Major Corporate Welfare Should Not Come at the Expence of Workers

 

Rob Ford has now admitted that both he and the Carney Government knew about upcoming layoffs at Algoma Steel. Without verifying the legitimacy of the need or the allocation of bailout funds, the Ontario Government issued a cheque for $100 million, while the Carney Government added another $400 million. The major announcements celebrating the revival of Canadian steel turned out to be mere performances; in reality, they were examples of corporate welfare at its worst. 

The public and parliament should be asking Algoma to open its books and find out where the 500million given has been allocated to and how much. This has been a problem for many decades, during which billions of dollars were directed to private corporations, only to be misdirected or diverted into executive compensation.  

Years ago, former NDP Leader David Lewis wrote a book entitled The Corporate Welfare Bums, and this money now in private hands looks more like that or the Harper Government and the 13 billion given to Locomotive only for them to pack up and move south with 3 to 4 billion still unaccounted for.  

Numerous instances of such practices have been observed involving both liberal and conservative parties, which tend to prioritize the interests of large corporations over those of the general public. Some may consider these actions more akin to criminal conduct than conventional bailouts. 

Bombardier Canada has received significant amounts of corporate welfare, totalling approximately 1.1 billion dollars since 1980. This figure i includes two separate payments of 233 million dollars made in 2009. These funds were provided without strict guidelines or thorough auditing to track their use.  

It remains evident that both the Liberal and Conservative parties have yet to fully recognize the self-sufficiency of corporations, a point underscored during the pandemic when companies such as Loblaws accepted government COVID-19 relief funds without redistributing them.  

A recommended approach is for government funding to major corporations to be accompanied by the issuance of preferred shares to the government. This arrangement not only secures repayment for taxpayers but also enhances accountability and oversight concerning the allocation and potential misuse of public funds. 

Both the Carney and Ford Governments are accountable for this matter, as each administration contributed to a $500 million bailout that led to over 1,000 layoffs. This situation raises important questions about the prioritization of corporate welfare versus corporate responsibility.