CCPA Monitor/CALM

Of the 2,100,000,000 in interest-free loans made to profitable corporations by the federal government since 1982, less than seven per cent has been repaid.

One of the corporations most favoured with such government welfare was the Montreal-based Bombardier, which received $204 million in federal loans for 21 different projects, but so far has repaid only five per cent.

Another recipient of a $2 million loan from Industry Canada in 1996 was the Royal Bank, which reported $1.7 billion in profits last year.

Other companies getting such loans included General Motors and Bell Canada, both among the most profitable firms in the country.

This information, obtained under the Access to Information Act, was contained in a report by Consulting and Audit Canada, a federal agency that monitors government grants and handouts.

Its report was highly critical of the poor repayment (or non-repayment) of federal loans by the largest corporate welfare recipients, which were called "evasive, negligent, non-complaint and uncooperative" in the report. The agency was also sharply critical of government officials for not being sufficiently "diligent" in getting companies to pay back their loans.