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Taps Still Open for Private Profit at Public Expense

Hill Times: 1 July 2026

The Carney government’s rationale for its planned bail-out of British Columbia real estate developers follows Canada’s established practice of subsidizing private profit at public expense.

Since the 1970’s, both the federal and all provincial governments’ commitment to corporate subsidy has evolved into a permanent part of Canada’s economy.

Now that so-called austerity measures and tax cuts have become normalized, governments remain comfortable in rejecting calls for social program spending while various regimes of generous and mostly unconditional business subsidies continue to function.

A 2018 study from the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy covering 2014-15 said Ottawa and the four largest provinces provided $29 billion in subsidies through program spending, mostly through the tax system.
Since that total subsidy amount was about half of what the provinces and Ottawa collected in corporate income taxes, it could be inferred that corporate Canada is a net receiver of public benefits.

In comparison, Canada spends approximately $25 billion per year on the Canadian Armed Forces, although the Carney government has steadily increased federal spending on the military which includes more subsidies and tax breaks for arms manufacturers.

Exacerbating these policies is elite media and academic support for an economic system that imposes harsh market discipline on working people while showering public largesse on those who need it least.

Underlying this hypocrisy is the lingering myth of the free market as a merit-based system of fair competition.