Yesterday’s federal budget showed again—as if it were needed—that this government is not serious about public finances. It was late, given that the 2024/25 fiscal year started more than two weeks ago. It buried the numbers on revenue, expenses, deficit, and debt that ought to be upfront under 350-plus pages of spin. And while the numbers themselves look serious—relentlessly rising taxes and spending, chronic deficits, and interest eating ever more revenue—we have no reason to believe them.
Why would we? The government’s first projections for the current budget year of 2024/25 were in its 2019 fall economic statement. That statement showed federal spending of $421 billion in 2024/25. The government presented no budget at all in…
For decades, pharmacare has been a day late and a dollar short. How much did Bill C-64 change that?
Very few Canadians have no drug insurance, but a much larger number probably need more coverage. The lack of an integrated national drug system limits our ability to describe the unmet need, and this need is as important for that cohort as hospital and medical insurance is for everyone.
The new pharmacare bill, released Feb. 29, has “the aim of continuing to work toward the implementation of national universal pharmacare.” At the onset, it proposes universal, no-cost access to selected diabetes and contraception drugs and devices, along with work on a new national formulary, refinement of today’s bulk purchasing strategy,…
As the Bank of Canada resists rate cuts, is it falling behind the curve again? - Globe and Mail
The latest data (from February) indicate that the battle against inflation is almost over. Despite the encouraging inflation data, the Bank of Canada again held its policy rate at 5 percent on Wednesday. What gives? The bank, like many other central banks, was slow off the mark to raise rates as inflation took off. We worry it runs the risk of falling behind the curve again.
First, let’s examine why the bank might be hesitating to cut – the housing market and fiscal policy. Then, let’s examine why, in our view, that’s not enough.
Year-over-year headline inflation dropped inside the bank’s 1-3 percent range in January, and continued to fall in February, sitting at 2.8 percent. Core inflation, which strips out more volatile…
