The Costs of the Canadian Government’s Reconciliation Framework for First Nations finds that settling ongoing litigation with First Nations could cost the federal government $5.7 billion over the next five years. That’s in addition to federal spending on First Nations, which itself increased from $8.2 billion in 2015/16 to more than $10 billion this year.

Economic Freedom of North America 2018 finds that Florida has overtaken New Hampshire as the most economically free state in the U.S., having scored 7.87 out of 10 in this year’s report, which measures government spending, taxation and labour market restrictions. Rounding out the top five freest states are Texas (3rd), Tennessee (4th) and South Dakota (5th). For the fourth year in a row, New York was ranked least free (50th), followed by Kentucky (49th), West Virginia (48th), California (47th) and Alaska (46th).

Natural Resource Regulation in Alberta finds that the province’s investment attractiveness has diminished in the eyes of oil, gas and mining executives, primarily due to the province’s increasing regulatory burden. Specifically, environmental regulations and the cost of complying with Alberta’s red tape are increasingly cited as reasons not to invest in the province.