From: Michael Wernick To: Governance observers Date: June 26, 2026 Re: Our Most Important Economic Asset is Governability News from London and images from the G7 summit have served to highlight that some of the largest economies are presided over by governments that seem unable to provide traction and leadership. Current leaders in the United Kingdom, France and Germany have quickly become deeply unpopular, as are the grand old centre-right and centre-left parties that dominated the last half of the 20th century. The leaders in […]
Published in Financial Post. Should Canadians worry about their governments’ debts? Yes, of course they should. But the bigger debt threat comes from Washington. The United States is on a fiscal path that is simply not sustainable, absent serious reform. A U.S. fiscal crisis would have grave consequences for Canada, and Canadians should start preparing now. Canada’s own public […]
From: Martin Eichenbaum To: Canadian deficit watchers Date: June 24, 2026 Re: How Canada Should Prepare for the Coming US Debt Bomb Should Canadians worry about their governments’ debts? Yes, of course they should. Canada’s own public debt is not trivial. Ottawa and the provinces face real fiscal pressures from healthcare, an aging population, defence obligations and weak productivity growth. But Canada’s fiscal […]
June 16, 2026 – The Bank of Canada’s use of multiple measures of underlying inflation is important for properly executing monetary policy, but risks undermining public understanding of monetary policy and complicating efforts to communicate its policy stance clearly, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “The Bank of Canada’s Communication Conundrum: How to Explain Inflation,” authors Jeremy Kronick, Steve Ambler and Thorsten Koeppl recommend that the […]
From: Blake C. Goldring To: Defence watchers Date: June 15, 2026 Re: Pulling Together to Meet Canada’s New Moment In 1939, Canada was not an industrial power. Its 10,000-man military was threadbare, its procurement system buried in red tape, and its capital markets had no framework for financing national security. Then C.D. Howe took charge. Within a […]
9 juin 2026 – Six des plus grandes villes du Canada, dont Montréal, Hamilton et Victoria, ont obtenu des notes d’échec en matière de transparence budgétaire, tandis que six autres ont mérité une place au tableau d’honneur, selon un nouveau rapport publié par l’Institut C.D. Howe. Dans l’étude intitulée « Making Sense of City Budgets: Grading […]
June 9, 2026 – Six of Canada’s largest cities, including Montreal, Hamilton and Victoria, received failing grades for the fiscal transparency of their budgets, while six others earned spots on the honour roll, in a new report card from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Making Sense of City Budgets: Grading the Fiscal Accountability of Canada’s […]
by William B.P. Robson and Nicholas Dahir The budgets municipal governments present around the beginning of their fiscal years and the audited financial statements they publish after year-end are crucial for decision-making and accountability. This report card reviews the financial documents of 39 major Canadian municipalities and assesses whether they equip councillors and the public […]
To: GDP watchers From: Don Drummond and Nicholas Dahir Date: June 9, 2026 Re: The Canadian Economy Was Struggling Long Before GDP Growth Turned Negative Canada has entered what some are calling a “technical recession.” Real GDP declined in the fourth quarter of 2025 and again in the first quarter of 2026, meeting what is often, but incorrectly, considered to define a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. […]
From: Steve Ambler and Jeremy M. Kronick To: Recession watchers Date: June 8, 2026 Re: Don’t Be Too Quick to Call a Recession On May 29, Statistics Canada released preliminary estimates of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2026. Real GDP declined slightly (0.04 percent), following a 0.25 percent drop in the last quarter of 2025. […]
To: Natural disaster watchers From: Thorsten Koeppl Date: June 03, 2026 Re: How Canada Can Prepare Before Disaster Strikes Canada’s natural disasters are becoming both more frequent and more expensive. Last summer it was widespread wildfires; this spring, it is extensive Prairie flooding. And looming in the background are major earthquake risks in two heavily populated areas: British Columbia’s Cascadia fault line and Quebec’s Charlevoix region. Climate catastrophes on this scale could overwhelm the capital and reserves of Canada’s property and casualty insurance sector – forcing government intervention and leaving taxpayers […]
To: Labour relations watchers From: Julian Karaguesian and Daniel Safayeni Date: May 29, 2026 Re: How Labour Instability Could Affect Canada’s Infrastructure Ambitions Canada needs a better labour dispute settlement mechanism, especially in nationally important sectors. The need for labour stability has never been greater than now. And too many worker days were lost last year. […]
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From: Michael Wernick To: Governance observers Date: June 26, 2026 Re: Our Most Important Economic Asset is Governability News from London and images from the G7 summit have served to highlight that some of the largest economies are presided over by governments that seem unable to provide traction and leadership. Current leaders in the United Kingdom, France and Germany have quickly become deeply unpopular, as are the grand old centre-right and centre-left parties that dominated the last half of the 20th century. The leaders in […] 
Published in Financial Post. Should Canadians worry about their governments’ debts? Yes, of course they should. But the bigger debt threat comes from Washington. The United States is on a fiscal path that is simply not sustainable, absent serious reform. A U.S. fiscal crisis would have grave consequences for Canada, and Canadians should start preparing now. Canada’s own public […] 
From: Martin Eichenbaum To: Canadian deficit watchers Date: June 24, 2026 Re: How Canada Should Prepare for the Coming US Debt Bomb Should Canadians worry about their governments’ debts? Yes, of course they should. Canada’s own public debt is not trivial. Ottawa and the provinces face real fiscal pressures from healthcare, an aging population, defence obligations and weak productivity growth. But Canada’s fiscal […] 
From: Blake C. Goldring To: Defence watchers Date: June 15, 2026 Re: Pulling Together to Meet Canada’s New Moment In 1939, Canada was not an industrial power. Its 10,000-man military was threadbare, its procurement system buried in red tape, and its capital markets had no framework for financing national security. Then C.D. Howe took charge. Within a […] 
by William B.P. Robson and Nicholas Dahir The budgets municipal governments present around the beginning of their fiscal years and the audited financial statements they publish after year-end are crucial for decision-making and accountability. This report card reviews the financial documents of 39 major Canadian municipalities and assesses whether they equip councillors and the public […] 
To: GDP watchers From: Don Drummond and Nicholas Dahir Date: June 9, 2026 Re: The Canadian Economy Was Struggling Long Before GDP Growth Turned Negative Canada has entered what some are calling a “technical recession.” Real GDP declined in the fourth quarter of 2025 and again in the first quarter of 2026, meeting what is often, but incorrectly, considered to define a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. […] 
From: Steve Ambler and Jeremy M. Kronick To: Recession watchers Date: June 8, 2026 Re: Don’t Be Too Quick to Call a Recession On May 29, Statistics Canada released preliminary estimates of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2026. Real GDP declined slightly (0.04 percent), following a 0.25 percent drop in the last quarter of 2025. […] 
To: Natural disaster watchers From: Thorsten Koeppl Date: June 03, 2026 Re: How Canada Can Prepare Before Disaster Strikes Canada’s natural disasters are becoming both more frequent and more expensive. Last summer it was widespread wildfires; this spring, it is extensive Prairie flooding. And looming in the background are major earthquake risks in two heavily populated areas: British Columbia’s Cascadia fault line and Quebec’s Charlevoix region. Climate catastrophes on this scale could overwhelm the capital and reserves of Canada’s property and casualty insurance sector – forcing government intervention and leaving taxpayers […] 
To: Labour relations watchers From: Julian Karaguesian and Daniel Safayeni Date: May 29, 2026 Re: How Labour Instability Could Affect Canada’s Infrastructure Ambitions Canada needs a better labour dispute settlement mechanism, especially in nationally important sectors. The need for labour stability has never been greater than now. And too many worker days were lost last year. […]