read more: Former Liberal Party president stunned by Trudeau’s support.In an interview with the Western Standard last year, Ledrew called Justin Trudeau “our current dictator” who “has no education and no real-life experience.” Following his videoed talk with Goldberg, he left viewers with another concern..“Justin Trudeau is now on the record as saying social media is destabilizing, and he wants to bring in censorship to determine what can be put on and not on social media. That is wrong. Please support this station. And … thank you for supporting freedom of speech.”
