A Real Welfare Queen To Call Our Own

They'reGivingItAllAway
LINOVille

Corporate Welfare Queen that is.

And this one really does drive a cadillac (and maybe a Lincoln Navigator or two, too).

Paul Willcocks has the story (which you won't find many other places despite how important this is for all British Columbians):

It didn’t take Western Forest Products long to cash in on the big gift the government handed the company earlier this year.

It wasn’t really from the government. Taxpayers and Vancouver Island communities actually paid for the present. Forests Minister Rich Coleman just wrapped it up and handed it over on your behalf.

Western Forest Products has announced it plans to put 4,450 acres of great real estate on the market. The land includes waterfront property along the coast west of Victoria – the kind of real estate that will have people lining up, waving their chequebooks.

The land involved runs along the southwest portion of Vancouver Island. Mr. Willcocks estimates that this windfall will be worth millions and millions to the company store.

And what did we, the serfs, get back from the Queen for bestowing this largesse upon her?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Not even a lousy clear-cut hunk of dirt* for a postage-stamp park with parking meters.

Sheesh.

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Mr. Willcocks entire piece, which first appeared in the Victoria Times-Colonist (and which I read on bought-and-paid-for dead tree, Mr. W.) is really worth a read so that you can get all of the nuance and understand just how much value-added there is for the company (and another company with big holdings near Port Alberni).
*Why no clear-cut hunks of dirt? Because it appears that the Queens can sell the land with the wood still on it which can then be logged, willy nilly, and the logs then sold as the new owner sees fit (ie. 'raw' to overseas buyers?). How do you like them apples mill workers?

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