Category Canada – Politics
HST and jobs: more studies in applied orthogonality
Some economic policy debates are about jobs. Most aren't about jobs, or shouldn't be. But far too many of them end up being about jobs, even though the policies have nothing to do with jobs. Frances once explained the advantages of the HST to me. (Note for non-Canadians: the Harmonised Sales Tax replaces a provincial […]
BC bleg: Are its politicians crazy, or just stupid?
BC is several thousand kilometers and three time zones away, so much of what happens there passes below my personal radar. But the HST file is something I've tried to pay attention to, and the news from BC just seems to go from bad to worse. I have a couple of questions, and I'm hoping […]
Bank of Canada performance, and performance pay?
I don't have any strong view on performance pay in general, on performance pay for public sector workers, or on performance pay for workers in the Bank of Canada in particular. And I'm going to stay silent on whether the Bank of Canada had good performance in 2009 (or 2008, if there's a one-year lag?). […]
Fiscal Federalism revisited
A French, German, and Canadian student were asked to write an essay on elephants……And the Canadian student titled his essay "Elephants: a Federal or Provincial responsibility?" The Eurozone is what Canada would be if we abolished the Federal government, leaving only the Bank of Canada. The 16 Eurozone countries are the 10 Canadian provinces. Americans […]
The optimal size of government is a partisan issue. The optimal tax mix isn’t.
There are so many misconceptions about tax policy and the size of government that it's almost impossible to sort through them all. But I'm going to do the best I can.
My weekend with Liberals and Thinkers
I don't have much in the way of a comprehensive narrative for how the Canada 150 conference went, or what its implications are. My live blogging post is here, and my general impressions are below the fold.
Live-blogging the Liberals’ “Canada at 150” conference
Never underestimate the power of twitter. A few weeks ago, Canwest journalist David Akin tweeted that in addition to regular media, Canada 150 would be accrediting some bloggers as well. It turned out that the deadline had past, but I sent in my information anyway. The other day, I received an e-mail to the effect […]
In which I say something nice about the NDP
It occurs to me that I am often critical of the NDP. This is due to a combination of factors: They comment frequently on economic issues, and They get things wrong. Other parties avoid these scoldings not so much by getting things right as by not commenting on economic issues. So I should congratulate the […]
Follow the yellow brick road to Ottawa
Here is my theory of Canadian federal politics. We are in Oz, and our political parties are the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. The Conservatives are the Tin Man. Smart, courageous, but without a moral compass. The Liberals are the Cowardly Lion. Smart, principled, but without the conviction to defend an idea […]
Three thoughts on the Budget
None very insightful, but for what they are worth:
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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