Talking to yourself may look odd, but on corporate welfare, Premier Jason Kenney should not only be talking to himself, he should also be listening to his own advice and scrapping these programs. Ending business handouts will also help Kenney in his efforts to stop overcharging Alberta taxpayers by $10 billion every year.

As head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in the 1990s, Kenney led the charge against politicians who tried to use tax dollars to line the pockets of businesses by pushing to outlaw corporate welfare in Alberta. And for good reason.

For decades, Alberta taxpayers have been taken to the corporate welfare cleaners. Between 1980 and 1994, the CTF estimated that about two dozen “Alberta government business boondoggles” had cost Alberta taxpayers over $2.3 billion.

“The rotten fruits of the Bovar deal … were inevitable given the kind of sweetheart deal given to yet another private company with tax dollars,” said Kenney in 1995 after discovering that the Swan Hills Waste Treatment Plant cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

“For too long, politicians have pretended they were businessmen, investing with other peoples’ money and they made an absolute failure of it.”

Fast forward more than two decades and it’s as important as ever for Kenney to shield the public purse from business interests.

“We have bought into the idea that we should not be a government picking winners and losers or micro sectors,” responded Kenney to a question about the future of a boutique tax credit during his recent keynote address to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

One of the boutique credits that should be eliminated is the Petrochemical Diversification Program, which was created by the New Democrat government and still has $950 million remaining, according to the government’s latest annual report.

While some industry players continue to push for special taxpayer treatment, department experts within the government have warned against this costly corporate welfare program. 

“Given the current challenging fiscal situation and the lack of economic merit to support the program, there are significant risks and costs associated with this proposal,” reads a leaked briefing note written for the previous finance minister Joe Ceci and obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “It would be questionable to introduce subsidies to the petrochemical industry at this point.”

The PDP program is one of many corporate welfare programs that should be abolished. The CTF estimates that the government could still save nearly $7 billion by ending corporate welfare commitments ranging from boutique tax credits for favoured sectors, to subsidies for the digital media industry, rail car companies, oil upgraders and venture capitalist.

Corporate welfare is always a risky game. The government-supported North West Upgrader has racked up significant cost overruns and has put Alberta taxpayers on the hook for over $25 billion in toll payments, “making it almost impossible for the investment to break even,” according to former energy and finance minister Ted Morton.

But continuing to dish out tax dollars to hand-picked businesses during these challenging fiscal times would be nothing short of reckless.

Alberta’s expert Blue Ribbon Panel found that the provincial government is overcharging taxpayers by $10 billion every year. Kenney has lectured the government unions on how the “reckless dive into debt” will mean there is less money for services and Finance Minister Travis Toews has acknowledged that the Alberta government will need to cut at least hundreds of millions of dollars. Corporate welfare should be the first thing on the chopping block.

As the government works to stop overcharging Albertans by $10 billion every year, now is the perfect opportunity for Kenney to finally put an end to the practice of politicians pretending to be businesspeople with taxpayers’ money.

This column was originally published in the Edmonton Sun on October 11, 2019.