Canada's Corporate Welfare Deadbeat: Pratt & Whitney

• Click here for a list of handouts to Pratt & Whitney

OTTAWA - The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) responded to yet another announcement of government handouts for Pratt & Whitney - this one for $350-million from the Technology Partnerships Canada program - by releasing Access to Information documents that show Pratt & Whitney is Ottawa's top corporate welfare frequent flyer. The aerospace company has led the porker pack having been granted $1.5-billion in various types of assistance from Industry Canada since 1982.

The CTF will release a report, entitled On the Dole - Businesses, Lobbyists & Industry Canada's Subsidy Programs, in January, 2007. It will chronicle Industry Canada's subsidies to businesses from 1982 to 2005. Data from that forthcoming report include a history of handouts to Pratt & Whitney gone bad:

• Pratt & Whitney has received $1.25-billion in subsidies predominantly through two of Ottawa's most controversial and discredited corporate welfare schemes - the Defence Industry Productivity Program (DIPP) and Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) - between April 1, 1982, and March 31, 2006. (A total of $1.496-billion has been authorized. The complete list is available here: http://www.taxpayer.com/pdf/Handouts_to_Pratt_&_Whitney.pdf)
• Of the $1.25-billion doled out, Pratt & Whitney repaid just $92-million, a pathetic 7.4%. Figures from the Industry Department show of the $691.8-million authorized through TPC alone, the aerospace giant has repaid only $21.1-million - a paltry 3.1% (as of March 2006).
• In August, 2006, it was revealed the industry department turned off the TPC subsidy taps to Pratt & Whitney following a dispute over how much the federal government should reimburse the company for its research and development costs.
• Pratt & Whitney is savvy when it comes to securing handouts from Ottawa. Their registered lobbyists include a former assistant deputy minister of Industry Canada John Banigan, and Conservative Party insider Yaroslav Baran.

"Given their paltry repayment record and omnipresence at the trough, giving Pratt & Whitney more of taxpayers' money is like giving a pyromaniac a jerry can and pack of matches. And as usual it is Canadians taxpayers who will be burned," stated CTF federal director John Williamson. "When it comes to corporate welfare it's all about who you know in Ottawa, and Pratt & Whitney makes sure it knows everybody. It is paying off handsomely."

"Today's announcement shows that Pratt & Whitney is again at the forefront when it comes to handouts," continued Mr. Williamson. "Rather than focus on subsidies and vote-buying, the Conservative government should seek to protect all taxpayers from this type of wasteful spending. Canadians taxpayers deserve better. Our forthcoming report will demand an end to paying subsidies to businesses."