Chinese state-owned enterprises were found to be recipients of Canada’s COVID-19 wage subsidy benefit.
In an effort to push for transparency, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) launched a search registry on Monday to help Canadians track employers who have been receiving the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the recipients, Chinese state-owned companies and non-profit organizations with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were found to be receiving the Canadian wage subsidy. Some of them include the Canadian arm of PetroChina, Bank of China (BOC), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Mobile, and Canada China Business Council (CCBC).
When asked by The Epoch Times why these firms would receive the CEWS, Etienne Biram, media relations officer of the CRA, said that they have met the eligibility criteria required of an employer for this benefit, adding that “the wage subsidy can only be claimed for employee remuneration by eligible organization that have experienced a drop in revenue.”
CEWS was launched by the federal government to help companies who experienced a drop in revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic cover their employee wages.
However, “if, when conducting post examinations, it is determined a business was not entitled to CEWS payments, it will be required to pay them back,” Biram said.
Due to the confidentiality provisions of section 241 of the Income Tax Act, the agency is prevented from discussing specific taxpayer files, according to Biram.
PetroChina Canada (PCC) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PetroChina, the largest oil and gas producer and distributor in China listed in the stock exchanges in New York, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. In Canada, the PCC acquired the MacKay River oil sands and Dover oil sands in the region of Fort McMurray, Alberta, to produce bitumen.
PetroChina’s sole controlling shareholder is China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), one of China’s largest oil and gas state-owned enterprises, and has been a subject of security threat warnings from the Canada Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) due to its acquisition of significant stakes in Canada’s energy sector.
The logo of China National Petroleum Corporation is displayed during the World Gas Conference exhibition in Paris on June 2, 2015. Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images
