[OT]: How to help a Canadian Spaceport?

[Christopher Browne]

On 10/26/07, Scott Elcomb <psema4-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> I came across this story today (via /.):
>   http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2007/10/26/launch-pad.html
>
> My question is - What, if anything, could we (as citizens) do towards
> encouraging the Federal Gov't to invest in this idea?
>
> Petitions (online?  written?), and Blogging come to mind; how much
> effect they'd have though seems a little hazy.
>
> I could see a Canadian Spaceport for Tourists generating a bunch of
> interest -- not to mention jobs or dollars.

Let me take a contrary view on this, and not from the perspective of
"oh, I don't want any space stuff happening"...

Why should the Federal Government spend a lot of money to subsidize tourists?

If they cannot or will not pay enough to attract the infrastructure,
why should the government take on the risk?

This would expressly be a case of "corporate welfare," of subsidizing
a specific set of companies, and not for any value I can really see.

When I lived in the US, I did see some of this sort of thing happening
in the sports industry, where professional teams have gotten into the
habit of moving to whichever city offers to spend the most on giving
them a "free" stadium.  It was (and is) a corrupt practice.  The
cities would then pass on the cost by imposing surtaxes on hotels and
rental cars, and the fact that this would be paid almost exclusively
by non-voters made the practice palatable to city councils and their
voters.

To be consistent with that practice, we might set up a "Canadian Space
Tourism Program" where all foreigners visiting the country would be
charged $10/day during their visit to help subsidize our space
program.

Better still:  Impose an extra 1% GST on all foreigners in the
country.  They don't vote, so they can't meaningfully oppose it.

It's all just a way of making it work...
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