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Unions are another winner. As only one example, Air Canada has announced that it will pay 16,500 of its furloughed employees under the subsidy program and that the unions representing these workers have signed off on the plan. And why wouldn’t they? Unionized Air Canada employees pay monthly dues of about $75. Retroactive to March 15, the unions will receive monthly dues of more than $1.2 million.

Who are the losers from the wage subsidies? CERB recipients don’t actually lose. They’re receiving money while they’re unemployed. But their $2,000 per month will generally be less than recipients of subsidized wages will get. CERB recipients also face a limit of $1,000 a month on other earnings — which may substantially constrain an owner trying to hold a small business together.

Future generations of taxpayers also lose. They will face tax increases or spending cuts as the government tries to bring our debt-to-GDP ratio back to some semblance of normalcy. The growth in debt could have been substantially more manageable had the government taken a more measured approach that focussed only on the CERB.

The finance minister says that the subsidy program will help individuals stay attached to their place of work. But he also told the Senate that this is precisely what the CERB will do. What the subsidy really does is provide direct support to employers that may allow them to survive: in other words, it is in part an employer bailout.

Bailouts may well be required but they should not proceed under the guise of a wage subsidy. The government should have retained the CERB as its principal income relief program and considered loans to — or even equity positions in — employers in danger of not surviving the lockdown.

Allan Lanthier is a retired senior partner of an international accounting firm, and has been an adviser to both the Department of Finance and the Canada Revenue Agency.