Overview by John Lester and Benoît Robidoux Drawing on presentations and discussion at the C.D. Howe Institute’s 2026 Workshop on Strengthening the Federal Evaluation Function, this Conference Report examines why the federal evaluation function produces too little usable evidence to inform expenditure management. It combines the workshop proceedings with additional analysis and recommendations from the […]
6 août 2026 – Alors que le Canada accroît ses dépenses en matière de défense et d’infrastructures, les décideurs fédéraux subissent des pressions croissantes pour prendre des décisions difficiles concernant d’autres postes de dépenses publiques. Or, le système d’évaluation d’Ottawa fournit trop peu de données probantes pour déterminer quels programmes offrent la plus grande valeur aux Canadiens, selon […]
August 6, 2026 – As Canada ramps up defence and infrastructure spending, federal policymakers are facing growing pressure to make difficult decisions about other areas of government spending. Yet Ottawa’s evaluation system provides too little evidence to identify which programs deliver the greatest value for Canadians, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In […]
From: Colin Busby and Nick Dahir To: Canadian economic observers Date: July 21, 2026 Re: The NATO Pledge Will Transform Federal Finances – Show Us How A rear-view glance to this month’s NATO summit should prompt a concentrated stare to the future, asking how Canada plans to achieve its commitment to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence […]
From: Marcel Saulnier To: Healthcare observers Date: July 17, 2026 Re: Five Reasons Why Mark Carney Needs to Care About Healthcare The Carney government has moved quickly since taking office, tackling everything from trade diversification to industrial strategy. Yet one area where the Prime Minister has been noticeably silent is health care. That is understandable to a point. Canada is […]
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 […]
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Overview by John Lester and Benoît Robidoux Drawing on presentations and discussion at the C.D. Howe Institute’s 2026 Workshop on Strengthening the Federal Evaluation Function, this Conference Report examines why the federal evaluation function produces too little usable evidence to inform expenditure management. It combines the workshop proceedings with additional analysis and recommendations from the […] 
From: Colin Busby and Nick Dahir To: Canadian economic observers Date: July 21, 2026 Re: The NATO Pledge Will Transform Federal Finances – Show Us How A rear-view glance to this month’s NATO summit should prompt a concentrated stare to the future, asking how Canada plans to achieve its commitment to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence […] 
From: Marcel Saulnier To: Healthcare observers Date: July 17, 2026 Re: Five Reasons Why Mark Carney Needs to Care About Healthcare The Carney government has moved quickly since taking office, tackling everything from trade diversification to industrial strategy. Yet one area where the Prime Minister has been noticeably silent is health care. That is understandable to a point. Canada is […] 
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 […]