Should taxpayers keep subsidizing the ethanol industry?

Ontario taxpayers are handing tens of millions of dollars to ethanol producers annually, but with a lucrative provincialfund set to expire at the end of this year, it's unclear whether the subsidy will continue.

Ethanol subsidies are in the news as the result of a CBC investigation. It found the biggest corporate donor to the Ontario Liberal Party is an ethanol company that has received more than $160 million from taxpayers since 2007.

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In total, ethanol producers have receivednearly $500 millionfrom provincial coffers since 2007, whenthen-premier DaltonMcGuintymandated five per cent ethanol content in gasoline and created the10-year Ontario Ethanol Growth Fundtoprop up producers.

Premier Kathleen Wynnesupports what the fund achieved but isnon-committal about continuing it.

"It has jump-started an industry, supported agriculture in the province, but that fund will come to an end andI think we now have to look at otherways of supporting our green industries," Wynnesaid in response to questions from CBC News.

The funding helped build a "competitive and vibrant" ethanol industry in Ontario, said Andrea Kent, president of the Canadian Renewable FuelsAssociation, anindustry lobby group.

"It has been an unequivocal success," Kentsaid in an email to CBC News. But with the fund expiring, she said she is"not aware of any similar programs being considered at this time."

The federal government has also shelled out plenty of tax money tothe ethanol industry and its fund is also about to expire. The$1.44-billion "ecoENERGYforBiofuelsProgram"wraps up in March 2017.

Suncor, GreenFieldtop subsidy list

The biggest recipient of Ontariotaxpayer funding for ethanol firms isSuncorEnergy Products Inc. Its ethanol plant nearSarniais the largest in Canada.Suncorhas received $189.5 millionfrom the provincial government since 2007, according to data inthe Public Accounts.

The second-biggest recipient is GreenFieldSpecialty Alcohols,a privately-held company headquartered in Toronto. Data compiled by CBC Newsshow the company has received$163.7 millionfrom provincial taxpayers.

"Theethanolindustry is now a major driver of the economy of ruralOntario," saidGreenFieldCEO Bob Gallant, in an email to CBC News. "The industry created thousands of good paying construction and related jobs during a multi-billion dollar capital expansion.Today it directly and indirectly employs thousands of Ontarians."

Research by CBC News uncovered thatGreenFieldhas donated more than $350,000to the Ontario Liberalssince Wynne became premier in 2013, making it the party's biggest corporate donor.

PCleader Patrick Brown is personally opposed to government handouts to ethanol companies but his party doesn't have a firm stance on the issue. The three biggest ethanol plants in the province are in PC-held ridings

"My inclination would be to lean against those subsidies but I don't want to presume the process that our grassroots (party) policy process is going to take," Brown told CBC News in aninterview.