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1. Less Ottawa, More Province, 2021: How Decentralized Federalism is Key to Health Care Reform

   A significant body of research suggests that Canada’s health care system consistently underperforms relative to most peer jurisdictions with universal health care systems. This underperformance continues despite the fact that Canada is one of the world’s ...

2. Alberta’s government debt interest costs continue to soar

   According to budget forecasts, debt interest payments will reach $3.3 billion by 2023/24. ...

3. Ford budget could represent turning point in Ontario fiscal history

   Within two fiscal years of Chretien's 1995 budget, federal finances had moved from large deficits to surpluses. ...

4. Lessons for the Ford Government from the 1995 Federal Budget

   Chronic deficits since the 2008/09 recession have weakened Ontario’s public finances. The province’s debt-to-GDP ratio—a key measure of fiscal sustainability—increased from 27.8 percent to an estimated 47.0 percent of GDP by the end of 2020/21. ...

5. What a difference a decade can make—southwestern Ontario’s sobering lesson for Alberta

   At the start of this century, southwestern Ontario was among the most prosperous regions in Canada. With a strong manufacturing sector, there were plenty of good high-paying jobs. In the following years, the regional economy was battered ...

6. Another credit downgrade highlights urgent need for spending reform in Alberta

   The Government of Alberta’s credit rating was recently downgraded for the third time since December. The ratings agency, Fitch, noted that “ additional policy responses ” will be required to right the province’s finances. Credit ...

7. Equalization is broken and needs fixing now

   Appeared in the National Post, June 18, 2020 While the full extent of the damage is not yet known, the economic consequences of the COVID recession have been severe. Millions are now unemployed and countless businesses have been shuttered, some forever. ...

8. Equalization and Stabilization Post-Recession: Is Canada Ready?

   Is Canada’s existing system of federal transfers designed to respond adequately to economic volatility across the country and more precisely to rapid changes in relative income levels across provinces? The purpose of this paper is to investigate this ...

9. Mounting government debt threatens Alberta’s fiscal status among provinces

   Appeared in the Edmonton Journal, May 5, 2020 Recently, RBC Economics published a report on provincial finances. The report, which is clear, concise and highly informative, estimates that all the provinces taken together will this year run a cumulative ...

10. Canada still relies on its wounded golden goose

    Appeared in the Calgary Sun, April 29, 2020 Albertans have suffered tremendous economic pain in recent years. Steep recessions in 2009 and 2015/2016 (which was among the worst recessions in provincial history) rocked the province and the recovery has been ...