Wednesday, March 05, 2008

McGuinty took nine months to provide details for “fast-tracked” jobs fund

Qualifying industries have also been changed twice

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I received a news release from Premier Pinocchio announcing that his nine-month old “Next Generation of Jobs Fund” (originally titled "Next Generation Jobs Fund") is now accepting applications.

Now, why would such an announcement need to be made at this time? Could it be because (1) McGuinty is in a bun fight with federal finance minister Jim Flaherty over McGuinty’s crappy management of Ontario’s economy, and (2) next to nothing has happened on this file since the fund was announced last June?

As I wrote last September on the “Election Battle Blog” sponsored by TVO’s “The Agenda (I was the Ontario PC party’s designated blogger):

With the election looming, McGuinty announced something called the “Next Generation Jobs Fund” in June. Here’s what its web page says today: “Program details to follow.”

But there have been a couple of interesting changes to the “fund” since September, all while it was impossible to actually apply to the fund for a grant. Eligible investments were expanded from clean automotive and other “green” technology, to encompass health and biotech R&D, creative industries, and pharmaceutical research and manufacturing. Here's what the web page said last September:

The fund will invest in:

- The manufacture of green cars and auto parts
- The development of clean fuels, and
- The creation of clean technologies and products.

At some point since then, this was expanded. Here's what the site said on February 20:

- Clean automotive and other green technology,
- Health and biotechnology research and development,
- Creative industries (digital media and ICT), and
- Pharmaceutical research and manufacturing.

Now, the eligible industries appear to have expanded yet again, to include:

- financial services that involve global or North American mandates and the establishment of new, discrete operating units
- anchor investments to support cluster development, including in the services sector
- opportunity based or unique investments.

Yup, the McGuintyites really have a handle on this thing.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm currently trying get my Invention from the paper plans to a actual consumer product which I designed for the aging population and the Wheelchair users along with the latest ECO-friendly power unit that run at about 60% of the normal power for most current products.
BUT , even after thinking the patent documents and Legal hurdles was the worse of my struggles and financial walls I had to overcome as a private citizen , I found very few Companies that wanted to partner up to build it in canada or Ontario and most of the Ontario "Innovation" grants or funding has stacks of paper work that would take me about 8 years to actual build a Handicapp friendly product.
Universities had Federal programmes for R&D but had strings attached for employment to help them solve the unemployment problem from my Invention and the University wanted a 50% ownership for future profits.

So basically , I have been looking the the USA for R&D via the Governemnt ADA laws for accessible workplace produce and the ECO friendly design with a near 50% power drain to run it.

Ontario has many "Special" items on the menu for Grants to minority groups or Youth who finished University after taking a useless course that had no jobs awaiting the students and only a $30'000.00
debt to pay off , I'm too old, too white, too Canadian, too healthy,too young,too able bodied , and not poor enough , sick enough , disabled enough , aboriginal enough ( though my dad would be) , uneducated enough , young enough and so on and so on .

Why the hell would I now want to stay in Ontario and Toronto to develop my Invention that's needed TODAY by disabled person and will be need in 10 years for retiring canadians when the McFibber flip-flops on almost every promise and rule along with endorsing a system that will take me about 8 years just to build a working prototype
to market , and then need another 4-6 years to be a consumer product.

The Patent Office needs about 18 months to approve a full Patent on a finished product , legal fees can be $60'000.00 even if the product doesn't get Patent approval , and people connected to my Invention have a "Charter Right" to steal the Design and file a CopyRight IP with the WIPO too force me to pay them Royalties once I get a Patent approval for the parts and finished product.

Privacy laws are a farce when the Charter can override my Rights to protect my design and patent prior to filing , so where's the upside to Ontario manufacturing when my profits will go to Lawyers just to fight the CopyRight laws or patent laws from someone stealing my Invention or idea.

Dalton can't be trusted to assure me my projects will be legal and get the funding he promises , plus what if he brings in some new labour Law that makes my Invention useless in Ontario.
My choices right now are Alberta near the US Border or a Plant in Ohio that can supply Ontario and Western Canada/USA by railway shipping.