Can Rainbow Six save Ontario's economy?

If you are ever overseas and find yourself in a tough spot, it is always comforting to know that the JTF2 are just a few hours away should the need arise. But can the “virtual world” of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six squad save the Ontario economy from its 21st century decline?

It is easy to throw stones at the $400,000 per job that appears to have been committed by Premier Dalton McGunity in his $263 million partnership with Ubisoft. But let’s not sneeze at the 800 jobs being created over the next decade and the opportunity this brings the Province to develop a digital entertainment specialty. Something that Quebec has done with great aplomb.

It may break the private sector’s heart to think that a $500 million foreign investment will only come to pass if more than 50 cents of matching funds come from the provincial government. But, when compared to the capital that has been steered towards the local auto industry, for example, this “investment” seems more prudent than what we’ve seen of late (see prior post “CVCA’s budget pitch to Ont. Premier McGuinty” March 17-09).

Premier McGuinty’s $263 million swamps what the State of Michigan had to put up to attract General Electric’s Advanced R&D Centre just 10 days ago (see prior post “General Electric R&D Centre an idea to emulate” June 26-09). And it also exceeds all of the money that has been committed over the past three years to help secure the future of Ontario’s venture capital industry ($90MM for OVCF and $150MM for ETF). And Canada’s VC industry has created 147,000 jobs.

But, if the choice was between putting the money into another engine plant in Windsor or a Rainbow Six Las Vegas 3 development shop, the right choice was made today.

Governing is all about making choices, and any time the Innovation Economy wins out over a “Green V-8” automotive engine, we should all applaud.

MRM