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1. Rising interest payments will make Ford’s life harder

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, April 24, 2019 Based on its first budget, the Ford government has settled on a gradualist approach to deficit reduction. Rather than reform and reduce spending, the government plans to try to hold the rate of spending growth ...

2. Ford government following fiscal strategy of its predecessors

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, April 17, 2019 Last week, Premier Ford’s government tabled its budget for the 2019/20 fiscal year. Those hoping for a fast path to fiscal recovery were likely disappointed. The budget forecasts another deficit of more than $10 ...

3. Ontario's debt binge will continue

   Ontario has a government debt, forecasted to reach $360 billion this year. For context, that’s almost $25,000 for every man, woman and child in the province. What’s more alarming is how quickly the debt burden has grown in recent years. ...

4. Ford's first budget must fulfill campaign promises

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, April 10, 2019 Clearly, Ontario’s finances are in bad shape. With a government debt load of more than $23,000 per resident and a 10-figure annual budget deficit, the Ford government has inherited serious challenges. There’s ...

5. Ontario government must freeze nominal spending to close fiscal gap

   Next week, the Ford government will table its first budget and Ontarians will get the clearest signals to-date of this government’s fiscal plans. According to recently-revised fiscal numbers, Ontario has been running deficits since 2008 ...

6. Ontario surpasses Quebec in 'debt' race to the bottom

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, March 27, 2019 Ten years ago, in 2008, Quebec was the most indebted province in Canada while Ontario was in the middle of the pack. Back then, Quebec’s provincial government per-person debt load was approximately $4,100 more ...

7. Ford government must get serious about Ontario's government debt

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, January 9, 2019 It’s now widely known that Ontario faces substantial fiscal challenges. With a forecasted budget deficit this year of more than $14 billion and a debt-to-GDP ratio hovering near an all-time high, Ontario’s debt ...

8. A visit from the ghost of Ontario’s fiscal future

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, December 19, 2019 In Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Scrooge is memorably visited by the “ghost of Christmas future” who shows him a disturbing glimpse of things to come. Last week Ontario was visited by a ghost of the ...

9. Ontario’s ‘mini-budget’ makes little progress on deficit

   Today, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli tabled Ontario’s Fall Economic Statement. Given Ontario’s difficult fiscal situation (a large budget deficit and mountain of public debt), and signals that the update would be a “mini-budget’ with ...

10. 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 ...