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1. Canada lags behind most industrialized countries on key economic, fiscal indicators

   Appeared in the Financial Post, November 4, 2020 The Trudeau government has generally favoured relative comparisons of its performance (i.e. how we rate versus other countries) rather than historical comparisons. Recent data from the International ...

2. Trudeau government spending billions to make people better off than before recession

   Appeared in the Vancouver Province, September 8, 2020 We recently analyzed almost $82 billion in COVID-related spending—specifically CERB, the student assistance benefit (CESB), and one-time payments linked to Old Age Security (OAS), the Guaranteed Income ...

3. Poor CERB targeting wastes billions

   Appeared in the Financial Post, August 27, 2020 Despite a near $350 billion federal deficit and national debt exceeding $1 trillion, the Trudeau government continues to borrow billions of dollars to finance cash transfers to Canadians whose need is at the ...

4. Federal Government Wasting Billions on Poorly Targeted Assistance

   The federal government has introduced a number of new programs and ad hoc additions to existing programs in response to the COVID recession. Unfortunately, much of this spending appears to have been poorly targeted towards those in genuine need, ...

5. Young people living with their parents could receive $11.8 billion from CERB

   Appeared in the National Post, July 16, 2020 Prudent use of public finances should always be a top priority for any government. With the federal budget deficit now projected to reach almost $350 billion, Ottawa should apply additional prudence to new and ...

6. Distribution of CERB: Estimating the Number of Eligible Young People Living with Parents

   The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is a flat, taxable $2,000 monthly benefit provided to eligible Canadians. The initial 16-week program was estimated to cost $53.4 billion after cost recoveries from taxation. The program was recently ...

7. Ottawa must remove disincentives to return to work

   The recent jobs report showed the painful impact of the recession, with three million jobs lost since February. Fortunately, many provincial economies are starting to reopen, which hopefully means the economy can begin to recover. But for ...

8. Misinformation clouds reignited debate over guaranteed basic income

   Appeared in the National Post, April 28, 2020 Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff during the financial crisis, famously said “ never allow a good crisis go to waste. ” The idea being that during a crisis, citizens are more open to large changes ...

9. Why differences between government and markets matters today—Public Choice in action, Part 2

   The previous blog post explained a whole set of differences between the government and market sectors of our society and how those differences affect decision-making, incentives and performance in the two sectors. This second blog post ...

10. Trudeau government ‘wage subsidy’ increases uncertainty for workers and businesses

    Appeared in the Financial Post, April 3, 2020 During these troubled and uncertain times, Canadian households and businesses need certainty from governments including certainty about how government will help stabilize incomes for Canadians and businesses, ...