Who was Barbara Mitchell?
Printer-friendly version
Why Educational Testing is Necessary

Why Educational Testing is Necessary is a new essay that highlights the importance of test standardization, and examines the benefits of objective testing versus grade inflation in the education system.

read more
Printer-friendly version

This year, Tax Freedom Day is Wednesday, June 15. If you had to pay all your federal, provincial and municipal taxes up front, you would give government every dollar you earned from January 1st to Tax Freedom Day, when Canadians finally start working for themselves. In 2022, the average Canadian family (with two or more people) will pay 45.2 per cent of its annual income in taxes, including income taxes, payroll taxes, health taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes, carbon taxes and more.

read more
Printer-friendly version
Do Budget Deficits Matter?

Low Interest Rates and the Cost of Government Debt and Canada’s Budget and Deficit Cuts in the Late 20th Century: An Amazing Success Story are the latest installments in an essay series on government deficits that emphasize the risks of higher interest costs on government debt, and note the similarities between today’s federal fiscal situation and the mid-1990s when interest costs consumed one of every three dollars of government revenue. At that time, the government enacted major reforms—including spending reductions—to help dramatically reduce the federal debt.

read more
Printer-friendly version
Understanding Universal Health Care Reform Options

Understanding Universal Health Care Reform Options: Cost-Sharing for Patients is a new study that finds Canada is only one of six (out of 28) industrialized countries with universal health-care that doesn't use any form of cost-sharing as part of the model, which can be used to incentivize more efficient use of scare health resources and potentially reduce wait times.

read more
Printer-friendly version
Catching Up and Falling Behind: The Five Economic Eras of Atlantic Canada, 1961–2019

Catching Up and Falling Behind: The Five Economic Eras of Atlantic Canada, 1961–2019 is a new study that tracks the economic performance of the region through the years compared to the rest of Canada. It finds that incomes (measured in per person GDP) in the Maritime provinces, which had been catching up to incomes in the rest of the country, began to fall again in 2010, dropping from $7,907 lower than the rest of Canada (excluding Alberta) in 2010 to $11,034 lower in 2019.

read more
Printer-friendly version
Can Canada Avoid Europe’s Energy Crisis?

Can Canada Avoid Europe’s Energy Crisis? is a new study that finds the Canadian federal government is pursuing aggressive climate policies similar to those that have largely contributed to energy prices skyrocketing in Europe, including the mandated transition to renewable energy sources and higher carbon prices.

read more
Printer-friendly version
Understanding the Changing Ratio of Working-Age Canadians to Seniors and Its Consequences

Understanding the Changing Ratio of Working-Age Canadians to Seniors and Its Consequences is a new study that finds as Canada’s population ages, the number of working-aged Canadians relative to the number of seniors has declined from 5.4 in 2000 to 3.4 in 2022, which means government spending related to seniors is increasing at the same time that the growth in tax revenues is declining.

read more