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1. Ford's first budget must fulfill campaign promises

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, April 10, 2019 Clearly, Ontario’s finances are in bad shape. With a government debt load of more than $23,000 per resident and a 10-figure annual budget deficit, the Ford government has inherited serious challenges. There’s ...

2. A Turning Point or More of the Same? Ontario's Fiscal Choices in Budget 2019

   As the Ford government approaches its first full budget, it must decide how to confront the $13.6 billion deficit it faces, as well as the stock of public debt forecasted to reach $346 billion this year. There is nothing new about Ontario’s difficult ...

3. Ford government should heed Michigan's success

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, April 3, 2019 Whenever a new government is elected, as happened in Ontario last year, one of the most important questions is whether it will maintain the policy trajectory of its predecessor or instead chart a different policy ...

4. Bad mistakes—the Ontario government has made a few

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, November 23, 2016 Recently, Premier Kathleen Wynne admitted her government is partly to blame for skyrocketing electricity prices in Ontario, nothing that her government’s policies have contributed to an “unacceptable” ...

5. Wynne government missing big picture on Ontario finances

   Appeared in the Financial Post, October 6, 2016 The Ontario government is reportedly in a spat with the province’s auditor general about the size of last year’s deficit. The auditor general pegs the shortfall at $5 billion, whereas the government, using a ...

6. Ontario’s fiscal update stays committed to complacency

   Appeared in the Waterloo Region Record There was an aura of complacency in Queen’s Park as the Ontario government released its update on the state of provincial finances. The government remains committed to its relatively passive approach of dealing with ...

7. Are “Wynne Days” Coming?

   Appeared in Waterloo Region Record We’ve seen this script before. Higher spending. Tax increases. Persistent deficits. Growing debt. Warnings from credit rating agencies. A government unwilling to make the tough choices to turn things around. That’s the ...

8. It's not our problem; Ontario Liberals kick deficit can down the road

   Appeared in the Financial Post The May 2 minority Liberal budget is a politically expedient document that likely avoids an election but unfortunately fails to tackle Ontario's looming fiscal crisis. The longer the province waits, the more difficult ...

9. Fraser Forum- Spring 2012: Avoiding a Crisis: Fixing Onario's Deficit

   In this issue: A credible 2-year plan to balance the budget by Charles Lammam and Niels Veldhuis The Ontario government predicts that it will be running a decit until 2017/18 but with the right spending cuts, it could have a balanced budget within 2 years ...