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When the Trudeau Liberals came to power in 2015, they were only too happy to continue the spending spree. Navdeep Bains, Justin Trudeau’s innovation minister, even took the act to new heights with such creations as the “Strategic Innovation Fund,” which has managed to dole out a cool $2 billion to create 10,800 jobs — a whopping $185,000 per job.

In fact, the taxpayer-funded bonanza has become so absurd during the Trudeau era that Ottawa has seen an unprecedented spike in lobbying as industries line up to petition ministers for a piece of the handout action. As one unnamed lobbyist recently observed, “it’s getting to the point where nobody wants to invest in anything until they can get a subsidy for it.” Well done, governments!

Scheer’s break from mainstream subsidy orthodoxy may well be more than a conversion of convenience. When running for party leader, Scheer made a similar pledge (as did his once-and-again rival, Maxime Bernier). Best of all, now that Scheer has come out against corporate welfare, the pressure will be on his rivals to do the same.

It would be an obvious move for the NDP to revive David Lewis’s opposition to corporate welfare. Jagmeet Singh wants big tax hikes on the wealthy, so he presumably could support ending the gravy train for the wealthy owners of Bombardier and Loblaws.

That leaves the Liberals, who are unlikely to relish being framed as water carriers for monied interests, particularly given the lasting damage wrought by the SNC-Lavalin saga. If Justin Trudeau is looking for an effective channel-changer, he may wish to consider targeting business subsidies for the rich.

For too long, political inertia has trapped us all in an endless cycle of corporate welfare. Scheer’s move — in a highly fluid election — has the potential to change that. Here’s hoping his opponents join him in waging war on corporate welfare so that no matter who wins this election we can finally get on a path to ending this wasteful and destructive practice.

Aaron Wudrick is federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.