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Pride got cocky (pun fully intended), and now they’re asking for Canadian taxpayers to foot the bill.

Leaders from Pride Toronto, Fierté Montréal and Vancouver Pride arrived in Ottawa with their hands out, demanding a ‘modest’ $9 million over three years from federal coffers.

That’s $3 million annually to prop up events they proudly call a “proven economic driver.”

Kojo Modeste, Pride Toronto’s executive director, stood on Parliament Hill and declared the cash would “strengthen Canada’s image as an inclusive and welcoming country.”

Yet Pride Toronto’s own audited statements tell a far less flattering tale.

Their total revenue was over $6.5 million, which sounds impressive until you see the expenses, totalling over $7 million.

It’s over half a million dollars in deficit, and another year ended in the red.

Net assets also included a deficit of over $200,000, and while Pride Toronto had almost $5,000 in the bank, they rely on a revolving line of credit that gets maxed out every festival season.

The festival already pulls in over $1.1 million in combined government grants – from the feds, the province of Ontario and the City of Toronto. That’s on top of nearly $4 million in sponsorships, which include in-kind goodies.

Pride Toronto receives a mix of cash funding and in-kind contributions, but they still run a deficit.

Yet representatives brazenly stood up in front of the nation and bragged about pumping hundreds of millions into the Toronto economy, which begs the question: if it’s truly an economic powerhouse pumping hundreds of millions into Toronto’s economy, why does it keep running chronic deficits and need endless taxpayer bailouts?

Sponsors have been pulling out en masse in recent years. From Google, Nissan, Home Depot, and more, there is growing public fatigue with the political lecturing.

Contrast that with the Original Toronto Santa Claus Parade, which has persevered for over a century, and you find a beloved non-profit that runs on a very lean budget of about $2 million.

It hustles for corporate sponsors, sells merch, relies on public donations and yes, takes some government help. But it doesn’t demand ideological loyalty or force affirmation. It’s Santa, kids, families and Christmas joy open to everyone sans flags, lectures, and political posturing.

Meanwhile, Pride openly calls itself political. That’s why it can’t sustain itself without compelling every taxpayer — gay, straight, left, right or indifferent — to subsidize it.

A recent Access to Information request revealed the extent of waste tied to these ideologically driven political signals.

In planning the Federal Public Service Pride Week, bureaucrats at Health Canada and the Public Health Agency coordinated “Pride Sidewalks” — rainbow paint jobs costing $15,000 for a single building. Following the week-long celebration, one sidewalk was painted over the very next day. Not because of wear or weather, but because the display has become so polarizing and divisive that someone has clearly had enough.

$15,000 flushed away while Canadians struggle with a cost-of-living crisis and the national debt balloons.

Pride asking for more money isn’t about inclusion but rather enforcing hierarchy: celebrate the way we demand, or be branded phobic.

Taxpayers end up becoming unwilling funders of activism that divides more than it unites.

The Santa Claus Parade, by contrast, doesn’t need heavy security to prevent clashes. It doesn’t leave vandalized sidewalks or million-dollar deficits in its wake. It simply shows up, delivers smiles and brings the city together without demanding you affirm an ideology.

If Pride is such a brilliant economic engine, why can’t it run on its own steam? And if it’s really about love and inclusion, why does it keep leaving holes that the rest of us are expected to fill?

Taxpayers are not an unlimited ATM for political statements, so let’s stop pretending a chronically broke, openly political organization is entitled to another $9 million of our hard-earned money.