Adrift: Finding a New Fiscal Anchor for Canada
Webinar with Bev Dahlby, Alexandre Laurin and Michael Smart
Sponsored by:
Canada’s deficit continues to grow amid the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Canadians wondering if the federal government’s fiscal trajectory is sustainable. On November 30, join the C.D. Howe Institute’s webinar to hear our expert panel discuss the sustainability of government debt and recommendations for a new fiscal anchor.
C.D. Howe Institute events and webinars are open to members and their guests.
Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.
Bev Dahlby, Distinguished Fellow, Tax and Economic Growth, University of Calgary
Bev Dahlby attended St. Peter’s College, the University of Saskatchewan, Queen’s University and the London School of Economics. Dr. Dahlby has published extensively on tax policy and fiscal federalism.
Bev has served as a policy advisor to the federal and provincial governments. Bev served on Statistics Canada’s advisory council from 2005 to 2012. In 2010-11, he was a member of the Expert Panel on Federal Support to Research and Development (Jenkins Panel) and the Ecofiscal Commission from 2014 to 2019. In July 2016, he was appointed Chair of the British Columbia Commission on Tax Competitiveness by the BC Minister of Finance. The Commission’s report, Improving British Columbia’s Business Tax Competitiveness, was released on November 23, 2016. In May 2019, Bev was appointed by the Government of Alberta to the Blue Ribbon Panel to review the province’s finances. The Panel’s report was released on September 3, 2019. His international experience includes advisory work on tax reform for the IMF in Malawi, for the Thailand Development Research Institute, and for the World Bank in Brazil and Mexico.
Alexandre Laurin, Director of Research, C.D. Howe Institute
Alexandre Laurin joined the C.D. Howe Institute in 2008 and became Director of Research in 2014.
From 1999 to 2008, Mr. Laurin worked for the Parliamentary Information and Research Service where he provided reports, analysis and policy advice to Members of the House of Commons and the Senate and to parliamentary committees on a non-partisan and confidential basis.
Mr. Laurin has authored numerous research studies published by the C.D. Howe Institute and other organizations, and he frequently contributes to public policy debates through seminars, conferences, and media appearances. He is currently a member of the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board of Ontario, an arms-length advisory agency that makes recommendations to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. He is also a member of Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot’s Research and Evaluation Advisory Committee, which provides strategic advice on how to best evaluate the outcomes of the basic income pilot to the Minister of Community and Social Services and the Minister Responsible for the Poverty Reduction Strategy.
He holds an MA in Economics (1998) from Queen’s University and a BSc in Economics (1997) from Université du Québec à Montréal.
Michael Smart, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Toronto
Michael Smart is Co-Director of Finances of the Nation and Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto. A specialist in the economic analysis of taxation, fiscal federalism, and the political economy of government policy, he has previously served as an editor of the Canadian Journal of Economics, and International Tax and Public Finance and held positions visiting the London School of Economics and the University of Munich, and as special adviser at the federal Department of Finance in Canada.
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