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1. Trudeau floats false rhetoric on ‘new’ taxes

   Appeared in National Newswatch, September 3, 2020 Despite promising significant increases to already historically high spending, Prime Minister Trudeau recently pledged there will be no new taxes. This rhetoric is simply false. To pay for today’s spending ...

2. Freeland takes over during massive federal spending spree

   It’s out with the old and in with the new in Ottawa as Chrystia Freeland replaces Bill Morneau as federal finance minister. Freeland takes over during a dramatic time in Canadian history, so it’s worth reviewing the history of federal ...

3. Ontarians—today and in the future—will pay the price for Ottawa’s debt

   At the end of fiscal year 2019, Ontario’s provincial government debt stood at $355 billion. For context, that’s more than $24,000 per Ontarian. With the COVID recession, this debt will grow further. Scotiabank Economics estimates a $36 ...

4. Any credible plan to fix federal finances must address pre-COVID spending

   Indigenous and Northern Affairs represented the largest share of federal program spending growth. ...

5. Trudeau government’s fiscal ‘snapshot’ doubles down on uncertainty

   Appeared in the Vancouver Sun, July 10, 2020 According to the Oxford Dictionary, a snapshot is “a short description that gives you an idea of what something is like.” When the Trudeau government delivered its Economic and Fiscal Snapshot 2020 on Wednesday ...

6. Fiscal snapshot highlights deteriorating state of federal finances

   On Wednesday, the Trudeau government released a “ fiscal snapshot ” on the state of the economy and expectations for government finances for this year (2020/21). As expected, Finance Minister Bill Morneau confirmed a significant increase ...

7. COVID-19 isn’t the only reason for our mega-deficit

   Appeared in the Financial Post, July 8, 2020 Today, the Trudeau government presents a “snapshot” of federal finances that’s likely to blame this year’s historic federal deficit on COVID-19 and the recession. But that’s only part of the story. The federal ...

8. Trudeau government must tackle federal budget deficit

   Recent estimates indicate that Canada’s federal government will eclipse $250 billion this year, the highest nominal deficit on record. With new spending announcements coming regularly, it’s possible this number will be even greater. As ...

9. Reality of government matters when assessing policy options

   In 1969, UCLA economist Harold Demsetz formalized an important concept in comparative economics—the Nirvana fallacy. His argument was that it was inappropriate, misleading and potentially counterproductive to compare hypothetical ideal ...

10. Salaries and benefits often account for more than half of all provincial government spending

    Even before the recession, the federal government and several provinces were facing significant budget deficits. Now due to COVID-19, the estimated federal deficit will eclipse $250 billion this year while the provincial deficits combined ...