You might expect that, with all this support, Canada has roared to the top of those rankings of global indicators of productivity and economic success, or at least caught up to Italy. But no. Our economic performance is worse. We have warning lights popping up around all of our important indicators. Productivity, or the amount of output for every hour worked, has actually declined since 2018.

Worse, while we’ve been shovelling money at corporations, our social services have declined. There are 2 million more Canadians living without a family doctor than there were in 2019. Housing has become wildly unaffordable, with the Bank of Canada’s Housing Affordability Index reaching heights unseen since the excruciating double-digit interest rates of the early 1990s. And that marquee Liberal social program, universal access to subsidized child care spaces, is hitting bumps with staff shortages and long-term funding gaps that leave its future in doubt.

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Since 2019/20, Canadians have been giving away more than fifty cents of every dollar collected in corporate income taxes right back to businesses.

Canadians are facing serious crises in critical public services like health care and child care and social goods like housing. Does it really make sense for us to give Canadian businesses back more than half of what they pay in taxes when so many people can’t find a family doctor or afford a home?