Federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada spent $683.9 billion on government subsidies to business between 1980 and 2009, according to a new Fraser Institute report.
Of the four most populated provinces (Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and B.C.), B.C. had the lowest rate of direct government subsidy, the report concludes.
B.C. spent $34.5 billion on subsidies between 1981 and 2009, the report states. Quebec spent $115.5 billion during the same time period.
“The Quebec government leads the country in corporate welfare spending," said the report’s author,” Mark Milke, study author and senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.
The subsidies offered by both Ontario and Quebec have been a concern raised by B.C.’s video game sector, which has seen studios close up shop in Vancouver and head for Eastern Canada.
When Microsoft Canada recently announced a major expansion in Vancouver, Mayor Gregor Robertson made a point of it underscoring the fact the investment was being made without government subsidies.
“It’s great news when companies of Microsoft’s stature are compelled to be in Vancouver and build their business – create jobs here – without incentives,” he said.
In Alberta and Ontario, some of the subsidies the Fraser Institute analyzed came in the form of artificially low electricity bills for consumers.
Milke singled out VIA Rail – a Crown corporation – and Pratt & Whitney Canada as the more outstanding examples of federal government “corporate welfare.”
VIA Rail received $4.5 billion in federal government subsidies from 1996 to 2012, while Pratt & Whitney – headquartered in Longueuil, Quebec – received $3.3 billion in subsidies since 1970.
“Taxpayers subsidize both VIA Rail and Pratt Whitney, disadvantaging other aerospace manufacturers and bus and airline companies that compete in the marketplace without government assistance,” Milke said.
Total provincial government subsidies between 1981 and 2009 per province were:
- Quebec, $115.5 billion;
- Alberta, $49.9 billion;
- Ontario, $46.7 billion;
- B.C., $34.5 billion;
- Saskatchewan, $18.3 billion;
- Manitoba, $10.5 billion;
- Nova Scotia, $4.6 billion;
- Newfoundland and Labrador, $3.1 billion;
- New Brunswick, $2.4 billion; and
- Prince Edward Island, $1.5 billion
