The insolvent SaltWire Network newspaper chain pocketed more than $5 million in taxpayers’ subsidies in one year while failing to pay its tax debts, Court records show. Creditors in filings with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court described SaltWire management as incompetent: 'They mismanaged the business.'
Competition in journalism rests on fair play, transparency and integrity. Parliament in 2019 amended the Income Tax Act to subsidize daily news media on a promise taxpayers’ aid was temporary and transitional. Temporary, transitional aid is now a permanent, secret subsidy for 141 news corporations. It is the only federal program of its kind that does not mandate disclosure of actual payments. If recipients of $2,500 Canada Student Loan subsidies are named under proactive disclosure, taxpayers are owed similar transparency for newsrooms receiving payroll rebates up to $29,750 per employee.
