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1. Chrysler bellies back up to the corporate welfare trough

   Appeared in the Globe and Mail Back in late 2011 after the Occupy Wall Street protests, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne gave a speech in Toronto to decry what he called "the most inane displays of greed." The reference was to behaviour he ...

2. Pro-markets not pro-business: There's a difference

   Appeared in Globe and Mail Economy Lab The federal government recently poured $36.3 million into the Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund the first of many soon-to-come government-sponsored funds comprising Ottawa's $400 million Venture Capital Action ...

3. Post-Stimulus Spending Trends in Canada

   Canadian governments enacted Keynesian-inspired fiscal stimulus plans in 2009. These plans were to be a temporary response to the global economic recession. The stimulus spending was to be withdrawn after two years and program spending was then to be ...

4. Islanders Should Take Less and Contribute More

   Appeared in the Charlottetown Guardian Souris Mayor Dave MacDonald recently told the Premier's Council on EI that recent changes to the federal EI program are killing his town. Unfortunately, Mr. MacDonald did not note that Islanders receive three ...

5. Ontario, the Diffident Enabler, Needs to Change

   Appeared in the Toronto Star and Winnipeg Free Press For many years, Ontario has been the quiet enabler for the vast system of subsidies the federal government provides to Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Manitoba. With rare exceptions, it has stood by as ...

6. Unseen Equalization: Provincial Subsidies in Federal Programs

   In recent years, evidence has accumulated that regional subsidies incorporated in federal programs are substantial, affect all parts of Canada, and often have a direct impact on everyday life. These arrangements are not well understood because the funding ...

7. Senate expense scandals just one small example of government's failure to manage our money

   Appeared in the National Post Allegations of expense scandals in the Senate have shocked many Canadians and rightfully so. Although unsettling, such antics are not an isolated case; they are part of a larger institutional problem with government. A ...

8. Too early to declare the deficit slain(2)

   Appeared in the Vancouver Sun, Kelowna Daily Courier, and Penticton Herald, November 2013 After federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled his latest financial plan Tuesday, much of the media hype centred on the government's larger than expected ...

9. Balanced budget requires tough choices, not wishful thinking

   Appeared in Globe and Mail Economy Lab “There’ll be no doubt that we’re balanced in 2015,” federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters after recently meeting with a group of private sector economists. This is among Mr. Flaherty’s most categorical ...

10. Equalization: A lousy deal for Ontario and the West

    Appeared in the National Post In a recent drive from Saint John to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, I marvelled at the mostly four-lane highway that connected the two points on the map and how empty it was on a Friday evening on a long weekend.  I compared it ...