Book Excerpt The economic cost of forcing nearly 3.3 million Canadians into unemployment by May 2020 is enormous and has yet to be tallied in full. While individuals and companies were able to receive some form of help from their governments, many businesses will not be able to rebound from their losses and many who do will not long survive. The corrupting effect of subsidy is also being felt outside of the economic sphere, with many now pushing for the lockdown to continue, either because they live in fear of being infected by the virus or because the subsidies have made it more desirable to remain home than to work. As Félix Leclerc wrote in the 1950s: “The best way to kill a man is to pay him to do nothing.” By March 2020, the Canadian economy had shrunk 7.2 percent, but the pandemic shutdowns did not begin until the …