Published in the Financial Post
Last month’s federal budget has been called “the worst … in decades.” It is hard to disagree. Spending is clearly out of control, the cost of servicing Canada’s debt is ballooning and a balanced budget is not even on the horizon. In this, the feds are not alone. At every level of government, with few exceptions, Canada’s fiscal health is in a death spiral. Unless a new course is struck, the harm to Canadians will last for generations.
Over the past nine years, the federal government’s net debt has skyrocketed. In 2015, it was $612 billion. This year, the budget projects, it will be $1.4 trillion. Of the large provinces, only Alberta foresees a surplus for the coming year. Ontario, Quebec and…
Published in the Globe and Mail
The creation of the Canada and Quebec pension plans in the 1960s and subsequent amendments to them in the 1990s is a compelling story of how governments worked together to create and sustain one of Canada’s greatest public-policy achievements. Today we are faced with the thorny issue of how to determine a fair basis on which Alberta might choose to exit the CPP.
When the CPP was created, Ontario requested a provision to allow a province to leave the CPP by setting up an equivalent provincial plan. While open to different interpretations, Section 113 of the CPP Act describes the calculation of the amount to be paid to a withdrawing province. Its essence is to transfer to the pension fund of…
Published in the Globe and Mail
The 2024 federal budget announced higher capital-gains taxes that will be effective June 25. Instead of paying tax on half of all gains under current rules, individuals will pay tax on half of gains under $250,000 and on two-thirds of gains over $250,000, and companies will pay tax on two-thirds of all gains.
These proposals are bad in principle. They will worsen the slide in Canada’s productivity, wages and living standards. They will likely prove a train wreck in practice.
The budget announced the changes without any draft legislation. The next two months will feature a scramble by the government to release the rules before June 25 and a scramble by taxpayers who do not know what…
