A total of $352.1 billion in business subsidies have been paid out by all three levels of government between 2007 and 2019, translating into thousands to tens of thousands of dollars spent by Canadian taxpayers, according to a Fraser Institute study.
Tegan Hill and Joel Emes, senior economists at the think tank and co-authors of the study, said that given ongoing budget deficits and the questionable efficacy of business subsidies in achieving widespread economic growth, Canadian governments should carefully reevaluate such spending.
They noted that the spending on national defence, which was $327.5 billion over that same 13-year period, was $24.6 billion less than the spending on business subsidies….