Government Spending & Taxes

— Nov 13, 2024
Printer-friendly version
A Tale of Two Provinces: Economic and Fiscal Performance of Ontario and Quebec in the 21st Century

A Tale of Two Provinces: Economic and Fiscal Performance of Ontario and Quebec in the 21st Century is a new study that finds Ontario’s economic and fiscal performance over the past two decades has been comparatively weak and noticeably worse than neighbouring Quebec, as Ontario’s GDP-per-person in 2000 was the 2nd highest across the country before falling to 5th in 2022.

— Nov 7, 2024
Printer-friendly version
The Effect of Government Debt on Economic Growth in the Canadian Provinces

The Effect of Government Debt on Economic Growth in the Canadian Provinces finds that in 2022, combined federal and provincial government debt in seven Canadian provinces surpassed their total economic output, stalling economic growth and leading to stagnant living standards.

— Oct 10, 2024
Printer-friendly version
Boosting Canada's Competitiveness by Reforming Business Taxation

Boosting Canada’s Competitiveness by Reforming Business Taxation suggests that only taxing profit disbursements for businesses, which include dividend payments, share buybacks, and bonuses, rather than taxing all business profits, would lead to greater business investment, increasing worker productivity, growth in the economy, and ultimately raise living standards for Canadians.

— Sep 27, 2024
Printer-friendly version
Industrial Policy as Zombie Economics

Industrial Policy as Zombie Economics is a new study that finds the “new” industrial policy model of increased partnerships between government and private sector, which is being pursued across developed countries, is likely to fail just as previous industrial policies failed. In particular, capital markets—and not government—are best positioned and incentivized to determine how financial capital and other productive inputs should be allocated in order to promote real economic growth and higher standards of living.

— Sep 26, 2024
Printer-friendly version
Media Coverage of Federal Spending Announcements on Child Care, Pharma Care, and Dental Care

Media Coverage of Federal Spending Announcements on Child Care, Pharma Care, and Dental Care a content analysis of CTV and CBC television news coverage from 2021 to 2024, finds that of all the coverage that focused on the three new government programs, just 4.1 per cent of CTV coverage, and just 3.7 per cent of CBC television coverage reported the specific costs of the programs.

— Sep 17, 2024
Printer-friendly version
Understanding the Scale of Canada’s Federal Deficit

Understanding the Scale of Canada’s Federal Deficit finds that continuous annual borrowing by Ottawa to finance increased spending has driven federal total debt up to an expected 69.8 per cent of the economy or $2.1 trillion in 2024/25—and analyzes how in debt Canadian families would be if they spent and borrowed the same way.

— Sep 12, 2024
Printer-friendly version
A Transformational Tax Policy for Atlantic Canada

A Transformational Tax Policy for Atlantic Canada: Corporate Income Tax Relief is a new study that finds reducing the corporate income tax (CIT) rate in all four Atlantic provinces to eight per cent—which would match the current lowest rate in Alberta—would result in large economic benefits, including economic growth and higher wages.

Subscribe to the Fraser Institute

Get the latest news from the Fraser Institute on the latest research studies, news and events.

Research Experts