The federal government is subsidizing Mastercard’s new cybersecurity centre in Vancouver. The Intelligence and Cyber Centre will be paid for with $510 million from Mastercard, while the federal government will contribute $49 million in public funds.

The project’s estimated completion is June 30, 2024. By 2029, the Centre is expected to create 270 jobs. That’s one job for every $2 million in overall investment and one job for every $181,000 in government subsidies.

While the project is supposed to aid in Canada’s efforts to become a world leader in cybersecurity, critics say it undermines the country’s homegrown tech sector. They argue that using incentives to lure foreign investment from multinational firms like Mastercard draws resources away from domestic innovators.

The corporation’s net income in 2018 was $5.8 billion, up nearly $1.9 billion from the year prior.

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