Manitobans carry a $91 billion fiscal burden – the higher tax bill for increased healthcare costs over the next half-century – and should prepare now for the coming demographic squeeze, says a report released today from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Managing Healthcare for an Aging Population: How Manitoba Can Confront Its Healthcare Glacier,” authors William B.P. Robson, Colin Busby and Aaron Jacobs recommend changes to protect young Manitobans from the burden they will otherwise bear as the tax base grows more slowly and healthcare costs rise.

Ontarians carry a $1.19 trillion fiscal burden – the higher tax bill for increased healthcare costs over the next half-century – and should prepare now for the coming demographic squeeze, says a report released today from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Managing Healthcare for an Aging Population: Ontario’s Troubling Collision Course,” authors William B.P. Robson, Colin Busby and Aaron Jacobs recommend that Ontario prefund selected healthcare services and benchmark against other provinces to get better health bang for their tax bucks.

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.

Provinces with age-based drug coverage should switch to income-based plans to head off serious financial pressure over the next few decades, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Should Public Drug Plans be Based on Age or Income?” authors Colin Busby and Jonathan Pedde find that age-based plans are ill-equipped to handle the coming surge of seniors in the population.

Alberta and Ontario are leading the pack in innovation as measured by patents filed per capita, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Measuring Innovation in Canada: The Tale Told by Patent Applications,” authors Robbie Brydon, Nicholas Chesterley, Benjamin Dachis and Aaron Jacobs show for the first time which provinces and which sectors are leading or lagging in Canadian-led innovation for the Canadian market.