Tag Archives: transfers
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 […]
No Health Deal. Now What?
Well, I just finished watching the federal health and finance ministers discuss the failed federal transfer health deal on the news. I suppose coming just a few days before Christmas, a dispute over federal health transfers can become a new sort of Canadian holiday tradition given it has happened before with the December 2011 unilateral […]
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, […]
Should Municipalities in Canada Get More Money?
In the tradition of the fur traders of the Northwest Company, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is holding their board meeting “Rendezvous” at the head of the Great Lakes in Thunder Bay from March 5th to 8th. It was difficult task trying to find an agenda on their website but no doubt they will be […]
Federal Transfers, Equalization and Ontario’s Cries for Reform
Transfers and equalization often flare up in Canadian policy discussions with the cry that there is a need for reform. A recent Cohn column in the Toronto Star on Ontario’s economic stall concluded “Outdated equalization and transfer payments cry out for reform, but will likely continue to bleed Ontario’s taxpayers of about $12 billion a […]
Fiscal Clout and Federation Redesign
The Parliamentary Budget Office has issued a very pleasing report on federal fiscal sustainability but the flip side is that the provinces and territories are now not fiscally sustainable because of their rising health costs and the federal fiscal gap created by the change in the Canada Health Transfer escalator. According to Andrew Coyne, the […]
Provincial Finances: An Estimate of “Tax Prices”
My previous post dealt with differences in provincial health spending and how on a per capita basis some provinces were substantially above the provincial average while others were not. One of the factors behind any government spending at the provincial level is own source revenue capacity so in light of some of the comments asking […]
Why Dalton McGuinty Desperately Needs a U.S. Economic Recovery
Recent reports suggest that the federal government may be seeing some improvements on the deficit front due to increases in revenue. However, no such luck seems to be gracing Ontario. Indeed, the Drummond’s report forecast of continued lackluster revenue growth for Ontario due to its weak economy has placed Ontario’s government in a bind.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments