Roughly half of all business income tax revenue collected by the province was sent back to select firms and industries.
business subsidies
The Legault government in Quebec tabled its first budget last week.
Business subsidies can also irritate our trading partners, threatening Canadian access to foreign markets including the U.S.
The Ontario government will give $4.9 million to support small cideries and distilleries in the province.
The federal government will provide Bombardier, a Canadian aerospace company, with interest-free loans totalling $372.5 million.
Ever wonder how Canada's net federal debt reached $671 billion by 2013? Or how net provincial debt among the provinces ended up at $509 billion that same year? Wonder no more. It's partially due to massive subsidies to corporations, government businesses and even consumers that over three decades amounted to $684 billion.
Back in late 2011 after the Occupy Wall Street protests, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne gave a speech in Toronto to decry what he called "the most inane displays of greed." The reference was to behaviour he had observed while serving on various company boards over the years.