adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Investment

Mandryk: First Nation/Metis investment mess will set back relations – Regina Leader-Post

Published

5 years ago

 on


Consider how bloody condescending this must be to First Nations who managed to entrepreneurial investment success without the Sask. Party.


Minister Responsible for SGI Joe Hargrave speaks about the upcoming changes to distracted driving penalties coming into effect Feb. 1, 2020.

TROY FLEECE / Regina Leader-Post

According to Crown Investment Corp. (CIC) Minister Joe Hargrave, the point of investing millions of tax dollars in the First Nations and Metis Fund (FNMF)  is “engagement.”

Evidently, it’s not to actually create needed jobs in the First Nations and Metis communities or to make profits on the millions of tax dollars invested or spent on fund management fees. Heck, why worry about breaking even?

This is now all about “engagement” — inspiring First Nations people to walk down the glorious path of venture capital investment.

For the moment, let’s set aside how ridiculous it is for a minister of the Crown to suggest we shouldn’t necessarily be concerned about an $8-million loss. (After all, no Saskatchewan Party MLA has ever fretted over investment losses like the ones CIC was making 15 to 20 years ago under the NDP government on Spudco or U.S. dot-coms.)

Let’s set aside the $11.5 million in management fees paid to Westcap Management Ltd., whose CEO Grant Kook is a well-connected Sask. Party donor who turned his role as master of ceremonies for the opening of the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital into a political event and who remains an appointee on SaskTel’s board.

To be clear, Westcap has enjoyed success in the fund management business, and, as Hargrave eagerly points out, Kook was first hired to manage the FNMF by the previous NDP government. That would hardly seem “a Sask. Party insider slush fund,” as described by NDP MLA Cathy Sproule in Thursday’s question period.

That said, Sproule also notes fund management has clearly evolved from small business, job-creation-oriented investments under the NDP to larger-scale investments in the the potash and oil sector, without any clear explanation from Kook (whose requested appearance before a legislative committee has been stymied by Sask. Party government MLAs) or successive CIC ministers.

Let’s set aside the failed $3-million First Nations potash investment that created no jobs. To this, Hargrave first said in Thursday’s question period that  “it’s about investing in people and we won’t apologize for trying to strengthen Aboriginal participation.” He then later told  reporters: “It wasn’t just about the jobs. It was about engagement.”

Let’s also set aside that Hargrave can’t pin down the total number of jobs created in the history of the FNMF to anything better than somewhere between 84 and 185 or even tell us how many of those jobs were created since his Sask. Party government took power 12-plus years ago.

And we can also set aside the specifics of the $1.8-million investment to Brigden Welding (also accused of having close Sask. Party connections) that was later written down to $250,000  and that created only four jobs — only two of which went to Aboriginals.

Let’s set aside Hargrave’s game-playing nonsense that this is not a FNMF issue because the money flowed through a Metis company called Infinite Investment (what Sproule suggested is a shell company). Let’s ignore how laughable this is in light of Wendy Gervais, Infinite Investment’s director, saying she has no knowledge whereabouts of the assets Hargrave (who said Thursday he had no idea who Gervais was) spoke about.

Let’s simply focus on how Hargrave’s view that this all comes down to creating “engagement” with First Nations people who have now been inspired to make capital investments (although Hargrave could not point to one example where this was the actual case) because of what they are seeing in the FNMF.

Consider how condescending this must be to First Nations who managed entrepreneurial investment successes without the Sask. Party: Tron Construction, Athabasca Basin Development and Kitaski Development are all heavily involved in mining; Meadow Lake Tribal Council Resource Development; File Hills Qu’Appelle Developments; Prince Albert Development Corporation; Montreal Lake Business Ventures; Whitecap Development Corporation; First Nations Bank of Canada (Canada’s chartered bank independently controlled by Indigenous shareholders); Polar Oils; Onion Lake Energy, and; Tomahawk Energy.

Consider how much this whole sorry affair is setting back First Nations business relations.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Investment

Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

Published

7 days ago

 on

November 6, 2024

By

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Investment

S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published

4 weeks ago

 on

October 16, 2024

By

 

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Economy

S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

Published

1 month ago

 on

October 11, 2024

By

 

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending