TORONTO: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) responded today to the GM announcement of layoffs at its Oshawa plant calling on the Ontario provincial and federal government to conduct thorough public reviews of corporate grants, loans and other financial assistance programs. CTF Ontario Director, Kevin Gaudet said "the Oshawa failure is just another on a list of corporate welfare failures that highlight why these programs don't work and should be scrapped".

Yesterday, General Motors announced plans to reduce its Oshawa workforce by 1,000 employees due to a reduction or elimination of the production of trucks and SUV lines. Only three years ago, in 2005, GM received $235 million from the province of Ontario, the terms for which are unclear; and $200 million from the federal government in conditionally repayable loans.

GM is not the only firm to be given taxpayer money with questionable benefits. Ford Canada and FibreTECH are examples of firms having received money yet shed jobs or have gone out of business. Gaudet concluded, "it is high time government thoroughly and publicly investigate the failure of corporate welfare".