The federal government gives up about $30 billion in revenue through tax-based spending programs. This cost is split approximately one-third for measures promoting economic development and two-thirds for measures with a social objective. A tough but fair review of these measures could easily come up with about $6 billion in savings. As discussed in last […]

The federal government is in the midst of reviewing tax expenditures, assessing them against their fairness, efficiency and cost. It is a daunting task: The federal government identifies about 250 measures as tax expenditures, expected to cost about $140 billion in 2017. The task can be greatly simplified, however, by putting tax expenditures into three […]

The executive order by President Trump to pull the U.S out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) marks the beginning of higher prices for dairy products in Canada. Canadian negotiators spent more than seven years and millions of dollars to be part of the agreement. TPP presented a glimmer of hope for reforming the Canadian dairy […]

Since the end of the oil boom in mid-2014, Alberta has shed 113,000 payroll jobs ¹. However, this conjures up an image that job losses were concentrated in searching for and extracting oil outside of urban areas. In fact, only one-third of the losses occurred in oil and gas mining. It will surprise many that […]

There is no doubt that free trade policies, and their accompanying open border principles, have taken a political beating in 2015. The vote in the United Kingdom to exit the European Union (Brexit) along with the protectionist and isolationist tone of the U.S. Presidential debate (on both sides) reflect a shift in public support for […]

After the 2008 financial crisis, Canada was recognized as having developed a strong framework for financial regulation that enabled it to avoid the mortgage crisis that wreaked havoc in the United States and Europe. While Canada weathered the 2008 financial crisis better than most other wealthy, industrialized democracies, the reform process in the aftermath of […]

Canada currently has no comprehensive national legislation protecting the rights of people with disabilities to participate in education, work and daily activities. This is particularly concerning since Canadian youth with developmental disabilities have poorer health, lower educational achievement, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. Federal leadership is needed to […]

In the 1980s Canada departed from its uniquely multilateral focus on trade policy and embraced bilateralism. It made sense at the time. The Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations was proceeding very slowly given its complexity and large number of participating countries. Since Canada’s main objective within each multilateral round was to secure better access […]

Ever since it took office last year, the Trudeau government has been on the horns of a dilemma over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12 nation trade agreement it inherited from the Conservatives. The Liberals know that if the TPP goes ahead, Canada has to be part of it. It would be unthinkable to have to […]