To: Canadians concerned about the federal government’s “investment” hypeFrom: William B.P. Robson and Mawakina Bafale Re: Debt-Fuelled Consumption Belies Ottawa’s Brave Talk of Transformation Even as the gap widens between feeble capital investment in Canada and surging investment in the United States, so does the gap between the Carney government’s hype about investing for prosperity […]
Published in Financial Post. Even as the gap widens between feeble capital investment in Canada and surging investment in the United States, so does the gap between the Carney government’s hype about investing for prosperity and its actual pursuit of debt-fuelled consumption. Last week, it announced its latest response to affordability concerns: the Canada Groceries […]
To: Finance CanadaFrom: Nick Dahir and Alexandre Laurin Date: February 6, 2026Re: How Retirement Benefit Clawbacks Hit Lower-Income Taxpayers Hardest The taxation of retirement income is a key consideration for pension, tax, and fiscal policy. Drawdowns of tax-deferred retirement savings are taxable. Future government revenues depend on how withdrawals are taxed in retirement, and government spending […]
February 3, 2026 – More than nine million working Canadians lack access to a workplace retirement plan, with the gap most pronounced among employees of small- and mid-sized businesses, according to a new C.D Howe Institute report. As a result, many are left to make inconsistent, often costly, savings decisions that increase the risk of […]
by Keith Ambachtsheer and Alex Mazer Canada ranked 16th out of 52 countries in an authoritative Global Pension Index in 2025, which identified limited coverage of occupational pension plans, particularly in the private sector, as the country’s greatest area for improvement. More than nine million Canadian employees lack access to a workplace retirement plan, largely […]
Countries’ ability to meet their NATO defence spending targets is predicated on the fiscal capacity to do so. The graph shows NATO countries’ 2024 defence spending versus their debt, as a share of GDP, with the horizontal line demarcating the 2025 NATO spending target for core defence spending (2.0 percent, increasing to 3.5 percent for […]
Published in Financial Post. Initial buzz about last month’s supposedly “generational” federal budget marking a decisive break from the growth-suppressing fiscal policies of the recent past has now faded. In retrospect, far too much of the budget was discouragingly familiar: more upward revisions of projected spending and borrowing, narrowly focused tax measures and — in […]
From: John LesterTo: Canadians Concerned About Federal SpendingDate: November 20, 2025Re: More Distance to Travel in Controlling Federal Program Spending There is much to like in the expenditure “cuts” announced in the federal budget. Contrary to my initial concerns, the government did not impose across-the-board reductions to the narrow review base. Departmental proposals were vetted centrally, […]
From: David Jones To: Budget observersDate: November 17, 2025Re: After the Budget: Time for Hard Hats and Signs of Progress Mark Carney’s budget strategy could not be clearer. It’s “build baby build.” It’s a “generational investment.” It’s “invest more and spend less.” Capital investment is the budget’s uncompromising long-term plan. Tuesday’s budget posts a deficit of […]
Published in The Globe and Mail. There is much to like in the expenditure “cuts” announced in the federal budget. Contrary to my initial concerns, the government did not impose across-the-board reductions to the narrow review base. Departmental proposals were vetted centrally, allowing reductions to vary by department. And the spending review is accompanied by targeted […]
November 13, 2025 – Canada’s latest federal budget promises fiscal restraint, but recent experience provides sobering context. Successive projections for spending, deficits, debt, and total liabilities have repeatedly overshot their predecessors. The gap between the projections in the November 2025 budget and the projections in the Fall Economic Statement of 2024 continues this pattern, raising […]
Edited remarks delivered to the Toronto Association for Business and Economics (TABE) webinar, “Living on the Edge: Federal Budget Post-Mortem,” on November 13, 2025. In isolation, the words and numbers in the federal budget presented on November 4, 2025, show a government getting a grip on the excesses that doubled its debt over the past […]
Membership Application
Interested in becoming a Member of the C.D. Howe Institute? Please fill out the application form below and our team will be in touch with next steps. Note that Membership is subject to approval.
"*" indicates required fields
Member Login
Not a Member yet? Visit our Membership page to learn more and apply.
To: Canadians concerned about the federal government’s “investment” hypeFrom: William B.P. Robson and Mawakina Bafale Re: Debt-Fuelled Consumption Belies Ottawa’s Brave Talk of Transformation Even as the gap widens between feeble capital investment in Canada and surging investment in the United States, so does the gap between the Carney government’s hype about investing for prosperity […] 
Published in Financial Post. Even as the gap widens between feeble capital investment in Canada and surging investment in the United States, so does the gap between the Carney government’s hype about investing for prosperity and its actual pursuit of debt-fuelled consumption. Last week, it announced its latest response to affordability concerns: the Canada Groceries […] 
To: Finance CanadaFrom: Nick Dahir and Alexandre Laurin Date: February 6, 2026Re: How Retirement Benefit Clawbacks Hit Lower-Income Taxpayers Hardest The taxation of retirement income is a key consideration for pension, tax, and fiscal policy. Drawdowns of tax-deferred retirement savings are taxable. Future government revenues depend on how withdrawals are taxed in retirement, and government spending […] 
February 3, 2026 – More than nine million working Canadians lack access to a workplace retirement plan, with the gap most pronounced among employees of small- and mid-sized businesses, according to a new C.D Howe Institute report. As a result, many are left to make inconsistent, often costly, savings decisions that increase the risk of […] 
Countries’ ability to meet their NATO defence spending targets is predicated on the fiscal capacity to do so. The graph shows NATO countries’ 2024 defence spending versus their debt, as a share of GDP, with the horizontal line demarcating the 2025 NATO spending target for core defence spending (2.0 percent, increasing to 3.5 percent for […] 
Published in Financial Post. Initial buzz about last month’s supposedly “generational” federal budget marking a decisive break from the growth-suppressing fiscal policies of the recent past has now faded. In retrospect, far too much of the budget was discouragingly familiar: more upward revisions of projected spending and borrowing, narrowly focused tax measures and — in […] 
From: John LesterTo: Canadians Concerned About Federal SpendingDate: November 20, 2025Re: More Distance to Travel in Controlling Federal Program Spending There is much to like in the expenditure “cuts” announced in the federal budget. Contrary to my initial concerns, the government did not impose across-the-board reductions to the narrow review base. Departmental proposals were vetted centrally, […] 
From: David Jones To: Budget observersDate: November 17, 2025Re: After the Budget: Time for Hard Hats and Signs of Progress Mark Carney’s budget strategy could not be clearer. It’s “build baby build.” It’s a “generational investment.” It’s “invest more and spend less.” Capital investment is the budget’s uncompromising long-term plan. Tuesday’s budget posts a deficit of […] 
Edited remarks delivered to the Toronto Association for Business and Economics (TABE) webinar, “Living on the Edge: Federal Budget Post-Mortem,” on November 13, 2025. In isolation, the words and numbers in the federal budget presented on November 4, 2025, show a government getting a grip on the excesses that doubled its debt over the past […]