Who was Barbara Mitchell?
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Canada's Rising Personal Tax Rates and Falling Tax Competitiveness

Canada’s Rising Personal Tax Rates and Falling Tax Competitiveness, compares and ranks Canada’s personal income tax rates to income tax rates in the United States and other countries in the industrialized world. It finds that Canada’s top combined federal and provincial tax rate, which is 53.5 per cent (using Ontario’s provincial rate) now ranks as the sixth highest among 34 industrialized countries and second highest among G7 countries, behind only France.

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Energy costs and Canadian Households: How Much Are We Spending?, identifies the percentage of Canadian households living in energy poverty, which means energy (electricity and home-heating bills) consumes 10 per cent or more of household expenditures. In 2013, 7.9 per cent of Canadian households were living in energy poverty, up from 7.2 per cent in 2010.

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Government Spending and Own-Source Revenue for Canada's Aboriginals: A Comparative Analysis

Government Spending and Own-Source Revenue for Canada’s Aboriginals: A Comparative Analysis finds that federal and provincial government spending on Canada’s aboriginal population has risen dramatically—well beyond spending for other Canadians—yet education and employment outcomes in many aboriginal communities remain dire. For example, federal government spending through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (which does not represent all federal government spending related to Aboriginals) increased to $7.9 billion (adjusted for inflation) in 2013/14 from $82 million over the past six decades.

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Debt Accumulation in Ontario Compared to Other Provinces

Debt Accumulation in Ontario Compared to Other Provinces finds that Ontario’s debt is growing faster than every other province in the country. Strikingly, Ontario’s government has added $160 billion in net debt since 2003/04 while the rest of the nine provinces combined added a total of $126 billion.

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Despite good intentions, raising the minimum wage will do little to reduce poverty mainly because most minimum-wage earners don’t live in low-income household. Raising the Minimum Wage: Misguided Policy, Unintended Consequences diffuses the notion that the typical minimum-wage earner is a single parent struggling to survive.

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Report Card on Ontario's Secondary Schools 2016

Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools 2016 ranks 676 public, Catholic, and independent secondary schools based on seven academic indicators using data from the annual province wide tests of literacy and math skills.

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Impact of Higher Interest Rates on the Cost of Servicing Government Debt

The Impact of Higher Interest Rates on the Cost of Servicing Government Debt spotlights the interest rate risks faced by governments across the country using Ontario and Quebec—Canada’s two largest and most indebted provinces—as examples.  It finds that a higher than expected rise in interest rates could jeopardize provincial government promises of balanced budgets and surpluses.

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