January 23, 2013 – Canada’s provinces face a common challenge in managing the rising cost of healthcare for an aging population, and ensuring that demographic change does not compromise other major government programs, manageable tax rates, and debt control. The challenge is not identical everywhere, however. Some provinces are aging faster than others, some are more vulnerable to age-related increases in spending than others, and some will see more robust growth of their tax base than others – so the urgency and appropriate responses differ across the country.
In groundbreaking research, the authors focus on each province in turn, projecting population growth and the impact of demographic change on government revenues and programs. They delineate the coming fiscal squeeze for each province and make recommendations on how each can prepare for it.