This year’s uptick in economic growth has nothing to do with current government policy that is expected to hamper future business expansion
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute During the recent federal fiscal update, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said higher-than-expected economic growth for 2017 is evidence that the government’s plan is working. In reality, however, little of what’s driving growth for this year has anything to do with government policy. And economic storm clouds remain for…
Alberta has become less attractive for investment while the U.S. is drawing more attention, thanks to Trump's policy changes
By Kenneth P. Green, Elmira Aliakbari and Ashley Stedman The Fraser Institute TransCanada Corp. recently pulled the plug on Energy East, its proposed 1.1-million-barrel-per-day oil pipeline between Alberta and New Brunswick, a month after the company said it would conduct a “careful review” of the cost impacts of changes in National Energy Board regulations. It…
Wouldn’t it be better to encourage small business ownership than punish it?
Chris clobbered me on the side of the head and then swam over me. Coughing and sputtering I came up for air and yelled foul. The referee blew his whistle and Chris was sent off to the side of the pool. I laughed and played on. It was all part of the game of water…
The last thing the federal Liberals can afford is to sit on the sidelines in Ontario in June. A provincial voter swing could portend federal calamity
With just two years until the next federal election, Canadians should expect to see much more of the prime minister as he works to bolster his party's prospects in 2019. Any time the Liberal image is threatened, expect Justin Trudeau to rush in and save the day. And Ontario voters should expect Trudeau to be…
While telling people that they understand the importance of the pipelines, Notley and Trudeau piled up the regulatory bricks to ensure they were not viable
TransCanada’s withdrawal of its proposal to build the Energy East and Eastern Mainline oil pipelines is a huge loss to Canada and Canadian workers – a $16 billion project regulated to death. Let’s get the red herring out of the way up front. Yes, the low world price of oil was surely part of this…
With the number of seniors living off retirement income rising, increasing interest rates no longer a precursor to a cooling economy
Canadians are constantly reminded that we’ve let ourselves get too deeply into debt and if the cost of that debt – interest rates – increases, we’ll be in deep yogurt. To the extent that such debt is mortgage-based and the average price of homes has been rising, this debt should be manageable. I don’t expect…
By electing Jagmeet Singh as their new leader, the federal NDP have signalled that they understand the escalating importance of inclusivity
The election of Jagmeet Singh as the new federal New Democratic Party leader is a game changer for the Canadian political landscape. Singh, a 38-year-old lawyer, has his feet firmly planted in Canada’s multicultural community. He’s a bearded, turban-wearing Sikh who carries a kirpan, and speaks English, French and Punjabi fluently. New Democrats have astutely…
The government has raised income taxes on the majority of middle-class Canadian families, despite repeated claims of the opposite
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute Too often, reality doesn’t match political rhetoric. The federal government's tax relief promises are a case in point. On the federal election campaign trail in 2015, Justin Trudeau promised to cut income taxes for middle-class Canadian families. And since becoming prime minister, he and his government have repeatedly…
Options for reform are severely limited so long as a rule requiring program costs to escalate every year remains
By Ben Eisen and Joel Emes The Fraser Institute Jason Kenney, candidate for the leadership of Alberta’s United Conservative Party, recently called for reform to Canada’s equalization program. Specifically, he suggested a referendum in Alberta to force the federal government to consider removing non-renewable resource revenue (in Alberta’s case, mostly revenue from oil) from calculations…
Imagine what Pierre Trudeau would have thought of his son's hyphenated Canadian fixation
Like father, like son? Not so for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who appears to have selected a path at odds with the best of his father's legacy. Pierre Trudeau, even as one of the most divisive prime ministers in Canadian history, was a champion of a singular, unifying notion: one Canada. He boldly fought to…
By Charles Lammam and Hugh MacIntyre The Fraser Institute During the recent federal fiscal update, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said higher-than-expected economic growth for 2017 is evidence that the government’s plan is working. In reality, however, little of what’s driving growth for this year has anything to do with government policy. And economic storm clouds remain for…
