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1. Most of Ontario’s new debt due to day-to-day spending

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, April 18, 2018 Ontario’s provincial government is piling up debt at a historic pace. Between 2007/08 and 2018/19, Ontario’s debt has grown from $157 billion to $325 billion. The government defends this record by suggesting the ...

2. The Wynne budget—more spending, more fiscal problems, more debt

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, March 29, 2018 Finance Minister Charles Sousa has tabled Ontario’s 2018 budget. And above all else, the pre-election document is characterized by a complete absence of fiscal discipline and dangerous willingness to saddle ...

3. 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 ...

4. Ontario—from fiscal leader to fiscal laggard

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, Sep 13, 2017 While Ontario’s current struggles with a large and growing government debt burden are widely known, it wasn’t always this way. Just a decade and a half ago, Ontario had relatively sound public finances compared to ...

5. Canada’s Past Fiscal Leaders Are Now Fiscal Laggards: An Analysis of 2017 Provincial Budgets

   Around the turn of the 21st century, Alberta and Ontario could both boast of having comparatively sound public finances relative to most other provinces. In recent years, however, serious fiscal problems have emerged in both provinces. Alberta and Ontario ...

6. Ontario workers have little to celebrate this Labour Day

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, August 31, 2017 Labour Day is a time when we celebrate workers. Unfortunately, over the past three years, Ontarians have had little to cheer about the province’s labour market. While the Wynne government touted positive job ...

7. Why is Ontario’s debt burden shrinking so slowly?

   Appeared in the Globe and Mail, August 14, 2017 Premier Wynne’s government has repeatedly stated the importance of bringing down the province’s debt-to-GDP ratio, which shot up during and after the 2008/09 recession. Specifically, it wants to bring this ...

8. Wynne government could take a few pointers from Liberal brethren in Quebec

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, August 13, 2017 Ontarians usually don’t follow closely the economic developments of their eastern neighbour but they certainly should. In fact, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government could take a few pointers from their Liberal ...

9. 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 ...

10. Wishful Thinking: An Analysis of Ontario’s Timeline for Shrinking Its Debt Burden

    Since 2007/08, Ontario’s level of public debt has approximately doubled. As a result, the provincial debt-to-GDP ratio has climbed to historically high levels in recent years. In its 2017 budget, Premier Wynne’s government presented a timeline for ...