It’s time for taxpayers to get out of the political party welfare business
Ontarians should listen for a giant sucking sound from Queen’s Park. Now that the election is over and MPPs know that they don’t have to directly answer to voters for another four years, you can bet that Ontario’s political parties will team up once again to funnel even more money from taxpayers’ wallets into party…
Canada is more than $1 trillion in debt. Maybe it’s time to stop wasting taxpayers’ money
By Franco Terrazzano and Kris Sims How do you scare a polar bear? You don’t. They are apex predators and could eat you whenever they want. But that didn’t stop the government of Manitoba from spending $150,000 replacing diesel tundra buggies with whisper-quiet electric vehicles so tourists wouldn’t frighten the bears away. Too bad they…
And help Albertans cope with the scary roller coaster that is the economy
Albertans received the pleasant news that their deficit-plagued provincial government might bank a surplus for their concluding fiscal year and could very well experience the same this year. The reason for this happy state of financial affairs is the elevated price levels of oil and natural gas – coming just as a resurgence in the…
Here are facts for Canadians forced to face the real-world impact
The marvellous Christmas movie The Polar Express, starring the inimitable Tom Hanks, ends with the words “anything is possible, if you only believe.” Except, as adults understand, many things aren’t possible, not even if some people do believe them. An obvious example is the fantasy that the 84 per cent of global energy supplied by…
All three major party leaders are promising to run record-high deficits
When election day arrives, it appears as though Ontarians will have a choice in which poison pill to swallow: record deficits with Premier Doug Ford, Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, or NDP leader Andrea Horwath. It’s an unfortunate consensus: the three major party leaders are promising to run record-high deficits. But no matter what Ontario’s…
Its impact on the overall economy means everyone will suffer
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is eyeing a wealth tax to pay for his government’s spending spree. Heavily redacted documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show Trudeau asked for an analysis of a $60-billion wealth tax. With indefinite deficits looming, it must be tempting to grab that cash. But a wealth tax would inflict economic…
Subsidize parents instead
In order to increase access to daycare services, the Quebec government recently announced the creation of 14,000 new subsidized daycare spaces over the next two years. But with 51,000 children on the waiting list for subsidized child care, there is not a single space available. And despite the government's good intentions, even this modest increase…
A government-run monopoly could lead to the same problems we see elsewhere in our health care systems
One of the big-ticket items in the most recent federal budget was the new NDP-approved dental care program. Since oral health falls under provincial jurisdiction, the announcement raises several questions as to the application of this program across the country. Expanding access to dental care is a goal we can all get behind, especially when…
The federal debt is now over $1.26 trillion!
By Gabriele Giguère and Olivier Rancourt Montreal Economic Institute The Bank of Canada’s decision to increase the policy interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, up to one per cent, was necessary in the current context. The soaring inflation that is hitting the Canadian economy full force, reaching 5.7 per cent in February, must be reined…
Alberta needs to seize this opportunity; as history has shown, it may not last
Under the backdrop of rising provincial oil revenues, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s speech to the Alberta Municipal Leaders caucus in March and the debate around it mark the start of what will be the dominating discussion in provincial politics from now until the election. The question is, what do we do with this new revenue?…