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July 11, 2019

Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments have spent a combined total of $91 billion more than they said they would since 2000, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report.

In “Big Spenders: Canada’s Senior Governments Have a Bad Budget Habit,” authors William B.P. Robson and Farah Omran compare the budgets of Canada’s senior governments with the revenues and expenses published in their audited year-end financial statements. They find governments routinely spend and tax more than projected in their budgets – and that those overshoots have materially raised the size and cost of government over time.

William Robson

Bill Robson took office as President and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute in July 2006, after serving as the Institute’s Senior Vice President since 2003 and Director of Research from 2000 to 2003. He has written more than 280 monographs, articles, chapters and books on such subjects as government budgets, pensions, healthcare financing, inflation and currency issues.

Farah Omran

Farah Omran is a former Policy Analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute. Farah joined the C.D. Howe Institute in 2017, while completing her Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Toronto. As a Policy Analyst at the institute, she worked on a wide range of topics, including monetary policy, financial services, and fiscal accountability.