If Canadians were already frustrated with the Liberal government’s interventionist economic policies, which have produced miserable results to date, then the latest Parliamentary Budget Officer report on a set of floundering subsidies certainly won’t help.
The federal and Ontario governments have promised to give Stellantis-LG Energy Solutions and Volkswagen $28.2 billion to subsidize new electric vehicle battery plants. According to the PBO, it’s going to take them 20 years to break even, far more than the government’s guess of 3.3 years. If this estimate anywhere near accurate, it would make these subsidies a catastrophically bad investment.
