By John Woodside,  National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A report published this week by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) finds Ottawa’s tax breaks to the fossil fuel sector are leaving nearly $2 billion on the table each year in lost revenue.

The report comes at the request of Sen. Rosa Galvez, who asked the PBO to estimate the cost of deductions related to fossil fuel development. Specifically, it found that from 2015 to 2019, tax deductions related to fossil fuel exploration, development, property expenses and other measures averaged $1.8 billion annually. The low year was 2016 with approximately $1.3 billion worth of tax deducted, but since then, the amount has escalated to nearly $2.4 billion in 2019, the most recent figures available using T2 corporate tax data.