government subsidies

You might think the federal Conservatives, who added $125-billion to the federal debt since 2008 and will add another $21-billion by the end of March, might be shy about unnecessary expenditures. Alas, that’s not the case, as it appears Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his colleagues would rather hand out cash to corporate Canada instead.

In just the first two weeks of January, the prime minister announced another $250-million for the Automotive Innovation Fund—a federal subsidy program that provides the auto sector with taxpayer cash for research and development.

The well-known quip - The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - is often attributed to Albert Einstein or Mark Twain. Accurate attribution has never been confirmed.

Canada’s mining industry is globally competitive, and has long succeeded without much in the way of government subsidies. It even thrived in the last recession by responding to market demand. Yet instead of letting markets drive mining investment in Quebec, the provincial government is bailing out the asbestos industry using taxpayer money - and this for a product that is harmful to human health.

When the federal and Ontario governments transferred $14.5 billion in taxpayer cash to GM and Chrysler in 2009, they likely did so with the best of intentions—to preserve jobs, though no doubt southern Ontario votes also figured heavily into the equation. But in a recent analysis from Dennis DesRosier, the automotive analyst noticed that employment in the Canadian automotive sector, despite the bailout and economic recovery, continues to fall.