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1. An 1854 treaty and the lessons for NAFTA

   With the ongoing NAFTA negotiations and the possibility that the United States is going to leave NAFTA and usher in a new protectionist era for North American trade, it may be instructive to visit the past for some guidance. Canada’s ...

2. Federal fiscal update—Canadians shouldn’t pop the champagne on economic growth

   When unveiling today’s federal fiscal update, Finance Minister Bill Morneau (pictured above, with the prime minister) touted higher than expected economic growth for 2017 as a success story for the Trudeau government. As he told the ...

3. Carbon tax advocates flip-flop on revenue neutrality

   For many years, advocates of carbon taxes have acknowledged the necessity of “revenue neutrality” as a means of mitigating the economic damages such tax measures cause to households and the economy. In normal economic parlance, “revenue ...

4. All our trade doors look unattractive now

   I’ve been reading a new paper by Oxford economic historian Kevin O’Rourke called Two Great Trade Collapses: The Interwar Period & Great Recession Compared, a title that, unlike many academic titles, pretty much catches what the paper ...

5. Morneau’s small business tax ‘fix’ won’t fix the problem

   In response to widespread criticism of Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s plan to change the tax rules for small businesses, this week the federal government announced a series of “tweaks,” cutting the small business tax rate from 10.5 per ...

6. Business investment down, taxes up—bad news for Canadians

   With less than three months left in 2017, despite recent headlines espousing positive economic news, Canada’s economy faces many near and long-term challenges that the Trudeau government must consider as it crafts its fiscal update (due ...

7. Tax hatred? No, tax awareness and tax reform

   Among the modern criteria for a good tax system are the principles of efficiency and equity. But another important principle is also awareness—that is, taxpayers should be aware of the taxes the pay and the benefits they receive from ...

8. Netflix becomes more Canadian—but you’ll pay for it

   Last week, Ottawa announced that the American-based “over-the-top” broadcasting giant Netflix had agreed to set up a production house in Canada and that it will spend C$500 million over five years on producing Canadian content. Another ...

9. Proposed tax changes targeting private corporations fall short of comprehensive reform

   Yesterday the Trudeau government wrapped up consultations on its proposed tax changes targeting private corporations. The proposed changes are best described as a piecemeal approach that falls well short of the type of comprehensive tax ...

10. According to Prime Minister Trudeau, redistribution is the new ‘tax relief’

    In the House of Commons on Tuesday, the prime minister admitted that many middle-class Canadians are now paying more taxes. ...