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1. Ottawa has a big spending problem

   As the dust settles from Monday’s federal economic and fiscal update, it becomes ever more apparent that Ottawa does not have a revenue problem but a massive spending problem. From budgetary revenues of $332.2 billion in 2018-19, the ...

2. Ottawa’s net debt projected to hit $859 billion by 2023-24

   With a federal election coming in the fall, the absence of policy debate on the federal debt is disappointing. Since 2013-2014, the interest-bearing debt of the federal government has increased from $904 billion to $1.025 trillion, a 13 ...

3. Successive Ontario governments increased net debt from $139 billion to $338 billion

   The Ford government today released its fall economic and fiscal update, which includes taxation and spending changes, with Finance Minister Vic Fedeli noting that the "fiscal hole is deep.” However, perhaps the most telling ...

4. Government debt—a snapshot of each province

   The 2018 edition of the Federal Fiscal Tables is out, so it’s a good time to review the state of provincial government debt in Canada, especially given that we are about 10 years out from the financial crisis and Great Recession. Even ...

5. Ontario has a $15 billion deficit—not the $6.7 billion claimed by the previous government

   The Ontario government’s review of provincial finances is finally out, and the picture is even grimmer than what the auditor general and the Financial Accountability Office have presented. The key findings confirm that Ontario since 1990 ...

6. Ontario’s net debt may hit $500 billion by 2026-27

   The size of Ontario’s provincial deficit has become a matter of some debate. The Wynne government’s 2018 budget projected a deficit of $6.7 billion. But according to a recent report from the auditor general, Ontario’s deficit may be even ...

7. Actually, including capital spending, Ontario’s deficit is more than $32 billion

   Ontario’s 2018 provincial budget saw total operating expense reach $158.5 billion with total revenues at $152.5 billion, for a deficit of just over $6 billion. But there has been some debate over government accounting methods and the ...

8. Quebec expects operating surplus of $904 million compared to Alberta’s $8.8 billion deficit

   In spring, the thoughts of provincial governments turn to budgets, and all the provinces have now unveiled their 2018 budgets starting with New Brunswick in January and most recently Saskatchewan last week. TD Economics maintains a very ...

9. Ottawa using bounty of robust growth to simply boost spending

   The recently-released 2018 federal budget calls for growth in both spending and revenues. Between 2017-18 and 2022-23, total revenues are forecast to grow from $309.6 billion to $373.9 billion—an increase of 21 per cent. After a three ...

10. Government spending—the problem in Newfoundland and Labrador

    The public finances of Newfoundland and Labrador are in a bit of a pickle after a period that saw considerable improvement as the province benefitted from the offshore oil and gas boom. In the wake of the collapse of the cod fisheries in ...