Fiscal Policy

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Thomas Courchene in a suit standing for a portrait.

Tom Courchene showed how economists can shape public policy

His legacy is a reminder that rigorous economic advice matters most when politics rewards short-term thinking.
A line drawing of scrambled lines being placed in order by a dollar sign inside a cog.

Canada is spending billions to fix the wrong productivity problem

Thomas Courchene in a suit standing for a portrait.

Tom Courchene showed how economists can shape public policy

A worker in a yellow safety vest wrangles three shopping carts in a driving snowstorm.

A youth employment supplement could rebalance Canada’s generational divide

The man stands knee-deep in a clearing with tall grasses and an evergreen forest in the distance.

Why peatlands must be central to Canada’s climate and economic agendas

Students filling out participatory budget idea submission form.

Participatory budgeting is a low-risk, high-return democratic upgrade

Tiff macklem gestures with his hands while speaking at a microphone with a Canadian flag in the background.

Canada needs an open finance roadmap, not just open banking

A shiny new foodbank with food organized on shelves with aisles like a supermarket.

Ten million Canadians live in food-insecure households. The federal budget doesn’t help them

Mark Carney speaking at a podium, viewed from the side, with dark background.

Carney’s industrial bet: Building Canada’s future while cutting the public service

Dozens of partially built single-family two-storey homes sit tightly packed. Two of them have partial roofs built. Lumber is scattered around three of the houses, which are all clad in wood panels in the beginning stage of construction. A dirt road separates the homes in the foreground from seven homes on the other side of the street-to-be. In the distance is a green space.

The Liberal government’s unshakable support for private housing markets

The building is six storeys high and is covered in a white Tyvek-branded membrane. A metal pole is attached to one wall. A crane lift sits idle next to it. The building has corner balconies and inset balconies. The window frames are black. Tall trees stand nearby.

The double housing crisis needs a potluck approach

Pierre Poilievre, wearing a blue suit jacket and blue shirt without a tie, gestures with four fingers as he answers questions from reporters. The background is in soft focus but the event took place at a Shaarei Shomayim Congregation synagogue in Toronto.

The pay-as-you-go proposal on cutting federal spending not as simple as advocates say

Ontario Cannabis Store earned $234 million but taxpayers got nothing

From the air, a sprawling subdivision covers several kilometres of land surrounded by swaths of forest and snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Adding community housing can help solve the productivity problem

Chrystia Freeland, standing at her desk in a red dress in the House of Commons, speaks while Justin Trudeau and a dozen cabinet ministers look on.

The Trudeau government needs to get straight with people about its budget

A million new non-market homes in 10 years: That should be the goal

Next to a tall glass tower, the exposed storeys of a new tower are going up. The concrete floors are held up by temporary orange-coloured steel supports. The metal fence around the project has five signs identifying the construction company and warning trucks not to back up without a flag man. Directions for an on-site defibrillator are there as well as warning signs.

Ottawa must make sure it’s truly boosting housing supply with its funding surge

Hundreds of people stand on a busy city street that has a lot of overhead power lines crisscrossing above. The area in front of them has no traffic. Vendor stalls covered with tarps line the street.

Stop thinking of foreign aid as a tool for global influence

Making life truly affordable requires more than lowering inflation

Captain Chris Knauer sits in a large lawn under a dark sky wearing a headlamp among camouflage green backpacks.

If spending is out of control, why are important federal services underfunded?

Un profil rapproché d’Anita Anand.

Cutting $15 billion from the public service won’t be that hard. But what’s next?

Two laptops and other electronics are set up in a room adjacent to the operating room. A wide window pane separates the two spaces. At the laptops sits a man in blue scrubs, his hand on one of the laptops. On the other side of the glass, two male doctors talk as they look at an oversized monitor on the wall that shows graphs and charts. Next to the doctors is a patient on a gurney.

Ottawa needs to take a more co-operative approach to health care

Smith stands in front of a row of large blue Alberta flags draped on their poles. She is holding a black plastic binder. She’s wearing a black jacket and a green shirt with a necklace.

Who would benefit from the UCP personal income tax proposal in Alberta?

CMHC is supportive of renovations, but our tax laws are not

Fire blazes brightly on a tree-covered hill at night.

The banking meltdown is an omen for an even bigger risk: climate chaos

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