According to a new investigation by the downUP, Bell Canada joined the rest of Canada’s telecommunications cartel in receiving millions of dollars from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). The company received CEWS disbursements while turning healthy profits, paying out dividends to its shareholders, and laying off workers at the same time. The investigation reports that Bell received $122.8 million, making it “one of the bigger beneficiaries of the CEWS program.”

Among the other CEWS beneficiaries that paid out dividends are Imperial Oil, Extendicare (owners of long-term care homes where COVID-19 outbreaks have been lethal), Leon’s Furniture, Corus Entertainment, and many more. The same companies that have received $1 billion in public money through CEWS paid out more than $5 billion to shareholders during the last two quarters of 2020. In some cases, these companies still laid off workers.

Bell has also come under fire recently for cutting rural broadband investments, provoking a deluge of customer complaints, and fleecing incarcerated Canadians who make calls from prison. This fits in with broader complaints about the telecommunications industry in Canada: the country’s telecoms are famous for underperforming and overcharging, with some of the highest rates for service in the world. The CEWS grift is just the latest in a long history of the Canadian telecom oligopoly, which, in addition to Bell, includes Rogers and Telus.