Printer-friendly version
Consumption Inequality in Canada: Is the Gap Growing

Consumption Inequality in Canada: Is the Gap Growing? spotlights differences in consumption and income inequality since the late 1960s. It finds that despite alarmist claims to the contrary, when measuring consumption, the inequality gap in Canadians’ living standards has increased a paltry 3.4 per cent over the past 40 years. In fact, when income inequality statistics are properly measured (i.e. after taxes and adjusted for household size) the study finds income inequality has increased modestly by 11.5 percent.

Printer-friendly version
Education Spending and Public Student Enrolment in Canada

Education Spending and Public School Enrolment in Canada, 2016 Edition, finds that spending on public schools in Canada has increased dramatically over the past decade even as the number of students has declined. Across the country, spending on public schools increased more than 40 per cent, from $44.3 billion in 2004/2005 to nearly $62.6 billion in 2013/2014, a decade that saw a 4.2 per cent decline in the number of students enrolled in public schools in Canada. On a per-student basis, spending increased from $9,876 to $12,427 (after accounting for price changes), a dramatic 25.8 per cent increase over the same time.

Printer-friendly version
First-Past-the-Post: Empowered Voters, Accountable Government

First-Past-the-Post: Empowered Voters, Accountable Government, the third in a series of essays on electoral reform, spotlights several voting systems, including first-past-the-post (FPTP), preferential voting, and proportional representation systems like mixed-member proportional and single transferrable vote. It finds the benefits of first-past-the-post —simplicity, transparency and accountability —make it not only the best way of electing governments, but also the easiest way to defeat them by voting them out.

Printer-friendly version

Canadian Consumer Tax Index 2016, finds that the average Canadian family spends more on taxes than on housing, food and clothing combined with 42 per cent of income going to taxes, and 38 per cent being spent on the basic necessities of life. The annual study tracks the total tax bill of the average Canadian household from 1961 to 2015, and looks at both visible and hidden taxes that families pay to the federal, provincial and local governments, including income, payroll, sales, property, health, fuel and alcohol taxes, and more.

Printer-friendly version
Report Card on British Columbia’s Secondary Schools 2016

The Report Card on British Columbia's Secondary Schools 2016 ranks 294 public and independent secondary schools based on seven academic indicators using student results from annual provincewide exams, grade-to-grade transition rates and graduation rates. In addition to five years of academic results, the report card shows which B.C. secondary schools have improved, or fallen behind, based on the academic indicators derived from provincewide test results, grade-to-grade transition, and graduation rates.

Printer-friendly version
How Alberta's Carbon Emission Cap Will Reduce Oil Sands Growth

How Alberta’s Carbon Emission Cap Will Reduce Oil Sands Growth estimates the Alberta government’s proposed cap on oil sands operations will significantly reduce the industry’s production potential by hundreds of billions of dollars cumulatively between 2025 and 2040, but do very little to curb global greenhouse gas emissions.

Printer-friendly version

Ontario vs. Michigan: Policy Lessons from the Wolverine State notes that while Michigan has revived its manufacturing sector since the recession, Ontario's manufacturing sector continues to struggle. Michigan's rebound is due largely to several significant policy reforms, which include replacing the complex Michigan Business Tax (MBT) with a simpler corporate income tax of six per cent, implementing sharp budget cuts followed by a period of limited spending growth, and the introduction of “right-to-work” legislation.