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1. State of federal finances worse than previously thought

   The latest federal budget showed that public finances are in poor shape and Ottawa is ill-prepared for a possible economic recession. But a recent Parliamentary Budget Office report suggests the situation may be worse than the government ...

2. Provincial and local governments should make infrastructure decisions, not Ottawa

   Last week, and as part of Ottawa’s multi-billion infrastructure spending plan, Amarjeet Sohi, federal minister of infrastructure and communities, wrote letters to his ministerial counterparts in each province and territory laying out ...

3. Only 10.6% of Ottawa's nearly $100 billion in new infrastructure spending is for trade and transportation

   Charles Lammam, director of Fiscal Studies at the Fraser Institute, recently provided testimony to the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance about the federal government’s infrastructure plan. Here’s a transcript of his testimony ...

4. Not your grandparents' growth-maximizing infrastructure spending

   While infrastructure spending was major theme in this week’s federal fiscal update, Canadians ought to know that despite the government’s rhetoric, the planned infrastructure spending is unlikely to deliver on fostering long-term ...

5. Infrastructure spending OK, but that’s not what the Liberals proposed

   The dust is settling from the Liberal government’s first budget, which proposed large spending increases, some tax hikes, and deficits throughout their mandate with no balanced budget in sight. Some of the details of the budget, which ...

6. William Watson: budget numbers we really need—benefit per dollar spent at the margin

   My very favourite line from this week’s federal budget is “There are no public transit systems in Nunavut.” This is from a note to a table on page 92 of the Budget Plan. Well, duh, of course there aren’t any public transit systems in ...

7. More government spending (on infrastructure or anything else) will make Canadians poorer

   As pretty much everyone knows, the price of oil has fallen dramatically. When the price of an item falls, consumers are better off and producers are worse off. But Canada is a net exporter of oil—it exports more oil than it imports. That ...

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 ...