MONTRÉAL, QC – Billionaire Stephen Bronfman’s group is asking for a subsidy equivalent to 54,000 Quebecers income taxes in a bid to bring a part-time baseball team to Montreal, according to calculations from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“We find it hard to believe that a billionaire’s ballpark project is the best place to spend 54,000 Quebecers’ income taxes,” said CTF Quebec Director Renaud Brossard. “Especially when looking at the state of our health-care system and the fact Quebecers are already the most heavily taxed people on the continent.”

The group led by Bronfman is asking for up to $300 million in subsidies from the government of Quebec. Their project involves the construction of a new baseball stadium in Montreal and attracting the Tampa Bay Rays to play half their season there.

The Government of Quebec expects to take an average of $5,600 in income tax revenue from every taxpayer this year.

A review of economic literature on the topic found “no substantial evidence” of economic gains from such subsidies.

Fully 83 per cent of economists found subsidies for stadium construction to be a bad deal for taxpayers.

“Decades of economic research have shown taxpayers lose systematically when their governments subsidize stadium construction,” said Brossard. “Rejecting this subsidy ask should be a no-brainer and we can’t understand why the government hasn’t already done so.”