Economic Freedom of the World report measures the economic freedom of individuals—their ability to make their own economic decisions—by analyzing the policies and institutions of 165 jurisdictions. This year, for the first time in the history of the report, Hong Kong has fallen to second place overall while Canada has one of the fastest growth rates in size of government in the world.

Wrong Move at the Wrong Time: Economic Impacts of the New Federal Building Energy Efficiency Mandates is a new study that finds the cost of a newly constructed home in Canada will increase by $55,000, on average, by 2030 as a result of the federal government’s proposed energy efficiency regulations for buildings. Crucially, the stricter building regulations will only reduce Canada’s total emissions by 0.9 per cent.

Public and Private Sector Job Growth in the Provinces during the COVID-19 Era finds that from February 2020 to June 2023, in all ten provinces, the rate of job growth was faster in the government sector (including federal, provincial and municipal) than in the private sector (including the self-employed). Nationally, the number of government-sector jobs increased 11.8 per cent over that time period, while the number of private sector jobs increased only 3.3 per cent.