Explaining the Path to 2 Percent: A New Approach to Bank of Canada Communications

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 […]

Pulling Together to Meet Canada’s New Moment

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 […]

Déconcerté par le budget de votre ville ? Vous n’êtes pas seul

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 […]

Bewildered by Your City’s Budget? You’re Not Alone

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 […]

Making Sense of City Budgets: Grading the Fiscal Accountability of Canada’s Municipalities, 2025

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 […]

The Canadian Economy Was Struggling Long Before GDP Growth Turned Negative 

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.  […]

Don’t Be Too Quick to Call a Recession

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. […]

How Canada Can Prepare Before Disaster Strikes

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 […]

How Labour Instability Could Affect Canada’s Infrastructure Ambitions

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. […]

Fiscal fantasy: Believe it or not, fiscal reality hasn’t gone away

Published in The Globe and Mail. Many Canadians may still have an image of Canada as a country aware that governments cannot spend and borrow without limit. They should not. With the economy operating near capacity and growth in productive capacity weak, governments continue to run deficits and project rising debt ratios, undermining growth and […]

Cessons d’ignorer la réalité budgétaire : l’augmentation de la dette et la faible croissance mettent le Canada en danger

23 avril 2026 – Sans mesures audacieuses, la dette nette combinée des gouvernements fédéral et provinciaux devrait avoisiner 82 % du PIB d’ici 2028-2029 – bien au-dessus des niveaux d’avant la pandémie. Le Canada se dirige vers une crise budgétaire. Pourtant, les décideurs politiques, enclins à recourir à des artifices budgétaires comme la récente suspension […]

Stop Ignoring Fiscal Reality: Rising Debt and Weak Growth Put Canada at Risk

April 23, 2026 – Without bold action, combined federal and provincial net debt is projected to approach 82 percent of GDP by 2028/29 – far above pre-pandemic levels. Canada is drifting toward a fiscal crisis. Yet policymakers, prone to fiscal gimmicks like the recent debt-financed fuel tax suspension, appear unwilling to act, according to a […]

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