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1. Federal purchase of Trans Mountain pipeline distorts incentives, sets dangerous precedent

   Today, Finance Minister Bill Morneau (pictured above) announced that the federal government will purchase all assets related to the Trans Mountain pipeline. This includes the existing pipeline first built in the 1950s, and construction ...

2. 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 ...

3. 2018 budget—another nail in the coffin of Trudeau’s balanced budget promise

   While campaigning for the 2015 election, then-candidate Justin Trudeau made a commitment to Canadians, pledging three years of modest budget deficits of no more than $10 billion, with a balanced budget by the end of his first mandate in ...

4. Trudeau government 0-for-3 for budgets that improve fundamentals for growing the economy

   With the Trudeau government tabling its third budget, the script has become familiar. Each budget the government loudly proclaims platitudes about growing the economy and helping the middle class. In reality, there’s no magic lever to ...

5. Federal budget an opportunity for Ottawa to change big spending ways

   Since coming into office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has markedly increased spending, contributing to larger-than-promised budget deficits with no end in sight. Next week’s federal budget is an opportunity to change ...

6. Call a spade a spade—CPP payroll tax is a tax

   Our recent study found that virtually all Canadian families with children will soon pay higher taxes due to federal income tax changes already in place and forthcoming increases to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) payroll tax. If the ...

7. Reality undercuts Trudeau government’s tax-cutting claim

   There’s no doubt that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being asked some tough questions on his current cross-country town hall tour. But a recent study on taxation raises yet another critical question for the prime minister. For a ...

8. Top earners in Canada pay a disproportionate share of Canada’s tax burden

   There’s a misperception in Canada that top earners generally do not pay their “fair share” of the tax burden. Rhetoric from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government helps fuel this misperception, which is used to justify even higher ...

9. Ten year-end facts Canadians need to know

   As we end 2017, here are 10 year-end facts Canadians should understand and consider as we enter 2018: • The total tax bill for the average Canadian family will exceed $35,000 in 2017, or 42.5 per cent of their income—more than what the ...

10. Trudeau government tax policies puzzling in light of finance minister’s admission

    In a recent year-end press scrum, Finance Minister Bill Morneau (pictured above, right) said something unexpectedly telling. Although it did not receive widespread attention, Morneau all but admitted that raising tax rates changes the ...