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1. Wynne government reopens spending tap, exposes province to more risk

   Appeared in the Financial Post, May 10, 2017 The Wynne government recently tabled Ontario’s first balanced operating budget in a decade. While it’s good to see the province finally bring its annual operating expenditures in line with revenues, there are ...

2. Ontario’s budget opens the spending tap, drowns Ontarians in more debt

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, April 28, 2017 On Thursday, Finance Minister Charles Sousa tabled the Ontario government’s budget for the 2017/18 fiscal year. The government’s spin has focused on the fact that the operating budget is balanced for the first ...

3. Federal deficits could total nearly $200 billion over next five years

   Appeared in the Financial Post, May 12, 2016 As the saying goes, a moving target is hard to hit. That is why repeated shifts in the federal government’s deficit and debt goals over the past six months have been so concerning. What started as a promise to ...

4. Moving Targets: Re-estimating Federal Deficits and Debt-to-GDP through 2020/21

   The federal government has repeatedly shifted the goal posts on its own “fiscal anchors.” This bulletin examines the robustness of the current “fiscal anchor” to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio by the government’s first mandate. The 2016 federal budget ...

5. Infrastructure a small share of the Liberal $29.4 billion deficit

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, April 2, 2016 A major theme in the lead-up to the recent federal budget was a commitment to increased infrastructure spending. The Liberals gave the impression that infrastructure would be a key driver of their deficit spending ...

6. Liberal 2016 budget long on pro-growth rhetoric but short on economic action

   Appeared in Business in Vancouver, March 29, 2016 In his budget speech, rookie Finance Minister Bill Morneau went to great lengths to highlight that the Liberal government’s budget would improve the long-term growth prospects for the Canadian economy. His ...

7. Creating an effective ‘guaranteed annual income’ in Canada would be challenging

   Appeared in the Vancouver Province, February 23, 2016 The federal Liberals appear to be considering overhauling Canada’s income support system with the creation of a guaranteed annual income (GAI). Jean-Yves Duclos, the federal minister tasked with the ...

8. Newfoundland & Labrador’s massive debt and deficits demand bold action

   Appeared in National Newswatch, February 15, 2016 On the easternmost part of the country, a fiscal storm is brewing. Newfoundland & Labrador’s provincial finances are in a dire state. The government’s latest projections have the province facing a ...

9. A new year’s resolution for Ontario’s government: Reduce spending

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, January 6, 2016 As the new year begins, many Ontarians are making resolutions to address long-standing problems or bad habits. For Ontario’s provincial government, the appropriate new year’s resolution is clear: it should ...

10. Another warning sign Ontario may not meet its balanced budget target

    Appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, November 10, 2015 The Ontario government has dug itself deep into debt and continues to spend more than the revenue it brings in each year. While it has pledged to eliminate the deficit by 2017/18, a new report from the ...