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Measuring the Fiscal Performance of Canada's Premiers, 2022

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Measuring the Fiscal Performance of Canada's Premiers, 2022
  • This report assesses the relative fiscal performance of Canadian premiers (eight current and three former) based on government spending, taxes, and debt and deficits up to fiscal year 2021/22.
  • Overall, the premiers ranked (of 10) and scored (of 100), as follows:
    • 1st Blaine Higgs, NB (75.8)
    • 2nd Brian Pallister,* MB (63.8)
    • 3rd Doug Ford, ON (60.6)
    • 4th Stephen McNeil*/Iain Rankin,* NS (60.4)
    • 5th John Horgan, BC (56.1)
    • 6th Jason Kenney,* AB (53.0)
    • 7th Dennis King, PE (52.7)
    • 8th François Legault, QC (41.1)
    • 9th Scott Moe, SK (40.8)
    • 10th Andrew Furey, NL (40.0))
    *indicates former premier
  • Premier Higgs ranked highest on government spending (with a score of 98.9) ahead of McNeil/Rankin (89.1) and Pallister (86.6). Meanwhile, four premiers didn’t score above 50: Horgan (48.0), King (43.3), Moe (4.9), and Legault (0.9).
  • Premier Kenney led the pack by some margin on taxes (with a score of 82.3). The Atlantic Canadian premiers scored lowest on this measure: Higgs (7th), Furey (8th), King (9th), and McNeil/Rankin (10th).
  • On debt and deficits, Premier Higgs ranked highest (scoring 100.0) just ahead of Premier King (90.8). Two premiers failed to score above 50: Furey (27.0), and Kenney (0.0).

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