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1. Less Ottawa, More Province, 2021: How Decentralized Federalism is Key to Health Care Reform

   A significant body of research suggests that Canada’s health care system consistently underperforms relative to most peer jurisdictions with universal health care systems. This underperformance continues despite the fact that Canada is one of the world’s ...

2. Prime Ministers and Government Spending: 2019 Edition

   This bulletin measures the level of per-person program spending undertaken annually by prime ministers, adjusting for inflation, since 1870. (The years from 1867 to 1869 were excluded due to a lack of inflation data). Per-person spending spiked ...

3. Prime Ministers and Government Spending: A Retrospective

   This bulletin measures the level of per-person program spending undertaken annually by each prime minister, adjusting for inflation, since 1870.  1867 to 1869 were excluded due to a lack of inflation data. Per-person spending spiked during World ...

4. The Sustainability of Health Care Spending in Canada 2017

   Health care is the single largest budget item for every province in Canada, ranging from 34.3 percent of total program spending in Quebec to 43.2 percent in Ontario in 2016. Any changes in the amount spent on health care can have a significant impact on a ...

5. The Sustainability of Health Care Spending in Canada

   Health care is the single largest budget item for every province in Canada, ranging from 34.5 percent of total program spending in Quebec to 44.6 percent in Nova Scotia in 2015. Any changes in the amount spent on health care can have a significant impact ...

6. Moving Targets: Re-estimating Federal Deficits and Debt-to-GDP through 2020/21

   The federal government has repeatedly shifted the goal posts on its own “fiscal anchors.” This bulletin examines the robustness of the current “fiscal anchor” to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio by the government’s first mandate. The 2016 federal budget ...

7. Alberta's Budget Deficit: Why Spending Is to Blame

   Alberta is headed toward its seventh deficit in eight years and the province is at risk of returning to a net debt position as early as next year. A popular narrative holds that the recent fall in oil prices is responsible for the deterioration of Alberta ...

8. Fumbling the Alberta Advantage: How Alberta Squandered a Decade of High Energy Prices

   It is well-known that Alberta’s provincial budget is highly dependent on resource revenues. Over the last decade, as a proportion of total revenues, resource revenues have accounted for as much as 40% (2005/06) and as low as 19% (2009/10). In the most ...

9. Ontario’s Debt Balloon: Source and Sustainability

   The Ontario government’s net debt has expanded from 28% of the provincial economy in 2008/09 to an expected 40% in 2014/15. This represents an increase of over $117 billion or $7,800 more debt per On-tarian. The debt-to-GDP ratio is now much higher than ...

10. The Practical Challenges of Creating a Guaranteed Annual Income in Canada

    The idea of replacing the existing income support system with an unconditional cash transfer from government to individuals or families to provide a minimum annual income has entered and exited Canadian policy discussions for decades, with support coming ...