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Measuring the Fiscal Performance of Canada's Premiers, 2016

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Measuring the Fiscal Performance of Canada's Premiers 2016

The relative fiscal performance of 10 Canadian premiers (six current and four former) is measured up to the 2014/15 fiscal year for three components of fiscal policy: government spending, taxes, and deficits and debt.

Overall, the premiers ranked (of 10) and scored (of 100), as follows:

  • 1st Christy Clark, BC (78.5)
  • 2nd Philippe Couillard, QC (78.2)
  • 3rd Brad Wall, SK (77.1)
  • 4th Stephen McNeil, NS (69.3)
  • 5th Greg Selinger, MB (63.0)
  • 6th Kathleen Wynne, ON (61.4)
  • 7th former premier Alison Redford, AB (53.8)
  • 8th former premier David Alward, NB (47.2)
  • 9th former premier Robert Ghiz, PE (44.1)
  • 10th former premier Tom Marshall, NL (37.8)

On the government spending component, McNeil took top position (scoring 92.6), followed closely by Couillard (90.1) and Clark (84.4). Three premiers scored below 50: Marshall (49.4), Redford (33.7), and Ghiz (22.8).

On the taxes component, Redford led the premiers (scoring 90.2). Premiers from Canada’s most populous provinces, Wynne (62.7) and Couillard (57.1), ranked 5th and 7th, respectively. Alward ranked last (27.7).

On the deficits and debt component, Wall topped the list (scoring 100). Clark came second (89.4), followed by Couillard (87.5) and McNeil (82.2). Three premiers scored below 50: Alward (48.4), Redford (37.3), and Marshall (0.0).


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