Dear editor,
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his party agreed to the Burger King takeover of Tim Hortons, one of the requirements was that no front line workers would be laid off.
What the Conservatives forgot to do was protect the workers at head and regional offices. That is where the better paying jobs are. It has been reported that 20 to 40 per cent of office workers will be laid off.
It started last week, with 30-year employees being shown the door.
It may have been that the Conservatives and their economist leader didn’t do enough research, who knows. What we do know is Burger King is owned by a Brazilian investment firm “known for its ruthless cost-cutting”. Canada’s corporate taxes are amongst the lowest in the G-20 group.
So what did Canada get out of this? More unemployment. What did 3G Capital get? Lower corporate taxes, a safe and decent country to make money in.
When corporations don’t pay their share of taxes, it results in a lack of money for a government to operate. This usually results in deficits and cuts to programs; the programs we value, like health care, social programs, food programs for the north, adequate staffing in the RCMP, services for veterans, etc.
Perhaps it is time Canadians insisted corporations paid their fair share of taxes, because if what happened with Tim Hortons is the “wave of the future”, we will have more corporations come to Canada and lay off more Canadian workers. That may work well for corporations, but it does nothing for those of us trying to get a decent paying job.
You’d think that with an “economist” as prime minister, the government might have done a tad more research on Burger King, who actually owned it, and looked at their business practices. Alas, it would appear the Conservatives care about as much for the Tim Hortons employees as they do about veterans, 1,200 murdered Canadian First Nations women and under equipped RCMP officers.
E. A. Foster
Comox