Deficits might seem like an abstract problem for the future but in Ontario this simply isn’t the case
By Steve Lafleur and Jake Fuss The Fraser Institute New Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy inherits a difficult job from Rod Phillips. The province’s fiscal challenges long predate the pandemic. The province has mostly run uninterrupted budget deficits since 2008-09. The governments of both Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne sketched out long paths to budget…
A cautionary tale about how higher energy prices lower competitiveness and damage economic prosperity
By Elmira Aliakbari and Jason Clemens The Fraser Institute Ontarians understand the personal costs of increased electricity prices caused largely by the province’s Green Energy Act. But the effect on Ontario’s competitiveness, particularly in manufacturing, has been largely ignored even though the costs continue to be substantial. The Green Energy Act mandated and subsidized renewable…
Given that infections don’t by a long shot equal hospitalizations, civil libertarians are rightly sounding warning bells
On Sept. 18, Israel became the first developed country to launch a second COVID-19 lockdown. It came four months after the first lockdown – instituted in March – ended. How Israeli citizens have reacted to the unsustainable nature of renewed lockdowns is instructive for the Canadian jurisdictions that have increased a rhetoric of fear about…
The premier is ignoring very real problems across Ontario in order to settle a personal vendetta with Toronto city council
It’s no shock that Ontario Premier Doug Ford wishes to shrink the size of Toronto city council. Conservatives like small government. Ford, a former Toronto city councillor, and his late brother Rob, a former mayor of Toronto, were known to be libertarian. They regularly made it clear that they believed that government should be leaner…
The Ontario PC once and would-be leader finally pulls the plug on his aspirations after a wildly unpredictable ride
Is he in? Is he out? Welcome to another roller-coaster ride in the Ontario PC Party, courtesy of former leader turned leadership candidate Patrick Brown. Or, as some of us like to call it, “Monday.” After several polls indicated Brown was either ahead or slightly behind in the Progressive Conservative leadership race, news broke that…
The Ontario PC leader is either suffering an ideological identity crisis or is one of the biggest political opportunists we’ve seen in some time
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown’s 78-page campaign manifesto reminds me of the old line: if you can’t beat them, you may as well join them. Brown’s recently-released People’s Guarantee makes 147 promises. But despite vowing to bring change for Ontario voters in 2018, the only obvious change is that he would spend even more…
The province’s manufacturing sector may find itself even less competitive soon due to developments in the United States
How do you kill 75,000 jobs and turn your valuable location into a disadvantage? If you’re the Ontario government, you: start a transition to renewable energy driven by politicians without any cost-benefit analyses; when people with expertise in the energy and power sectors give advice on technical issues – for example, how much duplicate power…
The Ontario Progressive Conservative leader has released a map for his election campaign that dovetails with broadly-held principles
In October, I helped end the long-running discussion of who Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown is. A month later, Brown has helped end the long-running discussion of what he stands for. Last weekend’s Progressive Conservative policy convention in Toronto was highlighted by the release of a 78-page document entitled the People’s Guarantee. Designed like a…
The Working Families campaign targeting Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown is just plain wrong – and stupid – and that means it will fail
Go negative, sure. But don’t fib. The Working Families group has a new ad out. If you live in Ontario, you’ve likely seen it. If you don’t, you haven’t. But the ad is worth talking about because of the issues it raises. Working Families describes itself as a group that was “created by members of…
The province pays extraordinary rates to solar, wind and biofuel generators. But the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine
By Kenneth P. Green, Elmira Aliakbari and Ashley Stedman The Fraser Institute The Ontario government’s rigorous pursuit of renewables has increased electricity costs far more than necessary. The government recently released an update to its long-term energy plan, projecting that the cost of electricity for homes and businesses will keep rising over the next 20…
By Steve Lafleur and Jake Fuss The Fraser Institute New Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy inherits a difficult job from Rod Phillips. The province’s fiscal challenges long predate the pandemic. The province has mostly run uninterrupted budget deficits since 2008-09. The governments of both Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne sketched out long paths to budget…
