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1. Federal fiscal update—Canadians shouldn’t pop the champagne on economic growth

   When unveiling today’s federal fiscal update, Finance Minister Bill Morneau (pictured above, with the prime minister) touted higher than expected economic growth for 2017 as a success story for the Trudeau government. As he told the ...

2. All our trade doors look unattractive now

   I’ve been reading a new paper by Oxford economic historian Kevin O’Rourke called Two Great Trade Collapses: The Interwar Period & Great Recession Compared, a title that, unlike many academic titles, pretty much catches what the paper ...

3. Business investment down, taxes up—bad news for Canadians

   With less than three months left in 2017, despite recent headlines espousing positive economic news, Canada’s economy faces many near and long-term challenges that the Trudeau government must consider as it crafts its fiscal update (due ...

4. William Watson: Trying to digest 159 ways to improve a country

   I spent seven hours Wednesday confined with several hundred other columnists, reporters, financial analysts, policy wonks, cameramen, video editors, sound engineers and so on at the federal government’s annual budget lock-up. You line up ...

5. Raising capital gains taxes—a lot of economic pain for little revenue gain

   Rumours abound that the Trudeau government may raise the capital gains tax in tomorrow’s federal budget so it’s critical for Canadians to understand that raising this tax will cause much economic pain for very little revenue gain. ...

6. Some questions for Prime Minister Trudeau

   Prime Minister Trudeau has launched a cross-country listening tour to reconnect with Canadians. Given the tumultuous times, the prime minister’s time might be best spent in Ottawa leading the government, but since he’s listening, here ...

7. Canada’s federal government failing its own test

   The federal government has gone to great lengths to highlight that its fiscal policies will lead to significant improvements in the growth prospects for the Canadian economy. For example, when Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau ...

8. Hasty infrastructure spending in Canada may waste tax dollars

   Canada faces serious economic challenges as 2016 unfolds, and key leadership in dealing with the economic fallout of falling oil prices and slow economic growth must come from Bill Morneau, Canada’s federal minister of finance. The new ...