William B.P. Robson – Stimulus Is Over – Now Your Spending Is Crowding Everyone Else Out
Federal budgets are an annual rite of spring in Ottawa, as is the deluge of advice to the Department of Finance. But budget-making is a yearlong process, and the work is now in progress. Accordingly, the C.D. Howe Institute is presenting a series of Intelligence Memos in the next few weeks, outlining recommendations that we […] Bill Robson – Ottawa Comes Part-Way Clean on its Pensions
From: William B.P. Robson To: Canadian Taxpayers Date: October 19, 2018 Re: Ottawa Comes Part-Way Clean on its Pensions The federal government just released its financial results for the 2017/18 fiscal year, showing a deficit that was worse, and debt that was higher, than anticipated in the 2017 budget. That looks like bad news, and […] Denis Meunier – Why Is Canada Still The World’s Money Laundering Pawn?
From: Denis Meunier To: Canada’s Financial Regulators and Policymakers Date: September 13, 2018 Re: Why is Canada Still the World’s Money Laundering Pawn? Official estimates of money laundering in Canada range from $5 billion to $100 billion. Offences such as drug trafficking, fraud, tax evasion, smuggling and corruption are fuelling the laundering of dirty money. […] Bill Robson on BNN Bloomberg – Weak business investment sours Canada’s economic outlook
Bill Robson, president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, discusses Canadian competitiveness and the reasons why business investment in the country is lagging compared to the U.S.
Found, Tomlinson – Business Tax Cuts in Ontario: Expanding the Menu
To: Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government From: Adam Found and Peter Tomlinson Date: July 5, 2018 Re: Business Tax Cuts in Ontario: Expanding the Menu Your party’s election platform featured business tax cuts. Yet one tax that was cut by the last Progressive Conservative government — the provincial business property tax — was left out. […] Retiring Employees, Unretired Debt: The Surprising Hidden Cost of Federal Employee Pensions
Taxpayers are on the hook for the unfunded liability of pension plans for federal employees, according to a new report published by the C.D Howe Institute. In “Retiring Employees, Unretired Debt: The Surprising Hidden Cost of Federal Employee Pensions” authors William B.P. Robson and Alexandre Laurin argue that official figures for federal pension obligations understate […] Schwanen, Wyonch, Dachis – Ahead of the Curve: The Big Picture Issues for the Ontario Election
From: Daniel Schwanen, Rosalie Wyonch and Benjamin Dachis To: Ontario voters Date: May 15, 2018 Re: Ahead of the Curve: The Big Picture Issues for the Ontario Election The Ontario election campaign has barely three more weeks to run, and so far, some of the largest issues facing the province have been conspicuous by their […]Robson, Omran – Rating The Fiscal Accountability Of Canada’s Senior Governments
From: William Robson and Farah Omran To: Canada’s Finance Ministers Date: May 3, 2018 Re: Rating the Fiscal Accountability of Canada’s Senior Governments Canada’s senior governments tax and spend a lot, but don’t consistently tell us what they are doing. In our new report for the C.D. Howe Institute we grade the transparency and reliability of the federal, provincial and […] The Numbers Game: Rating the Fiscal Accountability of Canada’s Senior Governments
Canada’s senior governments tax and spend a lot, but don’t consistently tell us what they are doing, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “The Numbers Game: Rating the Fiscal Accountability of Canada’s Senior Governments,” authors William B.P. Robson and Farah Omran grade the transparency and reliability of the federal provincial and […] Accounting Tricks Have No Place In Ontario’s Government: Globe And Mail Op-ed
This week’s review of the Ontario government’s pre-election financial report from the provincial Auditor-General reconfirmed what The Globe and Mail reported last weekend: The government is using an accounting trick to shrink its reported deficit and debt. It is hiding the cost of borrowing to subsidize electricity prices over the next few years by inventing an “asset” – revenue from the higher prices Ontario’s electricity consumers will pay later on – to keep the borrowing from showing in the government’s bottom line.
Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk’s review concludes that the pre-election report is not a reasonable presentation of Ontario’s finances. Her concerns deserve wide attention – not just in Ontario, but…
Why Ontario’s Planning Act Needs Major Changes: Toronto Star Op-ed
As of April 12, municipalities in Ontario will be able to implement inclusionary zoning, allowing them to require affordable housing units in residential developments. The province’s willingness to grant municipalities this authority reflects its broader commitment to modernizing Ontario’s planning regime. But one relic of this old regime remains: Section 37 of Ontario’s Planning Act. As the province continues to overhaul its planning legislation, it is time to revisit Section 37 and either repeal it or significantly amend it.
Section 37 allows municipalities to secure “benefits” from developers in return for allowing buildings to exceed height and density restrictions. As I note in a recent report for the C.D. Howe Institute,…
Buildings with Benefits: The Defect of Density Bonusing
Ontario should scrap arbitrary and opaque density bonusing deals between municipalities and developers, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In Buildings with Benefits: The Defect of Density Bonusing author Aaron Moore finds that density bonusing – a practice where developers can break zoning rules in exchange for public amenities – is […]