The results of the 2018 midterm election reflect a country divided and a bicameral system that is doing exactly what the founders intended. The popular vote (served by the House of Representatives) went to the Democrats by what appears to be at least 8 points.  Regional concerns have been reflected in the Senate – where […]

On August 21, 2018 the federal government introduced what it labelled as Opportunity For All: Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy, a product of lengthy public consultations over two years.  The document repeats the Liberal mantra of “strengthening the middle class and helping those working hard to join it” from the federal election campaign and the […]

Introduction The City of Calgary’s property tax conundrum has been well documented in the local print media. (See Potikin 2018 and Varcoe 2018a,b,c.)  The high vacancy rates in the downtown office buildings has resulted in a sharp decline in the assessed value of these properties.  Under the City of Calgary’s so-called revenue neutral property tax […]

First Principles There is strong and enduring connection between trade and a country’s tax law dealing with international connections of taxpayers and their income earning activities.  Most commonly, as in Canada’s case, this connection underlies domestic tax rules to reconcile overlapping tax claims of Canada and other countries by providing suitable credit for foreign taxes […]

Caring About Others’ Tax Systems The Minister of Finance continues to explain Canada’s commitment to multilateral trade with competitiveness in view. Recent news releases by the Department of Finance reflect this. The Minister evidently is equally aware of the possible implications of tax changes, particularly in the United States, for Canadian taxation, no doubt with […]

It may surprise some policy-makers to hear it, but the best way for government to use its financial resources to improve population health in a developed country is to spend more on social services rather than on health care. Models using data from the United States, Canada, and across the 36 countries of the Organization […]

The $9.7 billion Sturgeon Refinery, owned by North West Redwater Partnership (NWRP), is now in the final stages of start-up. The Refinery has already been producing about 25,000 bpd of high quality diesel and 15,000 bpd of diluent from synthetic crude oil feedstocks for several months as work to complete the final heavy oil processing […]

First Nation Governance and Well-Being   [This is a short excerpt from a book I am writing entitled The Wealth of First Nations.]   The Indian Act contains a simple template for band government, prescribing biennial election of a single chief plus two to twelve councillors, depending on the size of the First Nation.  However, […]

What are potential carbon tax costs in New Brunswick? Of course, the answer to this question depends on the policy proposal. For example, the current New Brunswick plan redirects a portion of the provincial fuel tax to a Climate Change Fund and requires large emitting facilities in the province to participate in the federal output-based […]