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Many Gen Z and millennial Canadians don’t believe in EV corporate welfare
According to a new Leger poll, a significant percentage of Gen Z and millennial Canadians don’t believe billions of dollars in government subsidies to build electric vehicle (EV) plants — including $5 billion to Honda, $13.2 billion to Volkswagen and $15 billion to Stellantis — will benefit them. And based on a large body of research, they’re right. The poll, which surveyed Canadians aged 18 to 39 who are eligible to vote, found that only 32% of respondents believe these subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare) will be of “significant benefit to your generation,” while 28% disagree and 25% are on the fence.
Unfortunately, this type of taxpayer-funded corporate welfare isn’t new. The federal government spent an estimated $84.6 billion (adjusted for inflation) on business subsidies from 2007 to 2019, the last pre-COVID year of data. Over the same period, provincial and local governments spent another $302.9 billion on business subsidies for their favoured firms and industries. And these figures exclude other forms of government support such as loan guarantees, direct investments and regulatory privileges, so the actual cost of corporate welfare during this period was much higher.
The Trudeau government has shown a particular proclivity for corporate welfare. According to a recent study, federal subsidies have increased by 140% from 2014-15 to 2023-24. But again, the money used to fund these subsidies isn’t free — its funded by taxpayers. The Parliamentary Budget Officer recently estimated federal government support for EV initiatives will cost Canadian taxpayers $31.4 billion, which represents roughly $1,043 per tax filer.
