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1. Ontario’s decade of spending decadence

   Appeared in the Windsor Star The Ontario government has never made a secret of its desire to have the federal government help fund Ontario’s provincial budget. It even started its own think-tank with $5 million in 2009, which regularly publishes reports ...

2. Alberta tried tax hikes in the 1980s—they didn’t work

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald In the debate over whether the Alberta government should reduce and reform spending to cushion the blow from falling revenues, some claim higher taxes will balance the books. How soon we forget. Alberta tried that in the ...

3. Western weakness won’t help Ontario’s budget woes

   Appeared in the National Post With the plunge in oil prices over the last six months (and already soft natural gas prices), it’s not headline news to note that provinces heavily dependent on energy-related revenues are suffering. The decline in the ...

4. Equalization allows Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to pass up jobs, income, and tax revenues

   Appeared in the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, New Glasgow Daily News, and Red Deer Advocate Dec 23, 2014 Canada’s federal equalization program is motivated by good intentions. However, the program has unintended consequences, and creates perverse ...

5. Ontario's financial problems are Ontario-made

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald and Ottawa Citizen, July 2014 Discussing equalization and other federal transfer payments in summer is about as much fun as a root canal in any season. Nevertheless, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa complained recently ...

6. Ontario's have not status sets up a divided Canada

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun and Ottawa Sun As anyone who has ever watched puppies tussle over a bone knows, nothing will lead to acrimony quicker than competition for an object everyone wants. Keep the puppy image in mind. Replace it with provincial ...

7. Quebec's election will cost us all

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald, Vancouver Sun, Victoria Times Colonist and Kamloops Daily News Imagine you’re a German asked to pay for the lifestyle of a Greek through ever-more transfers to the European Union or through bailouts for Greek debt. Imagine ...

8. Equalization's weak constitutional status

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald If the average person knows much about federal cash transfers to the provinces, they might know that one program, equalization, is in the constitution. Equalization, a $14.8 billion transfer program funded out of federal ...

9. Quebec's Greek-like welfare state: paid for by the West and Ontario

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald For anyone who has paid attention to the student protests/riots in Quebec over the past few months and knows anything about the vast sums of money transferred between governments in this country, there has been no shortage ...