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1. Interest Cost Risks to Government Budgets

   This essay calculates the change in government interest costs and budget balances if interest costs return to their 2019-20 levels. Estimates are calculated for 2021-22 gross debt levels for each of the provinces and the federal government. ...

2. Trudeau ‘childcare’ plan remains opaque, contradicts other federal policy

   The plan calls for $27.2 billion over the next five years to reduce daycare costs. ...

3. Federal budget speech disregards key drivers of economic prosperity

   From 2016 to 2019, Canada saw relatively low rates of growth in incomes and private-sector job creation. ...

4. Deferring Federal Taxes: Illustrating the Deficit Using the GST

   It is sometimes difficult for everyday Canadians to grasp the size of the federal deficit— estimated at $26.6 billion for 2019-20—because of its sheer size. This bulletin, along with subsequent planned instalments, aims to give Canadians that ...

5. What would Chrétien’s budget rules have meant for Trudeau: Part 2

   After successive years of higher-than-promised federal deficits and record levels of per-person federal spending, the Trudeau government now finds itself less prepared to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog post estimates where ...

6. The Budget That Changed Canada: Essays on the 25th Anniversary of the 1995 Budget

   February 28th, 2020, is the 25th anniversary of one of the most important federal budgets in Canada’s history. It took decisive steps to finally solve a problem of runaway deficits and debt that had begun in the late 1960s and grown worse, almost without ...

7. Federal Deficits Then and Now: Is Canada Repeating the Fiscal Mistakes of 1965 to 1995?

   From 1965 to 1995, the Canadian federal government repeatedly ran deficits, accumulating debt, a habit that culminated in the near crisis of the mid-1990s. After a period of reform beginning in 1995, Canada returned to deficits in 2008/09. While ...

8. Both Trudeau and Harper increased size of federal government

   Appeared in the Moncton Times & Transcript, June 10, 2019 As the fall federal election approaches, political commentators bombard Canadians with sometimes misleading rhetoric. Such rhetoric undermines the public’s understanding of good policy, and on ...

9. Trudeau government's 2019 budget full of puzzling contradictions

   Appeared in the Moncton Times & Transcript, April 2, 2019 Several commentators have noted the “thrown together” nature of the 2019 federal budget released last month. One of the outcomes, of what seems to be several ill-considered initiatives, is that ...

10. Budget 2019 underscores Trudeau government’s economic delusion

    Appeared in the Vancouver Province, March 27, 2019 Over the past three-and-half years, this federal government has continued to claim that its fiscal policies have spurred economic growth. Last week’s federal budget continued that trend. The reality, ...