Tag Archives: debt
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 […]
So What Happens in the Next Recession?
I’m not a macro economist by any stretch of the imagination and yet I cannot help wondering what is going to happen in terms of policy response the next time Canada goes into a downturn. It is not a question of whether there will be another recession, only when. By policy response, I am of […]
Federal Budgetary Comparisons: Canada and the United States
It is federal government budget season in both Canada and the United States and I thought it might be useful to provide a few visual comparisons on federal government finance for the two countries. While the expenditure responsibilities and composition of the two federal governments as well as the relationships and responsibilities with lower tier […]
Another Canadian Debt Ranking
Statistics Canada has released provisional estimates of the Canadian Government Finance Statistics (CGFS) for financial flows and the balance sheets of general government and government business enterprises for the period 2007 to 2012. The net liabilities per capita picture for provincial and territorial governments has changed since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Another Portent of a Looming Federal Election
It turns out that that Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver is reported as saying that “the government can shrink the national debt by growing the economy and ‘without actually paying off any debt’.” At the same time, as part of pre–budgetary consultations with the finance committee, the Conference Board of Canada, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation […]
University Debt: The Perils of Being Small
You may recall my recent post on Ontario university financing in which I focused on the university debt levels of Brock, Wilfrid Laurier and Guelph given that they were undergoing program reviews designed to address “sustainability”. Well, I have done a bit of an update by getting information on long-term debt, total revenues and enrolment […]
A Digression on University Finance
Well, you may have caught Alex Usher’s HESA post this week on university finances. He presented data on university operating budgets from the CAUBO/Statistics Canada financial survey for the period 2007-08 to 2011-12 that shows that university budgets went up by 28 percent. This is quite intriguing because while universities maintain they have been having […]
Winter is Coming…
Well, here are some depressing statistics from Banca D’Italia’s recent release on Italy’s economy.
As the Federation Turns: Quetarian Public Finances
Quebec and Ontario, the twin pillars of the Canadian federation, have much in common given that they share the economic space of the Windsor-Quebec axis – an economic region nestled around the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence waterway. Once upon a time, they were even one province but that fiery marriage had its ups and downs and […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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