Category Canadian economy
Ontario Finances Not Quite On Target This Year
As Ontario moves into budget season, it is instructive to take a quick look at the finances to date as revealed in the most recent Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review which was presented November 2014. Ontario’s aim then as no doubt now was to have the budget balanced by 2017-18. According to the Review, […]
Is low inflation good news?
Suppose Statistics Canada reports the latest inflation data, and I am surprised to learn that inflation is lower than I had expected it to be. Or below the Bank of Canada's 2% target. Is that good news or bad news? For most of my life I would have said that is good news. "So inflation […]
When Tax Opportunity Knocks…
It looks like the respite from falling oil prices for consumers at the pump has finally attracted the attention of government. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has been reported as saying Ontario will unveil a carbon-pricing scheme this spring. While the idea of a carbon tax in Ontario has been on the agenda since at least […]
Comparing Manufacturing Employment Growth: Canada and the USA
According to the employment numbers just released, the United States is doing quite well with the preliminary Bureau of Labour Statistics numbers pointing to the addition of 252,000 jobs in December and an unemployment rate now at 5.6 percent. Meanwhile, Canada exhibited a much weaker performance with Statistics Canada reporting that Canada lost 4,300 jobs […]
Saving Ontario
Here is an entertaining story to ring in the New Year. Apparently, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in an interview in her Queen’s Park office says that Ontario is “ready to shield Canada from the economic tsunami caused by declining oil prices and a sinking dollar.” According to the Premier, Ontario’s manufacturing heartland is gearing up […]
Doug Saunders has written a dreadful column about the “resource curse”, and I’m going to explain why it’s dreadful
This column by Doug Saunders on the "resource curse" in last Saturday's Globe and Mail is quite dreadful: When the price of oil is the foundation of your country’s economy, a sudden plunge to half its value focuses the mind wonderfully, doesn’t it? One's heart sinks at the very first sentence: the premise is wildy at odds […]
FTPL: a federal or provincial issue?
[Apologies for the title. It's a Canadian joke, about our fixations, that can be told various ways, but always ends with the punchline: "Elephants: a federal or provincial issue?"] Does fiscal policy affect the price level? If so, are we talking about federal fiscal policy only, or are we talking about provincial fiscal policy too? […]
Supporting Ontario
One of the Mowat Centre’s recent policy forays on behalf of Ontario is the Federal Economic Agenda Project, which recently released a discussion paper detailing the objectives of what a federal government economic agenda to support Ontario should be. According to the report, the federal agenda for Ontario should focus on: increased labour force participation, […]
The manufacturing trap
Oil prices are down lately, and over at the Broadbent Institute, Andrew Jackson is worried about the staples trap:
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