Category Canada – Politics
Interest-free loans from the central bank to the government
What is the difference between: A. I print $100, and give it to you as an interest-free loan. B. I print $100, lend it to you at 5% interest, so you give me $5 per year, and then I give that $5 per year straight back to you. C. I print $100, lend it to […]
Fencing In Canada
Wisconsin Governor and potential presidential candidate Scott Walker apparently thinks it is not an unreasonable idea to consider building a wall between Canada and the United States in order to secure his country’s borders from security threats. Now, to be fair, he did not say that a wall should be built along the 5,525 mile […]
“King of deficits”??
I normally stay out of politics on this blog. But with the upcoming election, the political conversation on fiscal policy is starting to get stupid. In particular, for Paul Martin to accuse Stephen Harper of being the "King of deficits" was really stupid. Is there anything Stephen Harper could have done to have prevented a […]
Update: Twitter and the Canadian Federal Election
Well it is just over two weeks since I began tracking the number of Twitter followers that each federal party leader has during the course of the current election capmpaign in order to see what the impact of this type of social media presence might be. All of the party leaders have increased their number […]
Twitter Followers and Canada’s Federal Election
Well, I thought it was time to resurrect an activity I last did a number of years ago – in 2011 – during an Ontario election campaign. I tracked the number of Twitter followers each party leader had during the course of the election to see if the electoral outcome was correlated with social media […]
On defining “recession”
The precise definition of "recession" seems to be topical in Canada right now. (I know this because my daughter phoned to ask me the definition.) It's a mug's game. I won't play. (Do geographers waste their time arguing about the precise definition of "mountain"?) I hear that the "technical" definition of "recession" is two consecutive […]
The Great Convergence: Federal Transfer Revenue Shares 1980/81 to 2013/14
Well the Council of the Federation began meeting in St. John’s yesterday and given we are on the cusp of a federal election, there will no doubt be a targeting of Ottawa’s role in provincial finances. Naturally, there will be some lamentations about the Prime Minister’s absence – once again – from this annual meeting. […]
Fiscal Policy, the Eurozone, and Ontario under Bob Rae
This post is mostly questions, not answers. I am hoping the commenters will write this post for me. Because I don't have a comparative advantage at this sort of thing. [BTW, JP Koning has an excellent post, much better than this, drawing a parallel between Greece's proposed and Alberta's 1936 parallel currency.]
Funding the gerontocracy
This year, the per-vote subsidy once enjoyed by Canadian political parties ends. Parties will have to raise funds entirely through donations. So, who gives? There is a generous federal tax credit for political donations, worth 75 percent of the first $400 donated, 50 percent of the next $350, and 33 percent of remaining donations. The federal tax credit […]
How to deliver tax relief for Canadian families
In the 1960s, my mother's monthly family allowance cheque paid for a week's groceries. In 2011, the median Canadian two-parent family had an income of just over $90,000. At that level of net income, a family with two children receives Canada Child Tax Benefit worth $87 per month. That doesn't come close to paying for […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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