By Denis Carmel
CARTT.CA HAS LEARNED large Canadian broadcasting and telecommunication enterprises collected significant amounts from the federal government’s Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and Canada Recovery Hiring Program (CRHP) in 2020 and will likely receive more for 2021.
The following companies have, according to the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA), received subsidies:
- BCE: $122.9 million
- Québecor: $3.1 million
- Rogers: $90.5 million
- Telus: $38.6 million
- Stingray: $25.2 million
- Corus: $34.9 million
- Pelmorex: $6.3 million*
According to the administer these programs, “a Canadian employer who has seen a drop in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic, may be eligible for a subsidy to cover part of its employee wages. This subsidy will enable them to re-hire workers, help prevent further job losses, and ease their business back into normal operations.”
CEWS approved 4.2 million applicants and paid $90.8 billion in wage subsidies since the program started in March 2020, according to the CRA website.
Cartt.ca was not able to find more telecommunications and broadcasting companies that took advantage of this program, either because they did not meet the criteria or did not apply.
But the Lobby Registry shows Xplornet ($18.6 million), SaskTel ($127,889) and Telesat ($14.2 million) received funding from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), while Blue Ant ($397,956) and APTN ($1.8 million) received funding from Canadian Heritage.
Cartt.ca was not able to find references about funding for Teksavvy, Shaw or Eastlink.
*A previous version of this story stated the $6.3 million was from Finance as per the Lobbying Registry. Pelmorex has since confirmed the funding was from CEWS.
