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1. Successive Ontario governments increased net debt from $139 billion to $338 billion

   The Ford government today released its fall economic and fiscal update, which includes taxation and spending changes, with Finance Minister Vic Fedeli noting that the "fiscal hole is deep.” However, perhaps the most telling ...

2. Ontario has a $15 billion deficit—not the $6.7 billion claimed by the previous government

   The Ontario government’s review of provincial finances is finally out, and the picture is even grimmer than what the auditor general and the Financial Accountability Office have presented. The key findings confirm that Ontario since 1990 ...

3. Ontario’s net debt may hit $500 billion by 2026-27

   The size of Ontario’s provincial deficit has become a matter of some debate. The Wynne government’s 2018 budget projected a deficit of $6.7 billion. But according to a recent report from the auditor general, Ontario’s deficit may be even ...

4. Ontario budget ignores past promises, offers no plan to enhance economic competitiveness

   Predictably, many of the headlines on Ontario’s 2018 budget, released today, focus on Premier Kathleen Wynne’s so-called “free” child care plan and other big-spending items. It is, after all, a big-spending budget. But crucially, the ...

5. Debt and decline—Ontario’s challenges in three snapshots

   Ontario’s upcoming provincial budget will likely include a significant increase in government spending with an eye on the spring election. Liberal Finance Minister Charles Sousa has already indicated that the pre-election budget will now ...

6. Ontario’s fiscal paradox—a balanced budget and mounting debt

   Ontario has wrapped up its 2018 pre-budget public consultations as it prepares to deliver its next provincial budget. Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa confirmed in the fall fiscal statement that Ontario’s 2018 budget will be ...

7. Quebec unemployment rate now lower than Ontario’s

   There’s a remarkable economic transformation underway in Quebec. The economy is growing and the unemployment rate is down. Indeed, Quebec’s unemployment rate (three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted) in July at 5.9 per cent is ...

8. Ontario debt—kicking the can down the road

   A new study released this today by the Fraser Institute examined the Wynne government’s plan to reduce Ontario’s debt burden to pre-recession levels (26-27 per cent) by 2029/30 from its current level of 37.5 per cent. The government’s ...

9. Provincial government net debt up 89% in less than a decade

   After a lull spanning the first decade of the 21st century, it seems that provincial government debt is again on the rise. Based on figures compiled from the Federal Fiscal Reference Tables and plotted in the first chart below, total ...

10. In Ontario, the cost of doing business is high

    Jon Dwyer, the managing director of an Ontario-based bio-tech company, recently took to the CBC to express his concern that doing business in Ontario was becoming increasingly difficult. In his column, Dwyer states that rising energy ...