April 6th 2010 - Economics - Globe and Mail

When the size of the conservative ‘c’ didn’t matter

When the size of the conservative ‘c’ didn’t matter

All conservatives have been intrigued by the spat between the big-c Conservative government and the small-c conservative Fraser Institute over the effectiveness of the federal government’s $47.2-billion Economic Action Plan.

Read More...

February 17th 2010 - Alberta - The School For Public Policy

Does Alberta Have a Spending Problem?

Does Alberta Have a Spending Problem?

Alberta spent the better part of the last decade of the 20th century becoming the paragon of fiscal virtue.1 Following a 1993 election fought over the nature of Alberta’s spending, the Alberta government set the standard for having a clean…

Read More...

November 9th 2009 - Monetary Policy - Globe and Mail

Back off, Bank of Canada – a strong loonie is not a problem

Back off, Bank of Canada – a strong loonie is not a problem

The recent appreciation of the Canadian dollar has prompted calls for the Bank of Canada to intervene. The clamouring is motivated by the sentiment that a higher exchange rate is putting an unwarranted damper on economic growth and might push…

Read More...

November 27th 2008 - Tax - Toronto Star

Unleash consumer spending with temporary GST cut

Unleash consumer spending with temporary GST cut

A number of armchair economic quarterbacks have taken to criticizing the federal government for accelerating the GST cut to 5 per cent earlier this year. These armchair dwellers point to the cut as wrong-headed fiscal policy and bad economic policy.

Read More...

May 1st 2008 - Economics - Globe and Mail

Rumours of Ontario’s penury are much exaggerated

Rumours of Ontario’s penury are much exaggerated

There is a very interesting story buried in the recent TD Bank report on equalization payments, but it’s not the one that generated most of the heat and light. The interesting story got buried as a result of confusing the…

Read More...