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1. Ottawa’s ballooning debt and deficits should be major campaign issue

   Canada has the fifth-highest level of total government debt among 29 industrialized countries. ...

2. Trudeau rhetoric can’t change Canada’s fiscal reality

   Due to federal tax changes, 61 per cent of low-income families face higher personal income taxes. ...

3. Interest on federal debt—a growing problem

   Interest payments on the federal debt are expected to equal $20.2 billion in 2020/21. ...

4. Trudeau government poised to embrace much more federal debt

   Starting in the mid-1980s, Canada’s federal fiscal policy focused heavily on trying to limit the accumulation of debt and push down (or at least prevent) growth in Ottawa’s debt-to-GDP ratio. To achieve this objective, successive ...

5. Alberta’s woes threaten Canada’s finances from coast to coast

   Ottawa annually pocketed $22 billion more in revenue from Alberta than it spent in the province. ...

6. Trudeau government must chart credible plan to balance federal budget

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, January 13, 2021 In the late stages of 2020, Prime Minister Trudeau committed to “absolutely” balance the federal budget—at some point in the future. Of course, a balanced budget would halt the debt accumulation that started ...

7. Federal finances ‘careening downhill’ fast

   It has now been nearly a week since federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland released the fall economic statement (FES). After a suitable period of digestion, it’s still unclear where exactly federal finances are heading aside from very ...

8. Making sense of Canada’s $381.6 billion federal budget deficit

   The Trudeau government this week published its fall fiscal update for 2020. The headline-grabbing number emerging from the report was the government’s forecasted budget deficit for the year—$381.6 billion. As is often the case when it ...

9. Trudeau government’s approach to federal finances anything but ‘prudent’

   Appeared in the National Newswatch, December 2, 2020 Since coming to power in 2015, Prime Minister Trudeau —and his finance ministers —have characterized their management of federal finances as “prudent,” an adjective meaning to act with or show care and ...

10. Canada’s fiscal situation near crisis levels

    As the pandemic continues, Ottawa and the provinces have embarked on a fiscal cruise whose ultimate port of destination is not necessarily a safe harbour. With an estimated federal deficit of more than $343 billion for 2020-21 combined ...