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1. Wynne government gives public employees a raise despite deep red ink

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, June 14, 2017 Earlier this week, Premier Wynne’s government offered a four-year contract extension to Ontario government workers with 7.5 per cent pay raises over the life of the deal. This follows a two-year extension recently ...

2. Ontario’s basic income unlikely to help people get ahead

   This spring, the Ontario government will launch a three-year “basic income” pilot program and a key question to consider is how the program will impact the willingness of recipients to work. While it is possible to create a basic income ...

3. Linking government compensation to private sector can help repair Ontario’s finances

   Appeared in the National Post, February 7, 2017 With a projected $4.3 billion deficit this year and mounting debt as far as the eye can see, the Wynne government will have to better control spending to repair the damage to Ontario’s finances. In these ...

4. Comparing Government and Private Sector Compensation in Ontario, 2017

   Using data on individual workers from January to December 2015, this report estimates the wage differential between the government and private sectors in Ontario. It also evaluates four available non-wage benefits in an attempt to quantify compensation ...

5. A worrying trend—size of government in Canada on the rise

   Every year Maclean's magazine invites economists and policy analysts to submit what they think is the most important chart Canadians should watch in the upcoming year, as it relates to the economy. Needless to say, choosing a single ...

6. Narrative about Canada’s post-recession economic superiority overlooks provincial laggards east of Manitoba

   A popular narrative holds that Canada weathered the global financial crisis and recession relatively well, outperforming many advanced countries economically since 2009. This is true for the country as whole particularly when Canada is ...

7. 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 ...

8. How does Alberta’s deficit stack up against the other provinces?

   Alberta’s budget is coming in a couple weeks and expectations are that the government will unveil a deficit for the current fiscal year totalling at least $5.9 billion. How does this number stack up against the other provinces? Let’s ...

9. Municipal Fire Services in Canada: A Preliminary Analysis

   This bulletin examines trends in fire service spending and the incidence of reported fires in Canada. It finds that the number of firefighters and spending on fire services is increasing even as the incidence of reported fires is decreasing based on ...

10. More compensation restraint would help ease Ontario’s budget troubles

    Appeared in the Waterloo Region Record, April 9, 2015 Amid a gathering fiscal storm, the Ontario government will soon table its budget for the coming fiscal year and beyond. There’s a lot riding on getting things right. A recent study found that debt is ...