William Robson on BNN Bloomberg – Freeland’s Exit and Ottawa’s Slipshod Financial Reporting

Our President and CEO William Robson appeared on BNN Bloomberg in the wake of Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resignation to discuss the worrisome state of Ottawa’s books.

Robson, Dahir – The Worrying Delay in the Release of the Federal Government’s Public Accounts

Published in The Globe and Mail.

In recent years, the federal government’s fiscal management has looked increasingly slipshod. The unprecedented deficits and buildup of debt, the explosive increase in the number and cost of federal employees, and the addition of tens of billions to the spending projections in each successive budget and fiscal update are unsettling, but so, too, is the erosion of accountability in budgets and in the public accounts.

Ottawa is delivering a fall economic statement on Monday – so late that it’s barely fall any more. The government failed to deliver a budget at all in 2020 – something that had never happened before – and presented three of the four budgets since then after the April 1 beginning…

Laurin, Robson – The Public Service Pension Plan Surplus is Not Real

Ho, Ho, Hold the GST Holiday

The holidays may be about eating to excess, but Ottawa’s “GST Holiday” is little more than “fiscal junk food”.  On this episode of the CDHI podcast, Institute President and CEO Bill Robson and Fellow-in-Residence Don Drummond tell our Michael Hainsworth why a two-month tax break isn’t making these public policy elves jolly this holiday season.

Graph of the Week: Business Investment Per Worker Falls 23 Percent Below 2014 Peak

Robson, Drummond – Junk Fiscal Policy Can Cost More than Mere Billions

Permanently Higher Federal Spending Threatens GST Hike: C.D. Howe Institute Fiscal & Tax Working Group

November 27, 2020 – A GST hike could be looming on the horizon if Ottawa starts down the road of permanent post-pandemic spending increases, warns a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.

The Fiscal and Tax Working Group stressed that now is not the time for permanent post-pandemic spending increases or matching tax increases. However, if Canadians want to see a significant increase in the level of ongoing program spending post-pandemic, they must be aware that it will require an increase in taxes across the income spectrum to be fiscally sustainable.

The group of experts from the private sector and academia held their third and fourth meetings on October 6, 2020, and November 11, 2020. The group calculated that…

William Robson on BNN Bloomberg – GST Holiday Would be a ‘Short-Term High’ for Canadians

William B.P. Robson, President and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, warns Ottawa’s proposed GST break may bring temporary relief to Canadians but could be harmful long-term.

Brian Lewis – Tis the Season for Gimmicky Economic Policy

William Robson and Don Drummond – GST holiday feeds Canada’s addiction to populist junk fiscal policy

Published in The Globe and Mail. 

Canadian governments are loudly zealous about protecting us from potentially addictive stuff that could hurt our physical and mental health – think of junk food, booze and other drugs, or misinformation and other online “harms.” Yet they themselves are pushing fiscal junk. The federal government’s latest – a goods and services tax holiday from mid-December to mid-February, 2025, and a $250 handout to everyone with earned income under $150,000 – is yet another feel-good move that undermines our fiscal and economic health.

As with the Ontario government’s recent pledge of a $200 handout for its taxpayers, one big question is: Will the bribe buy the government a bounce in the polls? If…

Tingting Zhang – Canada’s Housing Crisis: A Growing Challenge for Vulnerable Populations

Fiscal Accountability by the Letters: The Report Card for Canada’s Senior Governments, 2024