TORONTO: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has compiled a list of the top 100 grants and contributions paid out by the federal government between April 1st, 2008 and March 31st, 2009. 

The 100 largest payments total $5.8 billion and were doled out by 11 different government departments and agencies. These payments represent only a small part of Ottawa's annual budget of roughly $27-billion spent on grants, contributions and subsidies. This amounts to just over 11 cents of every tax dollar spent from the federal budget. Click here for the top 100 handouts compiled by combing the public disclosure of grants and contributions. 

On the federal spending, CTF federal director, Kevin Gaudet, said “very little of this money is auditable, accountable or spent in a transparent fashion. This makes it difficult for taxpayers to know how much value they get for this money.”

In 2004 Stephen Harper said, “I believe that the auditor general will find that a significant portion of the [money] currently doled out in subsidies, grants and contributions does not deliver value for money".

Corporate Welfare Continues:

21 handouts total $1.66 billion. Many of the usual suspects re-appear including; CAE ($250 million), Bombardier ($350 million), Ford ($80 million), Husky Oil ($144.6 million), Suncor ($25 million) and Bristol Aerospace ($43.4 million), just to name a few.

Toronto Takes First Place:

Toronto continues to get large amounts of government money, despite Mayor Miller’s complaints to the contrary. The largest single handout was to the Regional Municipality of York and the City of Toronto for a subway expansion totalling $622 million. Toronto Waterfront Revitalization was given $48.5 million, University Health Network ($92.3 million), the Hospital for Sick Children ($91 million), Sunnybrook Hospital ($57 million) and the Canadian Television Fund ($120 million).

‘Renewable Energy’ Projects Get Big Cash:

10 renewable energy projects include wind power and ‘alternatives to gasoline’ like biodiesel, biomass and ethanol also got big bucks. They total over $612 million, including a $100 million grant to the World Bank for a ‘climate resilience project.’

Aboriginal Groups:

Despite lacking transparency and accountability mechanisms, aboriginal groups filled 17 spots totalling over $991 million; handsomely scoring 20th, 38th, 45th, 48th, 50th, 54th-56th, 58th, 59th, 61st-64th, 68th–72nd, 74th-82nd and 100th places.  

Cash in Foreign Countries:

The World Bank was given four grants totalling $473.4 million. The Governments of Senegal, Tanzania, Ghana, and Mozambique received a total of $665 million (Ghana alone took $320 million). The WHO, UNICEF, UN, World Food Program, OAS, the Malaria Consortium and Save the Children received a total of $376.6 million.