From: William B.P. Robson and Nick DahirTo: Municipal spending observersDate: June 19, 2025Re: Let’s Get Off the Chronic Municipal Budget Crisis Carousel An annual Canadian ritual starting just after New Year’s is the panic over municipal budgets. Concerns about deficits and consequent spending cuts and tax increases dominate the headlines – “Torontonians face property tax hike!” “Vancouver overspending on policing!” […]
From: Erik De Lorenzi To: Postal observersDate: June 18, 2025Re: A Way Forward: Canada Post Deregulation and Commercialization (II) Yesterday, we outlined the sorry history that has led to Canada Post’s major financial – $4 billion and counting – and operational strain. To better serve consumers and improve the effectiveness of federal spending, […]
From: Erik De Lorenzi To: Postal observersDate: June 17, 2025Re: A Way Forward: Canada Post Deregulation and Commercialization Canada Post is under major financial and operational strain. Mail volumes are declining, its market share in parcel delivery is evaporating and it lost another $840 million last year, which taxpayers have had to cover. Meanwhile, it […]
From: Ian IrvineTo: Canadians Concerned About VapingDate: June 9, 2025Re: Governments Continue Their War Against Our Best Anti-Smoking Tool In Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats described how “but to think is to be full of sorrow/And leaden-eyed despairs.” Such pervasive, perpetual gloominess sounds exactly like Canadian health lobby groups contemplating the latest statistics on smoking, which are, […]
To: Fiscally responsible members of Parliament From: Colin Busby, Nicholas Dahir and William B.P. RobsonDate: June 4, 2025Re: Excuses for Federal Budget Delay Get Thinner By the Day Last week’s Speech from the Throne delivered by King Charles III will be remembered as an anomaly, and not just because of the speaker. Here’s how it usually […]
To: Fiscal observersFrom: Don Drummond and William B.P. RobsonDate: June 2, 2025Re: Don’t Wait for Fall, Give Us a Budget Now Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government will present a budget this fall. That is better than Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s earlier announcement that there would be no budget in 2025. But the fall will be too late. Before […]
The federal government’s decision not to present a budget this spring continues a troubling trend of late or absent federal budgets. Since 1994, the government has presented five budgets after the fiscal year began. Four of those late budgets appeared in the past decade. The government presented no budget at all in 2020. Presenting a budget late or never undermines transparency and […]
Published in The Globe and Mail. The Speech from the Throne delivered by King Charles III on Tuesday will be remembered as an anomaly, and not just because of the speaker. Here’s how it usually goes: A Throne Speech opens a legislative session, laying out the government’s priorities. Then, at the start of that legislative session, the […]
Published in Financial Post. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government will present a budget this fall. That is better than Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s earlier announcement that there would be no budget in 2025. But the fall is too late. Before then Parliamentarians will be asked to approve a revenue-denting personal income tax reduction and substantial emergency spending without knowing the fiscal context. […]
May 27, 2025 – A recent federal directive aiming to expand the scope of the Canada Health Act (CHA) could spark legal tensions and shift costs to Canada’s provinces – all while leaving major drivers of two-tier healthcare untouched, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Reinterpreting the Canada Health Act: The 2025 […]
Reinterpreting the Canada Health Act: The 2025 “Holland Letter” and What it Means for Healthcare in Canada In January 2025, former health minister Mark Holland issued a new interpretation letter introducing the “CHA Services Policy,” which requires provinces to publicly insure medically necessary services delivered by non-physician professionals – particularly nurse practitioners – when those services […]
To: Concerned CanadiansFrom: Brian LewisDate: May 9, 2025Re: Charting Canada’s Post-Election Economic Course The votes are in, and Canada’s 45th federal election has delivered a strong minority government that appears stable enough to govern with confidence – though not unchecked – for the next few years. The timing is critical: With global uncertainty rising and structural […]
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From: William B.P. Robson and Nick DahirTo: Municipal spending observersDate: June 19, 2025Re: Let’s Get Off the Chronic Municipal Budget Crisis Carousel An annual Canadian ritual starting just after New Year’s is the panic over municipal budgets. Concerns about deficits and consequent spending cuts and tax increases dominate the headlines – “Torontonians face property tax hike!” “Vancouver overspending on policing!” […] 
From: Erik De Lorenzi To: Postal observersDate: June 18, 2025Re: A Way Forward: Canada Post Deregulation and Commercialization (II) Yesterday, we outlined the sorry history that has led to Canada Post’s major financial – $4 billion and counting – and operational strain. To better serve consumers and improve the effectiveness of federal spending, […] 
From: Erik De Lorenzi To: Postal observersDate: June 17, 2025Re: A Way Forward: Canada Post Deregulation and Commercialization Canada Post is under major financial and operational strain. Mail volumes are declining, its market share in parcel delivery is evaporating and it lost another $840 million last year, which taxpayers have had to cover. Meanwhile, it […] 
From: Ian IrvineTo: Canadians Concerned About VapingDate: June 9, 2025Re: Governments Continue Their War Against Our Best Anti-Smoking Tool In Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats described how “but to think is to be full of sorrow/And leaden-eyed despairs.” Such pervasive, perpetual gloominess sounds exactly like Canadian health lobby groups contemplating the latest statistics on smoking, which are, […] 
To: Fiscally responsible members of Parliament From: Colin Busby, Nicholas Dahir and William B.P. RobsonDate: June 4, 2025Re: Excuses for Federal Budget Delay Get Thinner By the Day Last week’s Speech from the Throne delivered by King Charles III will be remembered as an anomaly, and not just because of the speaker. Here’s how it usually […] 
To: Fiscal observersFrom: Don Drummond and William B.P. RobsonDate: June 2, 2025Re: Don’t Wait for Fall, Give Us a Budget Now Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government will present a budget this fall. That is better than Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s earlier announcement that there would be no budget in 2025. But the fall will be too late. Before […] 
The federal government’s decision not to present a budget this spring continues a troubling trend of late or absent federal budgets. Since 1994, the government has presented five budgets after the fiscal year began. Four of those late budgets appeared in the past decade. The government presented no budget at all in 2020. Presenting a budget late or never undermines transparency and […] 
Published in The Globe and Mail. The Speech from the Throne delivered by King Charles III on Tuesday will be remembered as an anomaly, and not just because of the speaker. Here’s how it usually goes: A Throne Speech opens a legislative session, laying out the government’s priorities. Then, at the start of that legislative session, the […] 
Published in Financial Post. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government will present a budget this fall. That is better than Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s earlier announcement that there would be no budget in 2025. But the fall is too late. Before then Parliamentarians will be asked to approve a revenue-denting personal income tax reduction and substantial emergency spending without knowing the fiscal context. […] 
Reinterpreting the Canada Health Act: The 2025 “Holland Letter” and What it Means for Healthcare in Canada In January 2025, former health minister Mark Holland issued a new interpretation letter introducing the “CHA Services Policy,” which requires provinces to publicly insure medically necessary services delivered by non-physician professionals – particularly nurse practitioners – when those services […] 
To: Concerned CanadiansFrom: Brian LewisDate: May 9, 2025Re: Charting Canada’s Post-Election Economic Course The votes are in, and Canada’s 45th federal election has delivered a strong minority government that appears stable enough to govern with confidence – though not unchecked – for the next few years. The timing is critical: With global uncertainty rising and structural […]