Search

Search results

1. Growing government, increased regulation primary threats to economic freedom in Canada

   Since comprehensive data for Economic Freedom became available in 1970, Canada’s had a secure place in the world’s top 10 jurisdictions. But could Canada be at the beginning of a long slow decline, like the one that has afflicted the ...

2. Servicing government debt imposes real costs on Albertans

   We mustn’t forget that government debt has an immediate cost. Governments have to make interest payment on their debt every year. It’s not a choice. And doing so consumes government resources, leaving less money for other public ...

3. Trudeau gets a lesson on energy poverty by Ontario resident

   In a video now circulating around the Internet, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gets an earful from a distressed Ontarian over the insane cost of electricity in the province. Holding a hydro bill of more than $1,000 in her shaking hands, ...

4. Another celebrity tour of the oilsands, another woefully incomplete picture

   We’re barely into 2017, and we’ve had our first celebrity tour of the oilsands, with much rhetoric and lamentations (not to mention lots of spent jet, helicopter and motorcade fuel). Jane Fonda is visiting Canada for the now obligatory ...

5. Lack of growth, not inequality, is Alberta’s biggest problem

   In her year-end news conference, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley argued that eliminating Alberta’s single-rate personal income tax was essential to combat inequality. This statement belies curiously misplaced priorities. With the ...

6. A worrying trend—size of government in Canada on the rise

   Every year Maclean's magazine invites economists and policy analysts to submit what they think is the most important chart Canadians should watch in the upcoming year, as it relates to the economy. Needless to say, choosing a single ...

7. Spending cuts impose less economic damage than tax hikes

   Among Ottawa and the 10 provinces, eight governments are currently in deficit, spending more than the revenues they collect. As Canadian governments seek to eliminate their budget deficits, they should take note of a new study by a group ...

8. Dear Minister Ceci, when you’re in a hole, stop digging

   Finance Minister Joe Ceci (pictured above) released Alberta’s Second Quarter Fiscal Update this week, confirming that the province’s budget deficit this year will be even bigger than forecasted in his spring budget. While the budget ...

9. Spending choices, not a drop in oil prices, spurred Alberta’s chronic deficits

   Avoiding deficits during an oil boom should be a relatively straightforward proposition for governments in oil-rich jurisdictions. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case in Alberta. A recent Fraser Institute study compared how Alberta ...

10. During the oil boom, Texas spent prudently, Alberta did not

    The oil boom between 2004 and 2014 presented a substantial opportunity for governments in oil-producing regions to bolster their public finances. Unfortunately, while some jurisdictions such as Texas did just that, Alberta did the ...