I'll be very quick. It's such a great example.
Quebec decided to give a tax holiday to high-tech companies that would set up in...I think it was three buildings in Montreal. The people who owned the building were pretty smart. They just jacked up the rents and they captured most of the subsidy. Meanwhile, the landlords of all the other buildings that didn't qualify for these companies with tax holidays to come into their building were really angry because they didn't get these benefits.
This is a good example of a subsidy that doesn't work at all.
By the way, the more targeted the subsidy is to a very particular firm, especially amongst competitors, the worse it gets. The only area where I think subsidies do make sense—and I have to admit some of the points were made here—is with respect to innovation. However, you can define innovation way too broadly. You start including everything.
Certainly there is a strong argument for supporting innovation. There are different ways of doing it, including tax credits and grants. Lately I've been more interested in the grant side, if it's done properly, without the political favouritism.
I think those are things that could be considered.