OTTAWA, ON: Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Aaron Wudrick released the following statement in response to the Conservative Party of Canada’s campaign pledge to cut $1.5 billion in corporate welfare handouts:

“It’s great to see the Conservatives pledge to save taxpayers money by cutting $1.5 billion in corporate welfare as an excellent first step towards eliminating this waste of money entirely.

“The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has been working hard to fight corporate welfare for years and made the issue a key policy recommendation for this election.

“Corporate welfare is a massive waste of taxpayer money that funnels billions into the pockets of wealthy executives while propping up failing businesses.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable for Ottawa to take billions from hard-working taxpayers and dole it out to billion-dollar corporations such as Bombardier, Loblaws, Maple Leaf and many others.

“Getting ride of corporate welfare will give good businesses a fighting chance because they won’t face as much competition from big corporations that are getting an unfair advantage with government handouts.

“This is an important new front in the election debate. It’s good to see Andrew Scheer recognize that corporate welfare is wrong and promise a big first step toward getting rid of it. Now Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh need to announce their plans to stand up for taxpayers by ending corporate welfare.”