Politicians from three levels of government cheerfully attended Thomson Reuters’ announcement Friday morning that the company is opening a technology hub in Toronto — a decision the company made without any financial incentives.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s pleased that no public money was required.
“When we’re drawing in significant global investors who are going to be creating jobs and economic growth in our cities and in our country, we’re always looking to help and encourage and ease the transition by providing various incentives, but it’s a pleasure to say that in this particular case — and every case is different — but in this particular case the successful company that is Thomson Reuters didn’t actually need any tax breaks or incentives or offers of public money,” said Trudeau.
The company’s decision to move its top executives to Toronto and set up a Toronto Technology Centre, creating 400 tech jobs over the next two years and possibly much more to come, was made after CEO Jim Smith met with Trudeau twice and had more extensive discussions with federal Minister of International Trade Chrystia Freeland, who was managing director and editor at the company before she entered politics.
All the company required, according to Trudeau, was a commitment to help with the immigration needs of its top executives, and help with the red tape related to establishing a local and global workforce in Toronto.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne took some credit for the company’s move — even though it’s not due to her government’s corporate grant programs.
“We’re thrilled that by creating the conditions we created in Ontario, that Thomson Reuters came, looked at what was happening here in Ontario, saw the talent, saw the ecosystem, and saw the opportunity to expand their operations here,” she said. “And of course, we are always willing to work with companies to make sure that they can thrive or expand here.”
Wynne gave credit to the province’s educated workforce and the fact that government has “upped its game” in streamlining the bureaucracy companies deal with in establishing Ontario operations.
Earlier this week, QP Briefing <a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2016/10/05/where-is-ontarios-corporate-welfare-actually-going/">mapped out where the Ontario government was actually providing business subsidies</a>.
On Friday, Minister of Economic Development and Growth Brad Duguid defended the government’s corporate grant programs.
“The fact is that most of the investments we get in Ontario aren’t investments that require financial incentives, but some are,” he said. “Our choice is whether to rely just on those investments that would come here on their own, without aggressively going out and pursuing them, or to actually aggressively pursue and try to create more jobs than would naturally flow here. We’re proactive.”
Ontario has to be proactive, he argued, to compete with jurisdictions that are also handing out money, as much as 100 per cent of the capital costs of a new plant, for example.
“Now, we don’t go that far, but without some form of financial incentive we would lose out on a lot of those investments,” he said.
Duguid said the government’s investments have created or maintained 160,000 jobs, which, he said, is “a good chunk of jobs,” when you consider that Ontario has gained about 615,000 net new jobs since the global recession.
PC Economic Development critic Monte McNaughton took a different view: that the government’s only job should be to create a business-friendly environment.
“We’re seeing across this province the government dividing the business community,” he said. “I’ve talked to a number of businesses that they’re now complaining they're paying higher taxes and fees to subsidize their direct competitor. This is because the government has created a system where they pick winners and losers from Queen’s Park.”
However, when pressed as to how a PC government would handle requests for grants from the auto sector, McNaughton had no clear answer.
Deputy NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said his party supports giving financial investments to companies, but it should only been done when it’s clear the company and its jobs will stay in the province and not leave after receiving the money.

PM: ‘Pleasure to say’ Thomson Reuters required no financial incentives for Toronto expansion

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