The current election campaign has seen a lot of attention focused on balancing the federal budget and the size of the federal deficit. Perhaps some historical perspective will better inform the debate.
Government Spending & Taxes
This fiscal year, Canada's federal government will send more than $68 billion in transfer payments to the provinces.
While all three party leaders tried to assure us that they are best able to guide us through an uncertain economic world, all missed the fundamental point that Canada is a small open economy.
One of Canada’s most important positive policy reforms over the past 15 years has been on corporate taxes.
Deficits and debt, uncompetitive personal income tax rates, and the decline in business start-ups.
With a large deficit looming, it's a good time to put Alberta’s finances in longer-term perspective.
Green-tech advocates have convinced governments to spend untold billions of dollars on subsidies.
There’s increasing evidence of a relationship between entrepreneurship and age. Younger people are less risk-averse than older people, and more prone to question the status quo. These characteristics are fundamental to entrepreneurism. So how can government influence entrepreneurship to mitigate these demographic effects?
Despite gloomy post-recession pronouncements from some analysts, slow economic growth is not preordained in Canada.
In Alberta, to cushion the blow from falling revenues, some claim higher taxes will balance the books. How soon we forget. Alberta tried that in the late 1980s. It didn’t work.
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