Category Canada – Politics
Confusing good news with bad: Government procurement edition
Today's entry is courtesy of an op-ed in the Toronto Star; the topic is the deal that exempts Canada from the 'Buy American' provisions of the US stimulus package. Canada gives away the store in return for scraps from U.S.: In return for these meagre scraps, the provinces and municipalities have offered up temporary market […]
Some comments on the Liberal childcare proposals
Michael Ignatieff is honouring the ancient Liberal tradition (it goes back to at least Jean Chrétien's 1993 Red Book) of promising of a national childcare program. Here is an extract from an e-mail I received from an academic whose research touches on this area. (I've added a few footnotes and links for the parts where […]
If Canadians were serious about climate change, Prime Minister Stéphane Dion would be the toast of Copenhagen
Here is what Paul Krugman put at the top of his list of Paul Samuleson's contributions to economics: Revealed preference: There was a revolution in consumer theory in the 1930s, as economists realized that there was much more to consumer choice than diminishing marginal utility. But it was Samuelson who taught us how much can […]
Climate change talk is cheap, and Canadians are bargain hunters
Some numbers to consider: Percentage of Canadians who tell pollsters that "Climate change is mankind's defining crisis, and demands a commensurate response": 65. In the 2008 federal election, percentage of votes cast for political parties that acknowledged that any meaningful climate change policy would affect consumer prices: 33. In the 2008 federal election, percentage of […]
“Presentation of the Liberal position on climate change and the environment” – cont’d
I went. And apparently it's being sold as a Big Deal; here's the speech. Here are the points I was curious about last week: Is this a real policy proposal, or a recital of Conservative failures? A healthy dose of the latter, and some generalities. No details, though. Cap-and-trade, or a carbon tax? Cap-and-trade it […]
On some unconvincing arguments against the need for an effective Parliamentary Budget Office
MM Veldhuis and Lammam respond to my post on their op-ed in the National Post last week, and Kevin Milligan summarises a couple of their points: 1. The PBO would not be exactly like the CBO therefore no parallels to the CBO may be drawn.2. Canada's Parliamentary system has the advantage that the executive is […]
Some context for the Parliamentary Budget Office’s funding woes
Some points to consider: The PBO has a budget of $1.8m and 15 employees. (source) The US Congressional Budget Office has a budget of $45.2m and 250 employees. (source) Policy analysis does not scale well; the cost of putting together a model for evaluating a given policy is pretty much the same in both countries. […]
More reasons to support the PBO
Today's National Post has an op-ed written by a couple of Fraser Institute types entitled "Scrap the Parliamentary Budget Office". It's a remarkable piece of rhetoric. Although its stated purpose is to make the case for eliminating the PBO, it ends up demonstrating once again why an effective PBO is so desperately needed.
“Presentation of the Liberal position on climate change and the environment”
It's not often that the internal Laval e-mail listserve grabs my attention. I guess I have to go, if only to satisfy my curiosity about the following points: Is this a real policy proposal, or a recital of Conservative failures? Cap-and-trade, or a carbon tax? How much material can he cover in 45 minutes? Will […]
The Conservatives adopt a scorched-earth strategy against the PBO
The idea is simple: if you must retreat, leave nothing behind that could be useful (h/t to Support the OPBO). Tories unload 4,476 pages of stimulus details: The Harper government has dumped three box-loads of information about its efforts to stimulate Canada's sputtering economy on Parliament's independent budget watchdog. Kevin Page had asked for more […]
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