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Public money funds business

Dear editor,

Re: NDP‚ problems go deeper

Tom Fletcher informs us that, if it weren't for private capital, competition and rewards for efficiency and innovation there wouldn't be much of a developed world to analyze.

Only the Fraser Institute would agree with that statement.

In the real world it is mainly the concessions and publicly funded loans and grants that our economy depend on. It is these loans and grants, plus investor capital that business operates on. Corporations such as Alcan, Canfor and Bombardier, to name a few, routinely seek public money to improve their investments in our natural resources.

Industry Canada and Western Economic Diversification, not private money, is the basis of corporate involvement in our economy. The billions loaned and granted to the business sector may never be returned to the taxpayers, let alone the interest on top of that.

Revenue Canada states that a large number of businesses pay low or no federal taxes. Government subsidies, not private capital are the real promoters of our economy.

Brian J. O'Neill

Burnaby