The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on the Nova Scotia Auditor General to investigate the Nova Scotia government’s purchase of land from Resolute Forest Products in a bailout deal cut just six months ago. The company announced today that it is packing up, selling its assets and firing 320 people.

“This is a sad day for South Shore Nova Scotia, but when are our governments going to learn that these corporate bail-out deals normally go wrong, leaving taxpayers holding the bag,” asked Kevin Lacey, Atlantic Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“Our politicians should have known better than to hand a struggling company bags full of taxpayer money, only to see them run back to their head office in Quebec as quick as they possibly could,” continued Lacey.

Resolute Forest Products has already spent $605,000 of the $1.5 million in training money offered to the plant back in December.

The CTF has for years been calling on governments across Canada to end these types of corporate deals.

This deal with Resolute should now be subject to an independent investigation by the Auditor General.

“Taxpayers of this province deserve an independent investigation into how and why their money was recklessly given to a company that has fired all their workers a few months after collecting their cheques from taxpayers,” continued Lacey.

“I’m sure the government is going to justify this bailout as a ‘land purchase’ but we all know that they wouldn’t have purchased this land from this company at this time, had they not needed a taxpayer-funded bailout. It’s nothing more than a corporate welfare smokescreen,” concluded Lacey.