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1. Calls for ever higher federal transfers disconnected from economic reality

   Provincial transfers represented about 21 per cent of federal spending, up from 13 per cent in 1997. ...

2. Spend first, ask questions later—not sustainable fiscal policy

   During the first six months of the pandemic, with the effects of the lockdown hitting the economy, government revenues collapsed. Spending increased to provide quick support and relief, producing a federal deficit that reached 15 per cent ...

3. Trudeau government should provide fiscal update—now

   Three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has called out the federal government on the need for a fiscal update to provide some direction as to the fiscal implications for Canada of dealing with the ...

4. Pandemics, social upheaval and government spending

   Federal deficit estimates range from $100 billion to $200 billion for fiscal year 2020-21. ...

5. Spending, not lack of revenue, driving Ottawa’s red ink

   As budget season approaches in Ottawa, attention will turn—for a moment, at least—to what the Trudeau government projects for federal revenues, expenditures the deficit and the debt. This government can already lay claim to the two ...

6. Canadian household debt concerns are overblown

   Once again, alarms are sounding about the level of household debt in Canada. A recent Financial Post story highlighted reports by both Equifax Canada and the Swiss-based Bank of International Settlements (BIS) about the growing household ...

7. 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 ...

8. A brief federal budget history—Canada, 1867-2017

   Appeared in the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, March 13, 2017 The upcoming federal budget comes in Canada’s 150th year—an important milestone for what is perhaps the most successful country in the world. The evolution of federal finances since 1867 ...

9. A Federal Fiscal History: Canada, 1867-2017

   The Canadian federation’s 150th anniversary is an important milestone for a country that has become one of the most successful countries in the world. Canada’s economic evolution from a rural agricultural nation to a modern, highly urbanized, service ...

10. Canada’s rising federal employment—making sense of the numbers

    The public sector and the functioning of government bureaucracies, especially when it comes to employment, should be of great interest to taxpayers at all levels of our federation. In the case of Canada’s federal government, its core ...