Canada Bank Bailout Cost $114 Billion At Peak: Report

The report puts a large dent into the perception that Canada's banks survived the financial collapse of 2008 without the need for the sorts of government bailouts seen in the U.S. and Europe.

According to the report, titled The Big Banks' Big Secret: Estimating Government Support for Canadian Banks During the Financial Crisis, Canada's biggest banks relied heavily on support from the Bank of Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and the U.S. Federal Reserve between October, 2008 and July, 2010.

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"At some point during the crisis, three of Canada's banks--CIBC, BMO, and Scotiabank--were completely under water, with government support exceeding the market value of the company," CCPA Senior Economist David Macdonald said in a press statement Monday. "Without government supports to fall back on, Canadian banks would have been in serious trouble."

Over the same period, the CCPA notes, Canada's big banks recorded a combined total of $27 billion in profits and the banks' CEOs received an average pay raise of 19 per cent.

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the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. -- the governmental body that insures Canadians' mortgages against default -- bought up $69 billion-worth of mortgages from the banks.