Category Livio Di Matteo
Is the Russia-America Global CoDominium About to Begin?
In the wake of the Putin-Trump Helsinki summit, there is much speculation about what was actually said between Putin and Trump behind closed doors and the uncertainty spread throughout the American government about whether agreements had been reached on issues such as Syria and the Ukraine. The subsequent invitation to Putin to visit the White […]
Military Spending in the G7: A Quick Post NATO Summit Comparison
Well, the Disruptor-in-Chief, US President Donald Trump is at it again. At today’s NATO summit he demanded that the members of NATO need to quickly increase their defence spending not only to meet the committed target of 2 percent of GDP but to also double their commitments to 4 percent of GDP. Needless to say, […]
Grain Transshipment at the Lakehead: A Canada Day Celebration
“Two towns stand on the shores of the Lake less than a mile apart. What Lloyd’s is to shipping, or the College of Surgeons to medicine, that they are to the Wheat.” Rudyard Kipling, Letters of Travel Just in time for July 1st, there was a short ceremony and plaque unveiling today at the Western […]
Public Debt: A Global Perspective
There is much international preoccupation with debt at the public sector, household and corporate levels and the upward creep in interest rates does apparently keep central bankers – including our own Mr. Poloz – awake at night. Given the problem is an international one, sometimes it is useful to try and get a global perspective […]
Addressing Ontario’s Fiscal Challenges
While 2017-18 saw a surplus of $642 million after years of deficits, the 2018-19 Ontario budget now projects a deficit of $6.7 billion and a net provincial debt of $325 billion with deficits projected to continue for five years afterwards. If one considers the recent report of the Auditor-General, then Ontario’s deficit may be even […]
Natural Resources, Living Standards and Inequality
Kevin Milligan had an op-ed in the Globe and Mail a few days ago drawing the link between natural resource development, middle class incomes and inequality. The point essentially was: “Without income derived from the resource boom, Canadian inequality and the well-being of the Canadian middle class would be much worse than we’ve experienced.” The […]
Another Picture That Will Define Ontario Politics for the Next Four Years
Ontario is getting a Throne Speech this week and a budget next week and these events will set the stage for the June election. In her recent post, Frances drew attention to the province's public finances via the public sector wage bill and the public-private sector wage differential and that cutting the public sector wage […]
The Balance of the Federation: Canada 1870 to 2016
My contribution to Maclean’s 2018 Chartapalooza was a plot of the federal government’s share of total government expenditure in Canada since 1870. The chart showed that until World War I, with the exception of period marked by the building of the federally subsidized CPR, the federal share of total government spending in Canada was approximately […]
Donald Trump is a Mercantilist
A lot of ink is being spilled on Donald Trump and his America First approach to trade negotiations which has generated considerable trepidation and angst in both Ottawa and Mexico City as NAFTA appears headed for termination. Donald Trump is obsessed with the concept of trade deficits – which the United States does have on […]
The Long Restructuring of Ontario’s Health Spending
Ontario’s hospital sector has made a submission to the provincial finance committee making the case that overcrowding has become so serious that there is a need for more funding. They are seeking a 4.55 percent increase in operating funds for the 2018-19 fiscal year in their pre budget submission. According to numbers calculated from data […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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