An important new study has for the first time calculated the total amount the federal government and four largest provinces spend on subsidizing businesses — a staggering $29 billion a year — and it estimates more than half of that spending is wasted. The aim of the spending in most cases is to improve economic […]

A tax tsunami is set to wallop the global economy this week as the U.S. proceeds with its most extensive tax package since 1986. U.S. tax reform will have an immense impact on the global economy, not just in terms of investment but also corporate bond flows and the distribution of government tax revenues. As […]

As the charity braces for a holiday season clientele nearly 45 per cent larger than its normal traffic, demands for the Calgary Food Bank are rising in tandem with social assistance needs, states a University of Calgary study. The study, conducted by the U of C’s School of Public Policy, shows that the demand for […]

The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy is delivering on its promise to intellectually challenge Calgarians. Its James S. Palmer lecture series honouring the former chancellor and his support for post-secondary education in Alberta exposes students, faculty and the community to eminent thinkers of international stature and discussion of important public issues. The series’ […]

Former prime minister Stephen Harper was recently reported as being highly critical of the Trudeau government’s NAFTA stand. Whether such friendly fire is appropriate is, of course, debatable, but, as in most debates, truth does not reside entirely on one side. The most salient point in Mr. Harper’s arguments is that Canada has made a […]

Now that both the House and Senate have versions of the Republican Tax Cut and Jobs Act that provide a $1.5 trillion tax reduction for Americans, the doomsayers will be out in full force to declare that tax reform is too difficult to achieve.  No reason for pessimism yet.  With one smart amendment, the Republicans […]

“The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children, including their health, safety, material security, education and socialization and their sense of being loved, valued and included in the families and societies into which they are born,” according to UNICEF. Yet how can we measure our nation’s standing when […]

A new report written by Alberta economists says the so-called head tax imposed by Lethbridge County on livestock in their jurisdiction is “not the fairest,” and could have a detrimental impact on feedlot owners. The research paper was published by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and was created at the prompting of […]

It was not at all helpful that the less-than-affable Montreal mayor, Denis Coderre, declared it a “victory for Canada” when TransCanada withdrew its licence application for Energy East, a pipeline project that actually would have provided market-diversification benefits to the national economy. It would be no different than if the mayor of, say, Winnipeg — […]