Ken Boessenkool and Dan Robertson have spent their lives advising Canadian political leaders. The economic impact of financial crisis of 2008-2009 still reverberates. The most consequential result of the financial crisis, however, was not economic but political. People blamed the elites for…

To respond to the economic challenges of the COVID-19 crisis, I have proposed a crisis basic income that would proactively send a direct deposit or cheque to the 28.5 million Canadians who filed income taxes last year. There are 30.5 million Canadians over the…

Sometimes bad policy in good times is good policy in bad times. A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is one such policy. The idea of providing every individual (Universal) a low and unconditional common (Basic) level of cash (Income) is an…

Ken Boessenkool is a public-policy economist with a long history in Canadian politics. The biggest economic policy challenge we face during COVID-19 is addressing the massive and widespread loss of work prompted by government-mandated physical distancing. That’s not to minimize…

The current COVID-19 health and economic challenges are unprecedented. The pause being imposed on the Canadian and global economy will large short term costs and likely impose numerous long term challenges as well. Two fifths of Canadians already have lost, and…