Title: Corporate welfare cash: 21st century justifications and billion-dollar bills to come
Author: Dr. Mark Milke
Publisher: Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Date: April 2017
Summary:
This study looked at corporate welfare to energy companies and found that governments are racking up huge bills as traditional corporate welfare is shifting towards an increasing number of green initiatives.
As it turns out, it’s not resource companies who are ‘all about the money.’ In fact, almost 80% of federal subsidies from the Natural Resources department between 2000-2016 went to companies proposing ‘green’ projects.
Even more worryingly, it turns out that the biggest cheques for this ‘green’ giveaway haven’t even been cashed yet. Ontario alone will be handing out an additional $133 billion over the next 15 years.
‘Green energy’ is just the latest justification for corporate handouts. When governments try to pick winners, the only sure loser is taxpayers’ pocketbooks as governments spend your money on risky gambles. Environmental groups want to brand the Canadian hydrocarbon industry as in the pocket of government, but that is to obfuscate the truth that it’s them who receive big subsidies.
