As I sit writing this blog on Labour Day (or Labor Day if you are south of the border), I am conscious of the fact that by the time it gets published, things may well have changed. NAFTA negotiations between Canadian and US negotiators are set to resume on Wednesday morning, September 5, after a […]

Sustained rapid economic growth following the Second World War meant that it was expected that successive generations of Canadians would achieve a higher standard of living that the previous one. It is a reflection of how ingrained pessimism about economic growth has become among both young and old  that they have come to believe that […]

The new Ford government has been quick to make a mark on the environmental policy landscape in Ontario. A few days after his swearing-in, he followed through on his promise to end the province’s cap-and-trade program (which puts the new Conservative government at odds with the federal Liberal goal to impose a carbon price on […]

I recently appeared (July 26), with Dr. Laura Dawson, Director of the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center (and a member of the CGAI Advisory Council), before the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Canadian Regional Conference in Ottawa to speak on Canada’s current trade situation. The CPA membership consists of federal, provincial and territorial legislators. Below are my consolidated remarks.   Constructive powers like […]

As noted in earlier work (https://www.policyschool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mid-Sized-Cities-Tassonyi.pdf), Canadian cities and metropolitan areas are coping with myriad challenges including infrastructure pressure, changing demographics and threats to a property-based fiscal structure from the “sharing economy” and global forces.  The newly elected Progressive Conservative government in Ontario led by Premier Doug Ford has just added significantly to these challenges. […]

In their BUDGET 2018: EQUALITY AND GROWTH FOR A STRONG MIDDLE CLASS the Government of Canada made an explicit commitment to advancing gender equality.  One of their key strategies is the investment of 1.8 million dollars to develop a federal strategy to engage men and boys as partners to advance gender equality. I applaud the […]

In a guest post titled “Bioenergy ‘flaw’ under EU renewable target could raise emissions”,  Sir John Beddington, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser between 2008 and 2013, raised the alarm that allowing trees to be harvested for the purpose of energy production results in much higher emissions than the equivalent energy produced by burning of […]

Last week’s announcement of the federal government’s re-branded homelessness strategy (“Reaching Home”) is good news for those Canadians who experience homelessness and, I would argue, is good news for taxpayers as well. The focus of the government’s strategy is on housing those who make chronic use of homeless shelters. While the definition of what constitutes […]

In 2011, Alberta produced 237 Mt of CO2e[*], but was only responsible for the production of 150 Mt of CO2e. By comparison, Ontario produced 169 Mt of CO2e, but was responsible for a much larger 233 Mt of CO2e. In the world of alternative facts, this may sound like Orwellian doublespeak. I assure you, it’s […]