Rick Scott's Vacation to Canada Gets Even More Bogus

By Matthew Hendley Mon., Jun. 13 2011 at 4:37 PM

Categories: Great Scott!

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Here's the new number of jobs Gov. Rick Scott actually brought to Florida during his "trade mission" to Canada last week: zero.

That's right, not a single one.

Over two statements from Canada last week, the governor announced that 210 new jobs were coming to Florida from our neighbors to the north -- which is still a little low considering Scott and his delegation met with 120 companies they say are considering moving to Florida.

We knew Scott was misrepresenting the facts about private security company Garda moving its U.S. headquarters from Pasadena, California, to Boca Raton -- a deal that was built under former Gov. Charlie Crist and approved by the Palm Beach County Commission just days after Scott took office.

Now we're finding that much like the 100 jobs Scott is championing from Garda, he doesn't have much room to take credit for the other 110 jobs either.

The Orlando Sentinel asked the new president of Aircraft Armature -- which has been operating out of Opa-locka since April and plans on hiring as many as 100 new employees over the next year -- if Scott had a big influence in their decision to grow in Florida:

"No," Howard, told me flatly, but he praised the governor and his team and said he hopes they can be of help in the future, such as when it comes to understanding health care and benefits in the United States, which is different from Canada's universal health care.

He pointed out that as a former hospital executive, Scott "has got the credentials to know about that stuff."

The remaining ten jobs Scott's taking credit for creating -- that's bogus too.

Toronto's UCC Industries International Inc. started a two-man operation in Tampa two and a half months ago and didn't move because they'd just hired an employee from the Tampa area.

Now they're planning on adding eight more employees over the next few years, and the Sentinel also asked that company's president, Brent Hughes, if Scott swayed him into bringing jobs to Florida:

He also said the governor's policies didn't impact his decision, but that it was "an honor and a pleasure to be able to meet the governor," while he was in Canada[...]

Let's add that all up -- one week, 120 companies, zero jobs.

A public-records request for Scott's Canada vacation expenditures is in the works.

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